ELL News Headlines

Charmaine Jackson, who grew up on a Navajo reservation but did not learn to speak Navajo, studied the language in college. Today she and friend Shawna L. Begay, who also grew up on a reservation without learning to speak the language, are creating the first-ever Navajo puppets TV show, geared to preschool students and using puppets designed by Navajo artist Jason Barnes.

Language study can open a student's eyes to social issues around the world. In rural Colombia, teacher and child advocate Luis Soriano brings books to students who have little access to them. Traveling to schools throughout La Magdalena with his donkey library, or El Biblioburro, Soriano exposes young students to literacy and a love of reading. Learning about this grassroots project, students of Spanish can explore geography, socioeconomic inequities, and history while participating in class projects to improve the lives of others.

Singer, songwriter and actress Gloria Estefan became the first Cuban-American artist to be honored with the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors award on Sunday.

Coco isn’t only an award-winning, critically acclaimed box office hit. It’s also a heartwarming reminder of why representation in Hollywood is so important.  The Pixar film has resonated with Latino audiences across the country ― particularly those with Mexican or Mexican-American roots ― for its loving portrayal of Mexican culture and family through its young protagonist, Miguel, and his adventure in the Land of the Dead.

When Peter MacDonald, Fleming Begaye and Thomas Begay joined the elite fraternity of Navajo Code Talkers during World War II, they had no idea what they were getting into. That was by design. The top-secret program they joined wouldn't even be declassified until more than two decades later — long after the secret Navajo code language had played a vital role in the American war effort.

Thanks to multilingual Cornell students, 500 Ithaca-area children learning English as a second language each have a new book personalized just for them, with the English text translated into their native language. Students translated "The Bus for Us" by Suzanne Bloom into 17 languages, from Arabic to Korean, Russian, Thai and Spanish. Labels with the translated text were laminated onto each page, so the children and their families can read the book in both English and their native language.

While graduation rates for English-language learners and Native American students are on the rise, educators and researchers are still questioning whether the needs of those students are being better served in the nation's K-12 schools. The nation's four-year graduation rate for English-language learners has improved 10 percentage points over the past five years, rising to 65.5 percent.

From California to Maine this week, immigrant youth and supporters organized sit-ins at the offices of elected officials in the hopes of forcing a legislative solution for DREAMers by the end of the year.

Michigan is one of the 15 states plus the District of Columbia to have a Third-Grade Reading Retention Law. Starting in 2020, a third-grader who doesn't meet a certain reading proficiency level will have to repeat that grade. In response, schools are preparing for a potential surge in English Language Learner (ELL) students who may be held back because of the law.

The superintendent of the Miami-Dade schools plans to ask Florida officials to let students who fled Hurricane Maria skip the state exams that are required for graduation. Alberto M. Carvalho told board members at a meeting last month that he would request a testing waiver from the state of Florida. If granted, that waiver would allow about 90 11th and 12th grade students to skip the Florida Standards Assessments, which students must pass to earn diplomas.