Abstract:

In this communication we will explore the development and implementation of multidisciplinary and bilingual and/or plurilingual projects in educational centers with young and very young learners. The main goals in the delineation of such projects should be the effective practice of a globalized teaching and the development of the plurilingual communicative competence defined the 1.3 section of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. We will discuss, and question, the infrequent presence, in practice, of these projects in the early stages of formal education in our Community, Galicia. We believe this fact is a very problematic matter given the importance of introducing foreign languages in the early stages of childhood, as proven by the theories of Lennenberg or Krashen, both for language acquisition in general and for the development of communicative competence. As professors of the subject “Didactics of a Foreign Language” In the School of Education at the University of A Coruña, we encourage our future teachers to study and develop such projects, which are particularly interesting given the peculiarity of our Autonomous Community, Galicia, where young students are required by legislation to be educated at least in two main languages, Spanish and Galician. We will commence by considering the theoretical framework which defines the benefits of the introduction of plurilingual policies at early stages. Then, we will analyze the role of the current legislation -European, Spanish and Galicia- in the promotion of the implementation of these projects in the formal education institutions. And after that, it is important to consider the actual reasons that might justify scarce or inefficient presence of them in our schools. We will conclude our presentation by sketching the basic outline of an efficient plurilingual project, after analyzing previous good practices in European Schools which work in coordination the Council of Europe, in order to present examples of projects designed by our university students.

Keywords:

Plurilingualism, Projects, Pre-Primary, Primary.