ELL News Headlines

Third-graders at Liberty Oaks Elementary in Kansas City, MO, are literally planting the seeds of sustainability and generosity. As part of the school’s Garden Project, they’re creating a seed library for home gardeners and developing a reading garden for their school.

Teachers can carefully chunk information to support newcomer students in learning grade-level content while developing their English proficiency.

A New Mexico school district has won the National Spanish Spelling Bee six times since the event began in 2011. Three of its students have won twice — each in back-to-back years.

Veronica Alvarez was 4 when her family came to the U.S. from Cotija in Michoacán, Mexico, a small town famed for its cheese. Her father picked avocados amid the scorching heat in the San Fernando Valley, while her mother cleaned houses. One of nine children, she learned how to scrimp and save, how to work hard and how to dream big.

“We were so poor, I knew not to ask for much,” said Alvarez, 52, now executive director of Los Angeles-based Create

Jahin Rahman is a first-generation American college graduate from New York City and an alum of the University of Pennsylvania. In this personal essay, Jahin writes, "Standing at the top of the escalator, I had the chance to take a good look at the entire Penn bookstore, with its branded school merchandise ranging from short-sleeved tees to baby overalls to shot glasses. I took a deep breath. 'I am finally here,' I thought to myself."

We expect toddlers to have temper tantrums. A lack of oral-language skills, the inability to regulate emotions, and inexperience with socializing in group settings can all lead to outbursts in 2- and 3-year-olds. This behavior isn’t considered developmentally appropriate for kindergarten-aged children—but according to educators, it’s becoming more common.

Larry Ferlazzo is a well-respected teacher, both in the Sacramento high school where he taught for more than two decades and far beyond. He has spent much of his career teaching immigrant students and English language learners. He’s written 10 books about teaching and edited 3 more. He also maintains a personal blog and a column for teachers, where he shares resources and tips for a following of tens of thousands. Now he’s retiring. In this episode, he shares how he became the teacher he is and some words of wisdom for other teachers who will carry his baton.

The accolades keep coming for nonfiction picture books that dare to offer facts and true stories to elementary-aged readers. We cannot wait for autumn, when it's time for a whole other harvest of titles that keep children reading and learning.

Posting visual references to reinforce structure, routines, and expectations helps establish classroom culture and start the year strong.

The Trump administration will temporarily pause enforcement of a new policy that prohibits undocumented children from attending Head Start and keeps undocumented high schoolers out of dual enrollment and early college programs after 21 Democratic attorneys general sued over the new rules.