ELIAS aims to advance Europe-wide establishment of bilingual preschools andcollaboration with non-academic educational institutions. Researchers will monitoryoung children's learning progress in second language acquisition (SLA), interculturalcommunication, bilingual science skills and environmental awareness in one bilingualzoo preschool and six bilingual preschools. Located on the premises of the MagdeburgZoo, the unique zoo preschool thrives on its proximity to animals and zoo personnel andprovides an ideal learning environment for bilingual nature and science education. Suchcollaboration is unprecedented in Europe and the world.Bilingual or immersion education from native speakers of a second language (L2) is themost effective CLIL teaching method for L2 acquisition and simultaneously imparts otherkey skills such as content learning and intercultural awareness. Thus, this innovativepedagogical concept is ideal for Europe’s knowledge-based society, giving youngchildren the earliest head start in their lifelong learning process and preparing them tobetter exploit their foreign language skills in later schooling.The ELIAS team comes from Belgium, England, Germany and Sweden and closelycollaborates with the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Health and Education and Ministry ofAgriculture and the Environment in Germany. Applying such approaches asethnographic participant observation and standardised qualitative and quantitativeassessments, ELIAS will conduct thorough research studies of the development of thechildren's first and second language acquisition (L2 English) and interculturalcompetence. The zoo team will produce bilingual teaching materials on zoo animals andnature topics. Additionally, the research group will conduct teacher training workshopsfor the preschools' staffs, compile an implementation guide for bilingual preschools anddeliver recommendations for the strategic implementation of immersion in Europeanschool systems to guarantee programme continuity.Target groups for the results of the ELIAS project will be specialists in the Europeaneducation sector, preschools, schools, research institutions and non-academic culturalinstitutions (e.g. zoological and botanical gardens, aquariums, museums) and thegeneral public. Press releases will announce the kick-off and the end of the project. Theproject team will present its findings at international academic conferences and a finalsymposium. Moreover, the symposium proceedings and the final report will bepublished as books and the bilingual science materials on CD ROM. All project resultswill be available on the project's website.