A new McGraw-Hill Education survey shows that while social and emotional learning challenges still present hurdles for English Learners (ELs), the state of English Learning in the U.S. is improving rapidly, with most educators indicating they are optimistic about ELs ability to succeed academically. More than 460 teachers and administrators in K-12 schools across the…
Despite multiple studies pointing to teacher professional development as being the most decisive factor in student achievement, funding for such programs can still be hard to find, and there are plenty of different opinions on what types of program are most beneficial. Last month, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a grant program…
French heroine, Joan of Arc The use of the feminine form of job titles has finally been accepted by members of the Académie Française, the guardians of the French language. The Academy’s first online dictionary includes “feminized” versions of occupations alongside the longstanding masculine nouns, such as professeure for a female teacher or ingénieur for…
Hokkaido, home to the last speakers of Ainu The Japanese government has endorsed a bill to officially recognize the Ainu ethnic minority as an indigenous people of Japan for the first time and calls for “the creation of a society in which they can take pride in their heritage.” However, the move may have come…
According to new research published in Developmental Science and carried out at Canada’s York University, babies who hear two languages at home develop advantages in attention. In the study, infants who were exposed to more than one language showed better attentional control than infants who were exposed to only one language. This means that exposure to…
Genevieve Finn examines two incidents of influential Americans demanding English be used by speakers of Asian languages which have sparked widespread criticism In late January, Duke University professor and head of the School of Medicine’s Master of Biostatistics program Megan Neely sent an email to students entitled, “Something to think about,” in which she asked…
Weakening of districts and unions through increased “charterization” was at the heart of the dispute Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesAs the teachers’ strike in the nation’s second-largest school district (Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD)) with the highest number (over 160,000) of English language learners (ELLs) comes to an end after six days,…
Learning Upgrade’s App XPRIZE, in partnership with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, has announced two grand prize winners of the Adult Literacy XPRIZE, a multi-year, multi-phase competition focused on transforming the lives of low-literate adults across the nation. Launched on former first lady Barbara Bush’s 90th birthday in…
Venezuelan activist, actress, and model Patricia Velásquez has been designated as the Organization of American States (OAS) Goodwill Ambassador for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.Velásquez, who is descended on her mother’s side from the Wayúu Taya people, said she will fight for the rights of all indigenous peoples. “It is an honor…
Lau Noah is a singer-songwriter from Reus, Spain who recently performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk series—a web series that showcases emerging and established musicians in a pared-down format similar to 90’s TV show, MTV Unplugged. Noah is multilingual and speaks Catalan, Spanish, English, and Hebrew. “There’s a language we speak in the Northeast of Spain…