National Arabic Heritage Celebrations (Flyer)

• National Arabic Cultural Celebration is to highlight the perspectives across the Arab diaspora, exploring the terms Arab, Middle Eastern/North African, and Southwest Asia/North Africa. BPS/OEL is collaborating with community organizations and members to host several activities that highlight the diversity in Arab culture as well as PDs for educators to raise their cultural and historical awareness.

Latinx Heritage Celebrations (Flyer)

• BPS/OEL is hosting six interactive conversations and activities to celebrate Latinx Heritage all year. Subjects include identity, race, history, culture and music. These events will be moderated by José Massó and Yara Liseaga-Rojas.

Haitian Heritage Celebrations (Flyer)

• In collaboration with the community, the Office of English Learners invites BPS families, students, staff/personnel, and community members to celebrate Haitian Heritage with us. We are hosting three events to celebrate Haitian history, culture, music, dance, and storytelling.

AAPI Heritage Celebrations

• AAPI heritage celebration activities will include cultural events, trivia nights, scavenger hunt, art/writing contests and karaoke night for students and families, as well as a series of Vietnamese, Chinese/Mandarin language classes for educators. 
  • AAPI Scavenger Hunt (Flyer)
  • Live Karaoke Contest (Flyer)

Who We Are

The Boston Public Schools (BPS) has made high quality instruction for English Learners (ELs) a top priority and provides various instructional programs and services to help students learn academic English as they learn content in all subject areas. Boston Public Schools enrolls over 17,000 English Learner students, representing 31% of the District’s total student population. An additional 13% of students (more than 7,000) are former English Learners who have attained English proficiency while enrolled in BPS.

What We Do

Our goal is that all ELs will graduate as lifelong learners with 21st century skills in order to succeed in college and careers. This is evidenced by the Office of English Learner’s (OEL) vision statement: to provide a culturally and linguistically responsive education with the supports needed to ensure equitable access to opportunities that promote language acquisition, bilingualism, biliteracy and lifelong learning.