2。1。2 Practical Framework

Bilingual education began in the 1960s as a method to teach non-English-speaking students。 The term bilingual education may also be used in reference to teaching English-speaking students a foreign language。 In 1968, the United States Congress started to provide funding for bilingual programs。

In China, bilingual education mainly means Chinese-English bilingual education。 China is not a country with many immigrants, unlike USA, though it has many nationalities。 Because of various reasons, many people have little chance to make use of English and thus English is learned as a foreign language in schools。 “Naturally, English learning becomes a window to the outside world。” Li Zhengjie wrote (51)。 Therefore bilingual education is an effective method to push China to proceed。 In China, on the basis of reform and opening up to the outside world, bilingual education is springing up gradually。 It fits for the requirement of the new talents in the coming century。 The requirement in foreign communication in culture and economy also drives bilingual education。