ELL News Headlines

In my work with North Korean refugees and their children, I have found that the latter group, who are mostly born in hiding in China, naturally pick up Chinese during their time there. When these children escape China undetected and arrive in South Korea, they are faced with the daunting obstacle of assimilating to South Korean society. These children are uncomfortable with the fact that their first language is Chinese, their mother is North Korean, and their new life is in South Korea. While younger students may struggle with their Korean skills or Chinese accent, older students have learned to see their bilingualism as an asset rather than a barrier, pursuing careers such as interpretation, international trade, and politics, where it gives them an advantage as a unique spokesperson of South Korea, North Korea, and China.

The Sacramento-based James B. McClatchy Foundation decided to spend all its funds by 2030, a process known as “sunsetting” in the nonprofit sector. A major beneficiary of this strategy, already in motion, are advocacy efforts that support the education of the many Central Valley students who speak a language other than English at home.

The $445 million Fiscal Year 2024-2025 supplemental budget passed by the Maine Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills in July will direct $3.5 million in state funding to school districts in order to assist English Language Learner (ELL) students.

At the emergency shelter at War Memorial Gym in Wailuku, Alejandra Ramirez saw many Spanish speakers in need of translators. The Wailuku resident said a group of Latinos, including Mexicans, Cubans and Argentinians, lost their homes to the wildfires in Lāhainā.

For Ravi, summer means beach days, long hikes, paddle boarding and ice cream. It means going to a big house by the water with his mom, dad, two uncles, two aunties, Thatha and Pati, and six cousins.

The number of kids grabbing free meals from the San Luis Coastal Unified district is rising. Before the pandemic, the district of 7,700 on California’s Central Coast served breakfast and lunch to around a quarter of its students each day. But that percentage shot up during the pandemic, when schools nationwide could give free meals to all kids. And it rose again last year, when California launched the nation’s first statewide free school meals program.

More than a third of the national public school enrollment decline since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be attributed to switches to private school or homeschooling, or to a shrinking population of school-aged children, according to new research that delves into the question of what happened to so many of America’s students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like many 17-year-olds, Beatriz spent the last year searching for an internship. Unlike many of them, her immigration status made getting one nearly impossible. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Education awarded $2.2 million in federal funds to five organizations that run adult education programs for English language learners.

Elementary English language learners are engaged in hands-on activities while strengthening vital skills in Levittown’s four-week ENL Summer Jumpstart Program held at Levittown Memorial Education Center.