The latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey reports that 1,203,941 people in the U.S. speak French at home.This includes speakers of French Patois and Cajun. These individuals are over 5 years old (count another 4.6% if you want to include children under 5, or 55,380 children). Despite a drop since my last count, French is still the fifth most common non-English language spoken in U.S. households, after Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.
Dans l’épisode 5 du podcast “Révolution Bilingue”, je m’intéresse à la langue française en Louisiane.
Si le français revit ces dernières années en Louisiane, on le doit notamment à Joseph Dunn, qui se bat depuis des années, avec d’autres, pour le bilinguisme et la défense du français. Lorsque la Louisiane est entrée dans l’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie l’an dernier, “mon rêve est devenu réalité” dit-il.
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173 schools, 94 cities, 34 states! These are the recent data on French dual-language immersion programs in the U.S.
I am thrilled to keynote during DC’s upcoming Multilingual Education Fair on January 26. Co-sponsored by the key education institutions of the District, the fair features 100 exhibitors covering 12 languages to allow you to explore and deepen your linguistic and cultural skills, and learn about careers where language skills are crucial.
The Fair will be located on the Gallaudet University campus at the I. King Jordan Student Academic Center (800 Florida Ave NE, Washington DC 20002).
Last Saturday, I participated in a panel on the future of bilingual and multilingual education in Mexico with Cristina Rascón (writer, literary translator, and director of Skribalia, a global school of online writers), Jonathan Payne (International Baccalaureate teacher at Churchill College) and Renata Somar (guitarist, literary translator, regional coordinator of Proyecto Échange , and director of Pli selon pli agency).
Cieszę się, widząc nowy polsko-angielski program dwujęzyczny rozpoczynający swoją działalność w PS 71 w Ridgewood, Queens. Jest to drugie tego typu przedsięwzięcie w Nowym Jorku, po programie założonym w PS 34 w Greenpoint na północy Brooklynu, w 2015 roku.
Niedawny artykuł Radia Polska omawia rozwój szkolnych oddziałów dwujęzycznych w Nowym Jorku, a zwłaszcza klas angielsko-polskich w Greenpoint i Ridegwood. Autor tego artykułu wspomina również o mojej książce “The Bilingual Revolution”, której jeden z rozdziałów poświęcony jest otwarciu pierwszego polsko-angielskiego programu w Greenpoint.
I was thrilled to take part in the Third International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages in Los Angeles (February 16–17, 2018). The conference was organized by National Heritage Language Resource and focused on heritage and community language studies as a multi-disciplinary field. Papers, posters, and panels relevant to heritage language research and pedagogy were presented from the perspective of disciplines that include, but are not limited to, the following: anthropology, education, applied linguistics, linguistics, assessment, policy, bilingualism, psychology, demographics, sociology.
I presented in a panel with Jane Ross (New York University) and Maya Smith (University of Washington), and was honored to represent the FACE Foundation, which has hosted the French Heritage Language Program since 2005. Our talk, entitled “Multiculturalism and Multilingualism: Creative Teaching Techniques in the Heritage Language Classroom,” featured the French Heritage Language Program which has sought to address the needs of underserved French-speaking communities throughout the U.S. With the goal of “making French an asset for new Americans,” the FHLP creates a space where these students can construct their identities as multilingual speakers and learn the value of their various cultural backgrounds. You can download our PowerPoint presentation here: Ross_Smith_Jaumont_NHLRC18
Related Articles:
La revolución bilingüe: una nueva guía escrita desde la experiencia misma ayuda a padres y educadores a establecer programas educativos bilingües en el sistema escolar estadounidense. La historia de un movimiento local que surgió en Nueva York.
El libro La revolución bilingüe: El futuro de la educación está en dos idiomas, cuenta la historia de un movimiento local que surgió como producto del devoto involucramiento de una serie de padres, educadores y actores de la comunidad que se sintieron motivados y dispuestos a fundar y a apoyar programas bilingües en las escuelas públicas de la ciudad de Nueva York. Continue reading
I was invited to speak at a live panel entitled ” Raising Multilingual Children: From Home to School and Back,” alongside Rita Roseback, Family Language Coach and founder of Multilingual parenting website, Marianna du Bosq, host of the Bilingual Avenue podcast, William Rivers, Executive Director of the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL). The panel, organized by Language Learning Summit, was hosted by Tetsu Yung who, among many other things, organizes LangFest Montreal.
I recently took part in a broadcast panel discussion on bilingual education at the CCTV Center for Media & Democracy (Channel 17) in Burlington, Vermont, to both present my book, The Bilingual Revolution, and support efforts to create a bilingual educational experience in the school system of Burlington. Host Steve Norman, Francophile and activist, took part in this discussion alongside Congo-born Cleophace Mukeba, Vermont Ibutwa Initiative founder, and Burlington City Council President Jane Knodell. Continue reading
Fabrice Jaumont 