Thank you Selma Talha-Jebril and Mirka Martel for featuring my research on foundations in this brilliant report which explores philanthropy’s role in funding international scholarship and fellowship programs. Framed by Ford Foundation and Institute of International Education, this research paper addresses a gap in the literature on foundations which fund international scholarship and fellowship programs around the world, particularly those whose focus is on social justice, equity and access.
The Center for the Advancement of Languages, Education, and Communities has announced the following call for papers. In this book, we wish to examine the potential of multilingual education across the countries of Africa and in diverse sectors. Authors are invited to present an essay about the local applications of various models of dual-language education and the ways to encourage their growth and scale. This book will seek to offer a positive and constructive vision for the future and will try to combat the myths and received ideas about bilingualism and education in Africa, namely, ignorance and obstacles that have retarded the development of dual-language education as a strategy for inclusiveness and equity as well as a means to achieve economic growth and develop human capital within Africa’s multilingual environments. The goal of the Bilingual Revolution is to advocate for a multilingual education for all, but to do so, we must raise the awareness about the importance and the advantages of multilingual education, including African languages used as teaching languages for the basis of education, for Africa and to reach as many people as possible. One is allowed to dream, and so, each author submitting a paper to become a chapter of this book is invited to share his or her dream for the future of education on the continent.
Honored to see my book on American Foundations and African Universities so prominently featured in France’s new strategy on the role of philanthropy in financing global development. Philanthropic practices for development are growing in number across the globe, mainly in Africa and especially in the health sector. In Europe, philanthropic actors are becoming more structured. In France, foundations are increasingly interested in international development, as can be seen in their mobilization in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Through their structural and operational specificity, linked to their flexibility of action and innovation, foundations have a full role to play in international development, alongside public actors. Strengthening synergies of action and partnerships between the French government and foundations, with a view to contributing to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
L’invité de ce 23ème épisode de Révolution Bilingue est un homme qui compte dans l’éducation bilingue. Bernard Manuel est président de l’École active bilingue Jeannine Manuel, aujourd’hui située sur trois campus à Paris, Lille et Londres et considérée comme le meilleur lycée de France depuis 8 années consécutives, avec un réseau d’anciens élèves influent qui compte des personnalités comme Antony Blinken, secrétaire d’État des États-Unis.
Ellen Bialystok est l’une des spécialistes mondiales de la recherche sur les effets cognitifs du bilinguisme. Autrement dit, elle sait tout sur le cerveau bilingue.
Elle est mon invitée pour ce nouvel épisode de Révolution Bilingue et nous explique qu’un cerveau bilingue est un cerveau actif et en meilleure santé, surtout avec l’âge. Ses recherches ont par ailleurs démontré que le bilinguisme est un outil puissant pour lutter contre la démence et même la maladie d’Alzheimer chez les patients plus âgés.
My next talk is on April 28 for the 2021 European Language Label ceremony. The conference and presentation are organized by The European Commission, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, FOREM, Bruxelles Formation, AEF-Europe and Epale. The aim of the European Language Label is to promote and encourage innovative initiatives in the teaching and learning of languages. It rewards new approaches in the field of language teaching, contributes to their notoriety and thus promotes good practices. By supporting innovative initiatives at local and national level, the Label seeks to improve the quality of language education in Europe.
Imagine an America where kids have even more chance for success, thanks to their experiences in dual language and community-based heritage language schools. Where businesses gain an edge globally because they can literally speak their customers’ language. Where lifelong learners can become more than tourists in other countries and finely hone their brainpower. Join us on May 6 for a conversation with Steve Leveen and Fabrice Jaumont presented by The Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools & The Center for the Advancement of Languages, Education, and Communities.
For International Francophonie Day, I will give a talk about The Bilingual Revolution: The Future of Education is in Two Languages at the invitation of the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection.
I was thrilled to chat with Maria-Cristina Necula during this interview for Woman Around Town where we touched on the benefits of language learning both personally and globally, and why we should encourage our children to become multilingual. Maria-Cristina is a true example of this: She speaks six languages, two of which she honed at the Sorbonne University in Paris and the University of Vienna, and she holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The Graduate Center. Woman Around Town was founded by Debra Toppeta and Charlene Giannetti to help other women — natives and recent arrivals — get the best out of New York and Washington, D.C. Read the interview here.
