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Multilingual Education and Bilingual Revolution at the Consulate of Poland

Photo credit: Tomasz Jakubowicz

Multilingual education and the Bilingual Revolution were the focus of an event which took place at the General Consulate of the Republic of Poland in New York and provided the perfect setting for launching Rewolucja dwujęzyczna, the Polish version of my book, The Bilingual Revolution.

On Monday, February 24, a conference organized by Monika Biłas-Henne of the Polish Cultural Institute New York, Superintendent Alicja Winnicki, and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York took place in the DeLamara Palace. The meeting was attended by representatives of the New York Department of Education, directors of public schools, their deputies, teachers from bilingual classes, as well as employees of the administrative department and invited guests representing institutions supporting bilingual programs, including: Dr. Iwona Korga, president of the Piłsudski Institute, Dr. Dorota Andrak, president of the Headquarters of Polish Supplementary Schools, and Andrzej Cierkosz from the Dobra Polska Szkoła Foundation. Also present was Carmen Asselta, director of PS 34 at Greenpoint, who was the first to introduce a Polish-English curriculum to a public school in New York. The conference was also attended by Indiana Soto, director of PS 71 at Ridgewood, who also showed great determination and dedication in starting Polish-English classes in the school she manages.

The Consulate General was represented by consul Kamil Henne, who as the host of the place welcomed all guests, and consul Mateusz Gmura, who led the meeting and was the moderator of the conference discussion part. Its participants were also greeted by the curator Alicja Winnicki, who also introduced the participants of the study trip to Poland, and also told about its genesis. Together with Alain Beugoms, assistant director of PS 34 from Greenpoint, she handed to consul Kamil Henne, head of the New York diplomatic mission, a copy of the picture painted with a view to bilingualism by the Argentine painter Anna Soto at the conference. Andrzej Cierkosz, founder of the Dobra Polska Szkoła Foundation, also spoke. He talked about how this organization supports the creation of bilingual Polish-English programs in American public schools in New York and Chicago. He also presented the short film “Polish English Dual Language Program in New York”, devoted to Polish-English classes in PS 34 at Greenpoint, PS 71 at Ridgewood, at Daniel Street Elementary School in Lindenhurst on Long Island and in Chicago schools.

The conference provided the perfect setting for launching Rewolucja dwujęzyczna, the Polish version of my book, The Bilingual Revolution. The discussion was conducted by Izabela Gola from the Institute of Polish Culture in New York, who together with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland organized the meeting. Adrian Kubicki, director of the Institute of Polish Culture, gave an introduction about my book and myself. After the discussion, the participants received free copies of the book – courtesy of the consulate – which I was happy to sign.

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Adrian Kubicki, director of the Institute of Polish Culture and one of the meeting organizers, was very pleased with the meeting with the author of the book “Bilingual Revolution”. In his opinion, the release of Rewolucja dwujęzyczna and my echange with the audience showed that bilingual programs have a broader context. “This is not just a Polish matter, but of every nationality and nation living in the United States. Everyone should fight for their languages ​​to be present in the American education system, because it translates not only into the cultivation of family traditions of a given community, but above all it gives a chance to promote the country and potentially educate future ambassadors. Ethnic groups that fail to do so are likely to have an economically, socially and culturally less likely to exist in a country like the United States than those who took care of bilingual curricula, “said Adrian Kubicki. He added that the Institute of Polish Culture, which he represents, perceives bilingualism not only in the matter of maintaining the native language by the descendants of Poles living in the United States. (translated from Wojtek Maslanka’s Atuty wielojęzyczności)

“Our perspective is to encourage Americans to learn Polish. I mean both those who have Polish origin and those who have no connection with our country. This is because learning Polish will allow them to later work for relations between Poland and the United States. The second aspect is the fact that you learn culture through language, so this will give Americans the opportunity to learn about Poland, how it looks and how our country works, and what values ​​it brings to the world from the youngest generations in this education, and also how it contributes to building the United States,” explained the director of the Institute of Polish Culture. (translated from Wojtek Maslanka’s Atuty wielojęzyczności)

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Photo credit: Tomasz Jakubowicz and Consulate General of the Republic of Poland