The Multilingual Mind, Alexa Pearce, TEDx NYU

Alexa is a children s book author having written, illustrated, and selfpublished her first picture book, Hannah s Hats, when she was a Freshman at NYU. In her talk, Alexa explores and shares her passion for multilingualism, it s benefits, and more. Alexa Pearce is a Junior from Little Rock, Arkansas. She is an avid Francophile, an expert scone baker, a wannabe runner, and fairweather football fan. She s always loved children s literature; she wrote, illustrated, and selfpublished her first picture book, Hanna s Hats, when she was a Freshman at NYU. Inspired by the multilingualism pervasive in the NYU community, Alexa set out to research bilingual children s literature during her sophomore year, receiving a DURF grant from NYU along the way. Her research led her to develop a new kind of bilingual children s book utilizing the theory in bilingual pedagogy called translanguaging, which gives young students learning multiple languages at once the free