ELL News Headlines

Fewer first-year and transfer students returned to the University of California this past fall after enrolling the previous year, a trend that system President Michael Drake said he is watching “very carefully” but predicted will rebound.

For David Walker, entering his community garden in East Vancouver is an escape from the worries of day-to-day life. He's been gardening at Cottonwood Community Gardens for 10 years. Walker is one of the many passionate gardeners in Vancouver who utilize community space to relax, grow food and connect with others — some of the myriad benefits of gardening in urban spaces. 

Inside a small room in a house on Kabul's outskirts, about ten teenage girls are defying their Taliban rulers who have banned them from attending secondary school. "Let's learn," one student slowly reads to another as they review English lessons from a textbook. "Learn the words: Yellow, blue, red, green." The girls attend a secret school run by a young woman barely older than her students, 21-year-old Nazanin, whose lavender headscarf matched her nail polish on the day we visited.

On one poster, a stick figure family stands tall on green shaggy grass under a vast paper sky, with a big blue-and-yellow striped flag centered prominently. On another, a river of red roses flows next to big blue-and-yellow heart. One shows a family split apart by a scribbled mess of orange, captioned with the word "BOOM!" This was the Ukrainian children's understanding of the past six months with their families, scribbled away by an even more incomprehensible war.

When students test out of an English-learner program, or are reclassified as proficient in English, they report a higher sense of self and a greater belief in their ability to complete challenging academic tasks, a new study finds.

Dr. Adriana Alvarez grew up in the border community of El Paso, Texas. As a bilingual student going through the education system, she can recall many moments where her language was punished and her identity not accepted — in fact, “devalued,” she said, recounting memories of a teacher who charged 25 cents every time she was caught speaking Spanish and a high school counselor who tried to discourage her from attending college. 

During the summer, Larry Ferlazzo is sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past 11 years. You can see all those collections from the first 10 years here.

There’s a lot to like about digital books. They’re lighter in the backpack and often cheaper than paper books. But a new international report suggests that physical books may be important to raising children who become strong readers.

In early June, a group of Louisiana educators spent a week in floating cabins on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the sweltering heat. "Teacher summer camp," Aimee Hollander, an assistant professor and director of Nicholls State University’s Center for Teaching Excellence, jokingly called it. "Because that’s what it felt like," Hollander said. "Every day we went on a new field trip and we got to meet all these cool scientists and do and see the scientific phenomena in real life."

Adelina “Nina” Otero-Warren was an activist who fought for women’s voting rights during the 20th century. She was the first Latina to run for Congress and the first Latina superintendent of the Santa Fe public schools. She is one of several women whose images are being featured on the U.S. quarter in 2022. The quarter in her honor is set to be released on Aug. 15, 2022.