Dual-language classes are flourishing in the United States. With more than 160 bilingual programs across 34 states, French is now America’s second most popular foreign language. In New York, one in ten public schools offers a bilingual education. In Utah, one in five schools is bilingual. And in August, Alaska inaugurated its first two dual-language French-English classes. These bilingual programs...

The first two dual-language French-English classes in Alaska will be launched next August at O’Malley Elementary School, a public school in Anchorage. Despite being isolated, this American state is attracting an increasingly large international population. Alaska is no stranger to bilingualism. After all, the state’s first dual-language program is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year! Japan was one of Alaska’s...

[Partner Article] Located in the heart of Manhattan, The École, which has recently expanded the size of its campus, is getting ready to admit new students to its bilingual program and reaffirm its original educational project.  "Agile Minds, Open Hearts, Bright Futures." This is the motto of The École. Formerly known as the École Internationale de New York (EINY), it...

In the third and final part of our series on bilingualism, Fabrice Jaumont, education specialist and author of The Bilingual Revolution: The Future of Education is in Two Languages, looks at the future of French-English dual-language classes in New York. Fourteen public schools in New York have opened a French-English dual-language program since September 2007. Four have been discontinued due...

In the second part of our series on bilingualism, Fabrice Jaumont, education specialist and author of The Bilingual Revolution: The Future of Education is in Two Languages, explains the role of parents in the creation of the French-English dual-language classes in New York. More than 80,000 people living in New York speak French at home according to the latest data...

In this three-part series on bilingualism, Fabrice Jaumont, educator and author of The Bilingual Revolution: The Future of Education is in Two Languages, looks back over the creation of the first French-English dual-language classes in New York. In April 2006, three determined mothers burst into the office of Giselle Gault-McGee, the principal of the P.S. 58 elementary school in the...

The French-American School of Tampa Bay will open on September 12 on the west coast of Florida. The region’s first French immersion school will teach students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The school’s founder Willy LeBihan is still surprised. “The Tampa area is going through an incredible economic boom and attracting increasing numbers of Francophones, but the nearest French schools...

In the last step of a process which started more than a year ago, the Louisiana Board of Regents met in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, August 22, and allocated the funding required to create a Master’s degree in elementary French immersion education. A first class of ten students will begin the course at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in...

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the state’s Department of Education have approved the creation of a Master's degree in elementary French immersion education. A first class of between five and ten students will begin the course in May 2019. The Louisiana Board of Regents will meet in Baton Rouge on August 22 to allocate the funding required to...

The California Department of Education has announced the creation of 1,200 dual-language programs in public schools over the next 12 years. But some critics say this initiative doesn’t go far enough. California has a population of 40 million people but only seven French-English bilingual public schools. The state intends to make up for this shortcoming through the Global California 2030...

This week-end, Americans will be celebrating Bastille Day by eating crêpes and drinking wine and cheering on the French team in the World Cup final. Foreign language advocate and devoted Francophile Kathleen Stein-Smith takes a look at the influence and impact of French language and culture in the United States. It is possible sit in a café, to have a macaron...

Two dual-language French-English classes are set to open next August at Whitney Young Elementary, a public school in Louisville, Kentucky. The school sees the classes as a chance to help its underprivileged students. The dual-language French-English immersion program was approved in a four-to-one vote by the parent-teacher council at Whitney Young Elementary School on February 27, 2018. "It’s a wonderful...

Fabrice Jaumont has a vision. By the year 2050, the Education Attaché at the French Embassy in New York hopes to have introduced a dual-language program into every school in America. Utah already has one in five schools organized in this way, and French is one of the languages of choice. In fact, with more than 160 bilingual options in...

The school will be opening its doors for the first time on August 21, offering an additional option for the increasing number of Francophone families in Houston. The corridors are freshly painted, the floor has been laid, and the furniture is all in place in the classrooms. The Lycée International de Houston was inaugurated on July 14, 2017, and is...

Boston Opens its First Haitian-English Immersion School

Long the victim of discrimination in Boston schools, Haitian Creole is now on par with Spanish, which has had its own public bilingual program since 1970. Read more in The Atlantic.

Two French-English bilingual classes will open next August at the Pasadena, California, school district. In a state where public schools are rare, this free program is quick to seduce parents. Gary Prézeau is from Sherbrooke in the Quebec province. His wife, Kerry, is Australian. Based in Pasadena, California, since 2001, the couple endeavor to raise their son “in a bilingual environment.” Their five-year-...

On November 8, 2016, Americans will choose who will be their president for the next four years. On the same day, Californian voters will also decide the future of dual-language education in their state. In a sort of direct democracy, 17 propositions are being put to the vote in California this year. They include the abolishment of the death penalty...

In August 2016, Desert Sun Academy became the first public elementary school in Arizona to offer a dual-language immersion program in French and English, available for two kindergarten and first-grade classes. Hayden Enriquez, 5, spends three hours a day learning to count and name the colors of the rainbow in French. She will start learning the alphabet when she arrives...

After eight successful academic years, the Ecole Internationale de New York (EINY) is pushing forward with its “fully bilingual” curriculum in its new buildings. France-Amérique met with Yves Rivaud, the founder and head of the school, in the new nursery, pre-k and kindergarten which opened in September 2015. After working as a French teacher and head of several Franco-American schools...