French Bilingual Revolution in New York’s Public Schools
UncategorizedSophie Bellot
French-English bilingual programs in New York City’s public schools are growing.
The programs were developed not only to serve the French families who had initiated after-school programs, but also to meet the needs of a growing number of diverse Francophone immigrant children who are emergent bilinguals, better known as English Language Learners A true bilingual revolution is taking place in New York’s public schools.
In order to succeed, French-English bilingual programs in New York require a solid tri-partite partnership –– strong commitment from the schools’ leadership, very qualified and dedicated teachers, and ceaseless involvement from the parents at all levels. Schools hosting these programs also benefit from the diversity of the population they serve and the diversity of the teaching
staff, able to incorporate linguistic and cultural differences into their pedagogy. This model is also rich in cognitive advancement and beneficial to the brain’s executive control functions as neuroscience researchers have come to consensus about.