The DOE is committed to creating a supportive learning environment that reflects the diversity of New York City. If all students benefit from diverse and inclusive schools and classrooms, which are the challenges to multilingualism and multiculturalism at school?

Presenter:
Annavaleria Guazzieri, Director of the Education Office at the Consulate General of Italy

Panelists:
D7 Council Member Mark Levine, volunteer parent and Multilingual Committee Leader at CEC3 Lucas Liu, District 14 Deputy Superintendent Dr. Dawn Best, and Dr. Alison Alexander, Principal of PS 18.

The special education process can be convoluted for immigrant families to New York City. Also, there is a growing issue of how multi language students are diagnosed, and their classification. The purpose of this panel is to discuss what the law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) as well as the state standards and state laws require, to help us better understand the process from early intervention to programs for young adults.

Presenter:
Angela Gigliotti Manessis - MS.Ed: Bilingual Special Education Teacher, Teachers College Columbia University

Panelists:
- Jenny Prince, MS.Ed. Bilingual Special Education Teacher, Kennedy Children's Center, Bank Street College
- Sheila Blachman, PhD; Coordinator of Special Education Bilingual Programs and Online Gifted Education at LehmanCollege
- Ellen McHugh, Regional Program Manager and Regional Coordinator at www.parenttoparent.org
- Shanitah Young, champion for educating the whole child and advancing policy agendas that create equity across race and socio-economic lines.

All home languages and cultures are at risk of erosion unless they are socially accepted and maintained alive. This is particularly true of all those languages which are regarded as ‘minority languages’ in the metropolitan area of New York City.

Presenter:
Francesco Fadda (Co-founder of InItaliano)

Panelists:
- Giuseppe Corongiu (Sardinia)
- Thierry Kranzer (Alsace)
- Marie-Reine Jezequel (Bretagne)
- Daniel Parcerisas (Catalan Institute of America)

Discussion : "Raising happy kids between cultures and languages: effective strategies for bilingual or multilingual families".

Speakers:
- Mariam Ottimofiore, author of the book 'This Messy Mobile Life: How a MOLA can help globally mobile families create a life by design" (Summertime Publishing 2019)
- Sharon Schanzer, Lycée Français de New York parent

Music and language are two communication systems that humans have developed to express ideas, emotions, values and cultural meanings. Neuroscience and cognitive psychology explain that music and language stem from common origins and share some structure of brain processing, which implies that the development and training in one of them has an impact on the other. The purpose of this panel is to explore how music and language are inextricably linked and almost indistinguishable during the early years of development (0 to 8-year-old), and discuss its implications for multilingual education.

Presenter:
Claudia Calì – Ed. D: Music and Music Education, Teachers College Columbia University, Queens College and New York University

Panelists:
- Meryl Sole, Ed.D: Music and Music Education, New York University
- Evelyn Troester De Graf, Ed.D: Ghostlight Chorus and German International School of New York
- Adriana Diaz Donoso, Ed.D: WeBop at Jazz at Lincoln Center
- Valentine Biollay, Primary Music Teacher at Lycée Français de New York