Uruguayan society is not linguistically homogeneous in that not all its population speaks Spanish. The bilingualism present in the northeast of Uruguay is an example of this reality. Recently, in a quite innovative way for the Uruguayan traditions in language policies (or for the lack of them), this sociolinguistic reality has been considered through the implementation of specific educational programs. This paper presents an analysis of these programs, their antecedents, goals and preliminary results. It also presents an initial analysis of two documents that are events in Uruguayan language policies: the recently approved Law of Education and the new official Curriculum for Primary Schools.
bilingual education; immersion; primary school; language policies