ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the present state of Early Language Learning (ELL) policy in Cyprus with regard to the national policy and how this is being implemented in pre-primary schools. It shares the results of research that focused on the attitudes of teachers and children who participated in the pilot study of the Cyprus ELL programme. Pre-primary education in Cyprus is compulsory and free for children who attend the final year before entering primary education. The national curriculum for compulsory pre-primary provision encompasses all areas of development: social, psychomotor, linguistic and cognitive. The development of the ELL programme in Cypriot state pre-primary schools was largely influenced by the results of the aforementioned pilot project, known as providing guidelines for Content and Language Integrated Learning (PROCLIL), which was co-funded by the European Commission through the Comenius 2.1 programme.
