This project entails first of all the development of a coherent foreign language education policy –the first to ever be developed in Greece – so that decisions such as which languages are to be included/excluded from the curriculum, when and how languages are taught are not random. Five scholars from Greek universities will be responsible for the final policy document, which will also draw upon the experience of external experts who will be serving as advisors to the committee of scholars.

The second and largest part of this project aims at developing and implementing a curriculum for English as a foreign language, introduced to children of the first two grades of elementary school, on an experimental basis, in 800 schools throughout Greece. Within the framework of the project, on- and off-line learning materials with fun activities are being developed for classes with young Greek learners, adopting a learning-by-doing pedagogy. EFL teachers already appointed to teach these classes will go through training which will enable them to teach young children. For the development of a posteriori syllabi and learning materials the results of internal evaluation during the first two years of experimental implementation will be taken into account. The results of the third year’s external evaluation will lend insights and findings on which to shape the new curriculum structure.

The projects webpage (http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/englishinschool) is being used as a tool for communication and educational material storage, serving as a pilot site for an English education portal.

The project, running for three years (2010-13) is co-sponsored by the Social European Fund (75 percent) and the Greek state (25percent). The total amount of funding is 3.000.000 Euro. Professor Bessie Dendrinos is institutionally responsible.