ELL News Headlines

Throughout the week, Colorín Colorado gathers news headlines related to English language learners from around the country. The ELL Headlines are posted Monday through Friday and are available for free!

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Apps are helping teachers communicate with families that don’t speak English

Emma Gonzalez Gutierrez has struggled to communicate with the teachers of her five children for years. She’s tried to stay engaged. She’s attended meetings, gravitated toward Spanish-speaking staff, and relied on translators, including her kids, over the years. Now, thanks to an app that McElwain Elementary, her Adams 12 school, started using this year, she’s found opportunities to engage in new ways with her youngest child’s education.

Smoothing the path for immigrants to finish their college degrees

When Carlos Sanchez immigrated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, from Mexico City 25 years ago, he’d already completed two years of college at Universidad Iberoamericana, and he was determined to finish his degree. Already bilingual, he felt comfortable tackling the second half of his education in English. But the language barrier was only part of the challenge. 

Activists tap a sweet Indigenous tradition to connect youth of color in Detroit with the outdoors

Tucked into Detroit’s 1,200 acre Rouge Park is one of the nation’s largest urban sugar maple tree groves in the country. But for years, the trees went unharvested. While making syrup from tree sap is an ancient tradition of the Anishinaabe who first inhabited the Great Lakes region, it had fallen from local practice. But after learning about sugarbush traditions from Ojibwe and Cree peoples from across the Great Lakes region, Antonio Rafael and shakara tyler of Detroit and David Pitawanakwat of Wikwemikong First Nation wanted to bring this traditional ecological activity back to the city.

‘Happier families, happier students’: How Denver’s community hubs are helping migrants and others

The trailer at Colfax Elementary is one of Denver Public Schools’ six “community hubs,” and the English language classes are among the most popular offerings. Launched in 2022 by Superintendent Alex Marrero, the community hubs were meant to take a two-generation approach to improving students’ lives by helping both children and parents with everything from food and clothing to financial counseling and mobile medical appointments. Now, as more than 3,500 migrant students have enrolled in DPS since the beginning of the school year, the hubs are increasingly serving their families as they build new lives in Denver.

University of Northern Colorado becomes the state’s newest Hispanic Serving Institution

Almost 18 months ahead of school leaders’ expectations, the University of Northern Colorado has been federally recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution, meaning at minimum a quarter of its students identify as Hispanic. The Greeley school will now be eligible for federal grants to help more Hispanic students further their education. About 26% of UNC’s students are Hispanic, according to fall 2023 numbers. The school joins 16 other Colorado schools that have met the federal threshold.

After-school cuts catch NYC programs by surprise

A group of after-school programs are scrambling to figure out what to do next year, after learning recently their contracts would not be renewed due to Mayor Eric Adams’ budget cuts.

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