March 13, 2020
On February 26, 2020 Dr. Fabrice Jaumont, Education Attaché Embassy of France in the United States, presented to an audience of curious students, faculty and staff the concept of a new revolution: the bilingual revolution. Dr. Jaumont called this idea “a revolution” because the integration of bilingual education in public schools in NYC – an active program that he is supporting - is nothing short than the result of the action and vision of a few revolutionaries: savvy administrators, educational and inter-governmental communities and, above all, the parents who have advocated and pushed for this revolution.
His presentation was delivered in French, with a Q&A mostly in English, with the help of Dr. Steve Puig, Assistant Professor of French at St. John’s University, who helped with partial translation and interpretation at selected points during the presentation. The choice to deliver the presentation in French was made to underscore how important a full immersion in a foreign language is and to better empathize with the message and the vision of the author.
Dr. Jaumont, who lives in New York City since 2001, is the author of five books. The one that he presented in February (The Bilingual Revolution: The Future of Education is in Two Languages) has been translated in 8 languages so far. The Collins College of Professional Studies, the Institute for International Communication and the Department of Languages and Literature at St. John’s College partnered to run this series of Global Conversations to accomplish the same dream that Fabrice is pushing: reminding us of the importance of multilingual education and its role in fostering understanding and respect of others’ culture. There is no better way of doing so by engaging with the language and the literature from other countries. Dr. Basilio Monteiro coordinates this series, which has already completed programming in Spanish, Italian, and now French.
Stay tuned as there are many more languages to explore. If you personally know of foreign authors who would be willing to present their book in their original language, please contact monteirb@stjohns.edu
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