Jennifer Wilkin

Jennifer Wilkin is the Director of Science, Language & Arts International School (SLA), a French and Mandarin immersion Nursery through Grade 8 school in New York City. A linguist and bilingual education specialist, her language learning books for children and adults are published by Macmillan, Cambridge, and National Geographic Learning.

A frequent guest panelist on multilingualism and bilingual education, Jennifer is also a student of Mandarin and a fluent speaker of French. Prior to founding SLA, she helped build and launch the New York French-American Charter School, a bilingual charter school in Harlem. She acquired Bonjour NY French immersion camps and expanded them to include Mandarin and Spanish.

A staunch proponent of using proven brain-development research to inform teaching practice, she insists that the SLA approach always reflect how children learn best. Formerly a professional violinist, she also feels strongly about arts education. Jennifer's most important role, however, is the one she is most proud of: that of mother to a thriving trilingual musician and artist.