Join us for an informative event about the state of the art of Italian Dual Language programs in NYC’s Public Schools with teachers, principals, bilingualism experts, representatives of the DOE and published author Fabrice Jaumont for the launch of the Italian translation of his book “The Bilingual Revolution:” La Rivoluzione Bilingue, Il futuro dell’istruzione in due lingue, TBR Books, 2019.
Discussion will be followed by a toast to the growing Italian bilingualism initiatives in NYC!
On November 2nd, 2019 the CALEC Team participated in the 3rd “ICH BIN EXPAT FAIR”. This event gathered more than 40 exhibitors who presented their services and products to German-speaking expats and their families. Among the exhibitors there were German schools, Kindergartens, publishers of kids’ books, cosmetology, healthy food and many more. It was great to see that the German speaking community of New York is highly interested in preserving their heritage and involving their kids in it. During the event visitors were offered to attend experts’ talks, workshops and kids programs.
At this event CALEC presented its’ books and introduced the interested visitors with Center’s activities and goals. The books focused on bilingualism and multiculturalism, particularly the “Die Bilinguale Revolution” generated a genuine interest among parents planning to choose the bilingual education for their children. The team members were able to share CALEC’s experience in supporting multilingual communities and assisting to establish bilingual programs.
Imagine you’ve just arrived at a salsa dance class, only to discover that you’re the only person wearing gym shoes. Suddenly, you feel ill equipped and out of place. Your ability to master this beautiful dance is severely hindered.
Expanding on this metaphor, Tammy Oberg de la Garza and Alyson L. Lavigne, explore troublesome cultural gaps Latino students often face in school. The book addresses several themes such as the historical context of racial discrimination, identity issues, loss of one’s language, immigration, bilingualism, cultural heritage, and other barriers Latino’s have faced and still face today. Each chapter combines personal essays with research and theory in order to get the reader to step into the shoes of a Latino student and understand their world. Each chapter then ends with effective classroom practices that all teachers can use to interact with their Latino students more efficiently.
Salsa Dancing in Gym Shoes: Developing Cultural Competence to Foster Latino Student Success aims to help develop and expand the cultural competence of preservice and veteran teachers that aren’t wearing the same “shoes” as Latino students and helps educators gain practical strategies to create positive and safe learning environments for their Latino students.
This book is a must read for all teachers that work with the Latino population. It brought back memories of my own educational experiences and I resonated with so many of the stories, but I also realized that school never taught me to teach Latino students like me- which brought me to adapt Anglo-teaching methods… this book really opened my eyes, taught me to unlearn old practices, and learn new methods to teach my (future) students effectively. – Abigail Sanchez
It is with great sadness that we learned about the passing of our esteemed colleague Tomoko Nakano who served on CALEC’s Advisory Committee and translated Fabrice Jaumont’s The Bilingual Revolution in Japanese. Tomoko was School Principal at Brooklyn Nihongo Gakuen in New York. A fervent advocate of Japanese heritage language and dual-language education, she contributed to the success of New York’s first Japanese dual-language program at PS147 in Brooklyn.
Passage par Washington pour ce douzième épisode de Révolution bilingue en partant à la rencontre de Vanessa Bertelli. Cette suissesse multilingue engagée, fondatrice de DC Immersion, une organisation à but non lucratif qui a changé la donne en matière d’éducation bilingue dans la ville en multipliant les plaidoyers en faveur du multilinguisme et en encourageant les éducateurs et les parents à monter des filières bilingues dans les écoles publiques. Quand la Révolution bilingue s’empare de la capitale américaine !
Passage par Washington pour ce douzième épisode de Révolution bilingue en partant à la rencontre de Vanessa Bertelli. Cette suissesse multilingue engagée, fondatrice de DC Immersion, une organisation à but non lucratif qui a changé la donne en matière d’éducation bilingue dans la ville en multipliant les plaidoyers en faveur du multilinguisme et en encourageant les éducateurs et les parents à monter des filières bilingues dans les écoles publiques. Quand la Révolution bilingue s’empare de la capitale américaine !
On
October 20th, 2019, the CALEC team took a field trip to Copiague, New York to
participate in the 2019 Polish Bilingual Day at Polonia of Long Island. This family-oriented
event featured celebrations of Polish language and culture through music,
dance, and presentations from members of the Polish American community. One of
the events main features was a presentation by the students and teachers of
Kids Academy in Lindenhurst, a Polish language day care program, during which
they highlighted their knowledge of the Polish language through games and
songs. CALEC brought copies of its Polish translation of The Bilingual
Revolution, and representatives spoke about CALEC’s mission and advocacy
for dual-language education. They also provided resources to eventgoers interested
in CALEC’s work and interviewed members of the Polish American community about
the role of bilingualism in their lives.
Since the creation and documentation of Greenpoint’s Polish-English dual-language program in 2015, more Polish speaking parents and teachers have been inspired to advocate for similar programs in their own schools. Events like Polish Bilingual Day provide fantastic opportunities for communities to come together to celebrate their linguistic heritage and discuss education as a tool to further integrate bilingualism into their communities.
CALEC was in East Harlem on October 9th and 13th participating in the bilingual fair organized by La Fortaleza Community Development Corporation. El Festival del Libro [The Festival of Books] was the 7th annual bilingual Hispanic Heritage Month Literary Event that featured readings, workshops, and performances in both English and Spanish. Its purpose is to celebrate the bilingual heritage of Latin@ writers and offered a great networking opportunity to the community.
El Festival Del Libro created a safe space for bilingual Latin@ writers to showcase their work, learn from each other, support each other, and build connections to empower each other. The event held multiple cultural workshops in dance, wellness, music, and writing to celebrate Latin@ cultures.
CALEC was present at the event as a publishing resource, showcasing some of TBR Books’ multilingual titles, and as an avid promoter of bilingual education. Participants were excited to learn about CALEC’s work and received a code to obtain our Bilingual Revolution e-book for free. The CALEC team fostered relationships with Latin@ writers, organizations, wellness coaches, and cultural dance teachers, building a network among a diverse community. Through this service CALEC demonstrated its commitment to support a diverse community and authors engaged in multilingual education and cultural development. CALEC thanks La Fortaleza Community Development Corporation for allowing us to be a part of their event and community, gracias!
“It is important that we create a space for our authors because no one else will… we need to support each other”, said Felix, the event coordinator of this festival.
CALEC was in Philadelphia on October 6th to participate in the bilingual forum organized by PhilaFLAM in order to emphasize the importance of learning new languages, and of choosing a bilingual education all the way to college. French, German, Spanish, and English were languages represented during the fair which also offered a series of conferences including one by Fabrice Jaumont – world expert and CALEC’s author of the Bilingual Revolution on the implementation of bilingual programs in public schools.
More information: http://ecole.philaflam.com/salon-orientation-bilingue/
On September 26 –the European Day of Languages set to help raise awareness for multilingualism in Europe– CALEC president Fabrice Jaumont was invited to Brussels for the 2nd European Education Summit and presented a U.S. perspective on the growth and potential of dual-language education, particularly as European nations seek to adopt new educational approaches to educating the youth while accepting more immigrant families into their school systems.
Read the full article here
