I have been so honored to be a part of the Fulbright Specialist program this past February and March 2018 in Barranquilla, Colombia at the Universidad del Norte. I’ve worked for the past few weeks with colleagues at the Instituto de Idiomas on a new undergraduate program: Lenguas Modernas y Culturas. This program has a special focus on not only teaching multiple languages (students will be proficient in two and know a third upon graduation), but also integrating ideas of critical citizenship, discourse studies, and global perspectives into their coursework.
On March 16, I presented some thoughts on this ambitious goal, based upon my own (and colleagues’) work on dual language/two-way immersion programs and transnational/lingual youth in the US (Heiman, 2017; Kim, 2018; Layton, 2017). This work is also inspired by colleagues in citizenship education, such as Nicole Mirra and Thea Abu El-Haj.
I welcome your ideas and feedback on this Foro Fulbright!
“Our future is not in the stars but in our own minds and hearts. Creative leadership and liberal education, which in fact go together, are the first requirements for a hopeful future for humankind. Fostering these–leadership, learning, and empathy between cultures–was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program that I was privileged to sponsor in the U.S. Senate over forty years ago. It is a modest program with an immodest aim–the achievement in international affairs of a regime more civilized, rational and humane than the empty system of power of the past. I believed in that possibility when I began. I still do.”
[J. William Fulbright, From The Price of Empire]