Bilingualism & Language Acquisition

Global Partnership in Education
Established in 2002, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is comprised of close to 60 developing countries, donor governments, international organizations, the private sector, teachers, and civil society/NGO groups.  Their objectives are to 

1. Support education in fragile and conflict-affected states
2. Promote girls' education
3. Increase basic numeracy and literacy skills in primary school
4. Improve teacher effectiveness through training and recruitment
5. Expand funding and support to education in GPE countries

International Federation of Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies (IFRC)      
The IFRC is the world's largest humanitarian organization, providing assistance without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. The IFCR works on Disaster response and recovery, development and capacity building, and on promoting social inclusion and peace.  Resources include:

A.  Disaster Law Database
B.  Federation Wide Databank and Reporting System
C.  Red Cross Red Crescent’s Learning Platform

United Nations
The United Nations four main purposes are 1) To keep peace throughout the world; 2) To develop friendly relations among nations; 3) To help nations work together to improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms; and 4) To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve these goals.  Of special interest are the following:

Emergency Coalition for Global Education Action
The UN Special Envoy for Global Education established to address the global education crisis. 

United Nations Refugee Council (UNHCR)
The UNHCR is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide.  It is committed to increasing its ability to respond to complex emergency situations including life-saving aid to help with shelter, health, water, education and more.

UNESCO strives to build networks among nations by mobilizing for education and building intercultural understanding through protection of heritage and support for cultural diversity

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF is active in more than 190 countries and territories around the world.  Its efforts include:  Child protection and social inclusion, providing evidence-based child survival, nutrition and environmental interventions; advocating for free compulsory basic education and gender equity; HIV/Aids awareness, child protection, policy advocacy and partnerships

SIL International
SIL International (originally known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc.)  is a faith-based nonprofit organization committed to serving language communities worldwide as they build capacity for sustainable language development. SIL does this primarily through research, translation, training and materials development. SIL works alongside ethnolinguistic communities and their partners as they discover how language development addresses the challenging areas of their daily lives—social, cultural, political, economic and spiritual without regard to religious background, political ideology, gender, race or ethnolinguistic background.

National Clearing House for English Language Acquisition (NCELA)
NCELA supports the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA)in its mission to respond to Title III educational needs, and implement NCLB as it applies to English language learners (ELLs). Resources include:

• Webinars which provide participants from around the country an opportunity to hear expert speaker's present research on all aspects of ELL education.
• NCELA Publications include single copies most of which are available at no cost. Most items can be downloaded at no cost, regardless of the number of downloads.
• Technical Assistance Network which provides links to U.S. Government offices, Government-funded Centers, Non-Profit and Professional Organization, Technical Assistance for the Teaching of World Languages, and Regional Technical Assistance Centers.
• English Learner Data Sources contains a wealth of data on this topic.  Click on the pdf below to access the list of resources

The Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) overseas, and the Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS) in the United States are part of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).  Their purpose is to educate, engage, and empower each student attending DoDEA schools to succeed in a dynamic world.  Resources include reports, parent guides, budgets books, strategic plans, multimedia resources.  Other useful resources include:

• DoDEA Data Center
• Curriculum Programs, Features, and Resources
• Special Education
• Standard of Learning Modules

State Department Office of Overseas Schools

The U.S. Department of State provides assistance to 197 overseas schools through direct and indirect support programs designed to promote an American-style program.  They also provide a list of Schools at Posts which includes U.S. and non-U.S. curriculum, religious, proprietary, and local public schools.  Families with children with special needs, whether learning disabled or gifted, will find information that may be useful as they seek overseas assignments.