In the present society of information and knowledge it is required that each citizen receive a quality education, with curricula that promote the acquisition of plurilingual and intercultural competences that favor the understanding of their own culture and the communication with the Other. There are several European documents promoting this type of education, namely the White Paper on Education and Training (1995), the Living Languages ​​Recommendation (1998), the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001), Promoting Language Learning and linguistic diversity: a plan of action (2004-2006), among others.

It is in this context that we present a research project that intends to implement, monitor and evaluate a bilingual education project, using CLIL Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) methodology (Coyle, 2010; Marsh, 2010, Mehisto, 2008), in the 1st Cycle of Basic Education. As a case study, this pilot project will be implemented in the College of Sardão, and the School of Education of the Polytechnic of Oporto will collaborate.

In addressing the challenge of language teaching in the context of globalization, we have assumed bilingualism as a fundamental tool for each community to express itself and make itself understood, whether in its mother tongue or in other languages ​​that function as “lingua franca”. We believe that the teaching of foreign languages ​​in the 1st CEB should exist in a contiguous relationship with the mother tongue and schooling, through oral and written activities and in specific curricular areas (CERI, 2002: 10).