ELL News Headlines

Forcibly displaced people around the world, many of whom have endured unthinkable losses, have shown us what it means to be resilient, and what it takes to overcome a crisis. Here are five ways they inspired the team at UNHCR in a year like no other:

Mariel Vallano says it’s the honor of her life to teach her seventh and eighth-grade students, young scholars who are now acclimating to their first year in America. But the cruel challenges of coronavirus were never within the realm of possibility for the families Vallano now knows so well, families who were struggling to begin with. She set out on a mission to distribute $100 grocery gift cards to all of her students’ families in Ward 4, with numerous parents’ service jobs slashed and food insecurity a growing threat. Vallano’s GoFundMe page in the weeks since has been supercharged. A fundraising effort that once aspired to approach $2,000 has now surpassed $21,000.

On Tuesday, the Manchester, New Hampshire School District announced tentative plans to expand in-person classes from two days a week to four, starting in May. And at Manchester West High School in Manchester, that experiment is well underway. For over a month, staff there have been encouraging students who are learning English as a second language and others needing extra help to come in four days a week. And getting students re-engaged a year into the pandemic is a massive effort.

When school and public libraries closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many children and teens lost access to books. With few books at home, some students don't have adequate reading material to support their school assignments or their independent reading. As we work to increase students' access through school and library initiatives to loan books, we must also increase how many books young people own at home. Several community groups have set up free book baskets outside their schools or local laundromats. Coordinating with local independent bookstores and community organizations, some school districts have set up accounts for families to order a few books for their children and receive them by mail. Communicating with students and families via email or phone, many educators are driving around school neighborhoods, picking up and delivering books to their students through no-contact book exchanges. In communities with Little Free Libraries, educators and families report increased use.

Latino graduates from across the country were honored on Friday in a virtual celebration put on by Excelencia in Education, a national organization that works with institutions of higher education to improve Latino college enrollment and completion. “Forty percent of Latinos that go to college are the first in their families to go,” Excelencia co-founder and CEO Deborah Santiago said. “This is an important milestone. We thought as a national organization, what can we do? Even in these turbulent times, we cannot forget we’re feeding hope as well.” The hour-long celebration, which was live on Facebook, featured appearances by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation President Allan Goldston and Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas. Journalist Maria Hinojosa, host of NPR's "Latino USA," delivered a keynote speech to the graduates.

Teachers and parents have always faced a tough balancing act when it comes to the children in our care. How much of our job is to shield them from the ugly parts of the world, and how much is to help them learn, process, and prepare for that ugliness?

This COVID-19 comic is based on interviews conducted by NPR's Cory Turner with Tara Powell at the University of Illinois School of Social Work, Joy Osofsky at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Krystal Lewis at the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown's School of Public Health and Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop.

Wondering how to keep your kids healthy, happy and learning during the quarantine? Longtime bilingual children's music maker José-Luis Orozco has you covered.

Latino high school students in Wellington, Fla. are taking the initiative to address educational challenges posted by the COVID-19 pandemic by providing a helping hand to elementary students struggling to read in English. It is part of a partnership between Wellington High School and Latinos in Action, a nonprofit program that encourages young Latinos to make a change in their communities.