St. John’s University hosted my talk on the Bilingual Revolution and the future of education and I enjoyed every minute of it! I was asked to present in French so that everyone in the audience, which included students and faculty from all over the world, could put themselves through an immersive experience in a language that was not theirs. Professor Puig was there to provide some translation when I felt the students needed some help. This bilingual talk idea worked out well. The students seemed to play along and accepted the challenge. They experienced bilingual education firsthand. The next day, I heard from one student from Colombia who said she was able to understand everything. This is what she writes: “I took two courses [of French] in college but until last night I had not been able to prove to myself whether or not I could actually understand the language in a real life setting – and I could….” Kudos to Dean Katia Passerini and Basilio G. Monteiro for coming up with this idea and for inviting me. You might have started a new kind of experience!
Here is a write-up from St. John’s University and below is a recording of my talk and a few pictures to share.
FABRICE JAUMONT 