How do you say TELENOVELA in English?

The correct term is not Telenovel. That does not exist. In English a novel is a story, usually still in written format and not necessarily a romantic one. Of course, novels are usually made into TV series, or movies but it is not that then they are called Telenovels. They are just a series or a movie.

In Spanish pretty much a novel is the same as in English: a long story in written format, a book if you will. The difference is that the average Latin American hears the term novela and usually associates that with TV productions that in English are called SOAP OPERAS.  In Spanish a Soap Opera is a TELENOVELA and it is always a romantic story that sometimes drag on forever: some may have more than three hundred episodes and they are quite popular not only in Latin America but also in other parts of the world.
SOAP OPERAS are called like that because these productions were first made in the United States, not in Latin America.Since the beginning these productions used this unbelievable resource of the rich boy and the poor girl who fall in love with each other but cannot be together because of somebody's machinations. A lot of tears in every episode so that is why they were nicknamed "operas" and because the sponsor were usually companies that sold soap ( most of the audience were housewives ) the two terms became one item and thus the term SOAP OPERA was created. But in Spanish they are just called TELENOVELAS and the queen of them all is the Mexican singer turned actress then turned singer again, Thalía (shown in the picture).