ELL News Headlines

Veronica always wanted to give her daughter an education in the United States. This school year, she thought it would finally happen. Her daughter, 17, immigrated from Mexico this summer to live with her in New Hampshire. But when Veronica tried to register her daughter for school, the process became difficult because Veronica doesn't speak English. (NHPR isn’t using Veronica’s name or her daughter’s due to concerns about their immigration status.) Veronica says she had a hard time finding a translator and no one in her district offered her the contact information of a bilingual employee who could help. Their district does offer in-person or over-the-phone translation services, but the demand is high and the resources are scarce. And for people like Veronica, who don’t know how to use a computer, it is difficult to even know that these translation services exist.

Across the country, school and public libraries are dealing with the damage from natural disasters over the last few months. While storms brought deadly and destructive wind and flooding to the East Coast, the West Coast was once again battling multiple raging wildfires. SLJ checked in with just a few of the librarians to learn about their library recovery efforts as they also manage the personal impact of the storm.

When interviewing potential graduate students, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology Lorraine Benuto asks a question that often surprises them: Would they be interested in learning how to provide services in Spanish? Despite the fact that most students interviewing for a spot in her lab are native-Spanish speakers hoping to work with the Latinx population as clinicians and researchers, the question often catches them off guard. Benuto’s offer is unique. In most programs across the country, the hard work of translating not only the language, but the treatment, research, concepts and behavioral interventions in a way that maintains the evidence-based mechanisms while allowing for idiosyncratic adaptations that appropriately address the unique needs of a Latinx individual is left to the student to figure out on their own. It’s complicated work. And it’s one reason there is a deficit of Spanish-speaking providers in Nevada and across the country. The answer to Benuto’s question has so far been a resounding yes.

In this editorial, two district leaders for the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) write, "With the support of the SAISD Board of Trustees, Superintendent Pedro Martinez, and the Bilingual Redesign Committee, the SAISD Dual Language Department has had the privilege of collaborating with educators and parents who have brought the cultural richness of the San Antonio community into redesigning bilingual education. Together, district members and community stakeholders have shared their language and culture stories — remembering, reimagining, and reframing what bilingual education can look and feel like for their students and bridging the gap between students’ home and school lives."

There are about 12,000 refugees from Afghanistan staying at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. The federal government said about 400 of those guests will settle in Wisconsin long-term. The Milwaukee Public School district is preparing to welcome refugee students into their classrooms. "We are on standby and ready to welcome any students that come into our district," an MPS spokesperson told WISN 12 Wednesday.

As a teacher at Kyrene de los Lagos Dual Language Academy in Ahwatukee, Diane Mylod shares the motto: "The power of two languages. The power of two worlds." So it is only natural that the Glendale native, who has lived in Ahwatukee for five years, chose to write a children's book for her first foray into the world of authors, penning Spanish and English versions.

The Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation was founded in 1988, and this academic school year, the organization has helped more than 375 students by giving out more than $750,000 in scholarship money. Many of the students use those funds to go to college at CSU Pueblo and Pueblo Community College, while others pursue their degree in different parts of the country.

Ambreen Tariq is the founder of BrownPeopleCamping, a social media initiative that works to increase diversity in the outdoors and challenge definitions of what it means to belong in nature. More recently, Ambreen authored a children's book called Fatima's Great Outdoors, which mirrors some of her own experiences camping for the first time with her family.

Earlier this summer, Newark’s youth vaccination rate was still alarmingly low. Then something remarkable happened. The city and its partners embarked on a shot-giving spree that drove up Newark’s youth vaccination rate by 25 percentage points in just two months. Now, 55% of 12 to 17 year olds have gotten at least one shot — nearly erasing the city-state gap. (Among all Newark residents 12 and up, 72% have had at least one dose.)

When the school year began in August for the Cajon Valley Union district in California, some members of the school community from Afghanistan were missing. Through local and international phone calls, staff in the district tracked down eight families who, after going to visit relatives in Afghanistan, had been unable to return to the United States amid the chaos of military evacuations and rising Taliban control, said Michael Serban, director of the district’s family and community engagement office. Like administrators in some other districts, Serban’s staff suddenly found themselves contacting legislators and government agencies to help bring families back.