ABSTRACT
The year 1978 was the one in which the author came to live and work in London and also the year when the Bilingual Under Fives Project (BUF), run by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), started. Accompanying the work of BUF and other organisations within the ILEA, the debate began in schools and settings about how children born out of the UK, from different belief systems and speaking languages other than English, could possibly succeed in educational system. Bilingual children were still considered to have no language and hence no experience of any value. Jim Cummins, one of the respected researchers and writers on bilingualism, considered the issue of globalisation and its impact on schools and settings. He noted that, as more people were forced into or chose to leave their countries in search of work or liberty or equality or a decent life, so the cultural, linguistic, racial and religious make up of countries around the world changed.
