The International School of Brooklyn honored at the Consulate

A cocktail in honor of the International School of Brooklyn (ISB) was held on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at the Consulate General of France.

Accredited by the New York Department of Education, the International School of Brooklyn offers education from primary school through elementary in the context of language immersion in French and Spanish.

The International School of Brooklyn is wholly dedicated to an educational philosophy which encourages creativity, critical thinking, adaptability and communication between cultures.



To see more pictures of the reception, please visit the Flickr page of the Consulate.

Speech by the Consul General, Philippe Lalliot :

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

I am very happy to welcome you to the Consulate of France for this evening entirely dedicated to the International School of Brooklyn and all those who support it.

When Rebecca Skinner, Isabelle Jouanneau-Fertig and Muriel Stallworth came to se me last December, I had been Consul General here in New York for only three months. They presented their school to me, its history, its educational project and its perspectives for development. They also invited me to visit the school, which I did of course and I must say that I was really impressed.

There is at the school a family atmosphere, relaxed and studious at the same time. I met many children who were clearly happy to be there, which is the proof in my eyes of a successful pedagogy. In visiting this multilingual and multicultural school, we better understand its success.

You began a few years ago with ten or so families. There are around one hundred today and I‘m sure that their number will grow stronger in the years to come. You can, in any event, count on my support to help you.

All that concerns education fascinates me, because I was initially trained to teach, before I betrayed this first love. Teaching for me remains the most beautiful job in the world. It is also because I am the father of three young children and I ask my self often if the education choices that I make are the right ones. Finally, because I am convinced of two things:

First, in today’s world and even more in tomorrow’s, it will be necessary to have an ever-increasing open-mindedness, a capacity to adapt and an interest in others. Nothing will prepare better for this new world than an education which allows one to master languages, discover other cultures and learn about difference. The International School of Brooklyn is among these schools that are forming tomorrow’s “citizens of the world.”

Secondly, at the present time we speak a lot of the “Francophonie”. There was for instance another article on the subject in the New York Times this weekend. I am absolutely convinced that the best investment that France can make to promote its language and culture is in developing curriculums to teach children in French alongside other languages such as English and Spanish, which the International School of Brooklyn does so well. There is no competition but a real complementarity between languages, especially when they are taught to the youngest of children.

You will have understood by now, I am an ardent supporter of the International School of Brooklyn. This school, still young itself, needs our help to achieve its plans.
I hope and I’m sure that there will be more and more of us who believe in this school.

I wish you all an excellent evening.

For more informations : www.isbrooklyn.org/site/about.html