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Amidst the sweeping success of the French-English dual-language programs, a true “bilingual revolution” is taking place in New York City. These public school programs are some of the fastest growing and most successful models of their kind, and a testament to the power of bilingual education. Launched in 2007 with one teacher and a class of 24 students in Brooklyn, the dual-language programs have since grown to serve over 1,000 students with over 50 teachers in six elementary schools and two middle schools throughout the city. The demand for these enriching and rewarding programs is only expected to grow in the future, which makes the need to support and invest in the programs greater than ever.

 

Dual-language programs serve both native and non-native French-speaking students in the same classroom and foster multicultural understanding and intellectual curiosity. French is not taught as a foreign language, but rather as the language of instruction for half of the general content material. The immersive and stimulating environment provides for fast language learning that quickly develops into fluency in both languages.

 

Recently, on New York State standardized tests, children in dual-language programs averaged higher scores than those of their monolingual peers across all subject areas—illustrating that the mental flexibility that develops while learning two languages can positively impact other subject areas, such as mathematics and critical thinking.  In addition to the academic advantages, at a young age children in bilingual programs receive many of the benefits of travel to, and life in, other countries. Bilingualism prepares students at a young age for a global future in an increasingly globalized world, where they can use the tools they have learned in the classroom to achieve success.

 

This year the Cultural Services of the French Embassy is conducting a campaign to raise $2.8 million dollars to expand dual-language programs. As of September 2014, we will grow to serve over 1,300 students throughout New York City, in 10 schools from pre-K to 7th grade. The money raised will go to purchase French textbooks and supplementary language materials, as well as various teacher development and scholarship programs to ensure the quality of each DLP classroom.

 

We currently have more than 50 teachers but, simply put, we need more. This fall, the French Embassy and French-American Cultural Exchange have partnered with the Société des Professeurs Français et Francophone d’Amérique to offer an annual scholarship to a cohort of future bilingual teachers. The scholarship encourages exceptional students to embrace the teaching profession and serve future public school students in one of the city’s French dual-language programs.

 

Through our fundraising campaign and scholarship initiative, we hope to continue to improve the French-English dual-language programs while ensuring their success for the future. It is not without the support of the community that these programs have achieved such abundant success, and we call upon any parents, educators, friends, community members or enthusiasts to lend a hand in the building of these unique and outstanding programs. The bilingual revolution is underway. Are you in?

Visit www.facecouncil.org/dlp to find more information on our programs and donate to our cause 

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