From all EU member states Bulgaria is the country with the highest early school leaving rates. In the last five years, about 7000 children either have not visited or left school early. This alarming trend mainly affects children from ethnic minorities (especially Roma children), of which 22 percent remain without education. The major problem that many of these children are facing is the lack of sufficient knowledge of Bulgarian – the official teaching language in school. This results from the fact that the mother tongue of 55 percent of this group is either Romani or Turkish. In addition, lack of necessary social behavior patterns in order to be successful in school has been recognised. Therefore, fostering the teaching and learning of Bulgarian as a second language in preschools and primary schools is essential for the school success of children at risk of dropout. This would provide the children with basic skills which are of a great importance for their successful integration into society, personal development, and last but not least for future job opportunities. The project’s necessity is largely justified due to the fact that there are no sound and functioning concepts for children's language development in Bulgaria. The project therefore intends to respond to the individual needs of children with different mother tongue. The main objective of the project is to develop a scientifically sound approach for Bulgarian as a second language (BaZ) in preschools and primary schools and thus to counteract school dropout at the earliest possible stage. For this purpose, during the initial phase of the project a supporting concept to the school teaching of Bulgarian language for children of age of 5, 6 and 7 years will be developed in collaboration with our national and international partners. In addition to this concept and its belonging innovative training materials methodological and didactic instructions are to be developed. Subsequently, they will be used and tested in three pre- and primary schools in Northern Bulgaria. This process will be accompanied by activities such as training of the involved teaching staff and encouraging parents to participate more actively in the school life of their children. This will ensure best possible project implementation and results. Throughout the project activities and results will be continuously reviewed through the use of intensive communication between the project partners and our developed monitoring and evaluation system. After completion of the testing phase, the support concept will be submitted to the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science for approval as an official textbook so that it can be used in the context of (pre-) school curriculum at national level. Furthermore, transnational multiplier events will be carried out addressing key persons at schools and universities. Aim is to raise awareness regarding the project objectives and to promote and disseminate the developed concepts and innovative teaching methods for Bulgarian as a second language. Main project information at a glance: - Cooperation among 8 partners (2 universities, 4 schools and 2 NGOs) from three European countries. - Developing of three textbooks for Bulgarian as a second language (BaZ) for children in pre- and primary schools (i.e. textbooks respectively for 5, 6, and 7 year olds) - Elaborating of BaZ-methodology - Preparing and training of educational professionals in BaZ-methodology - Developing of a model for work with parents - Training of bilingual multipliers for working with families - Implementing of the support concept in partner schools - Promoting active participation of parents in the educational process of their children - Organising of multi-cultural workshops in schools and pre-schools (education-theater module) - Implementing of information and multiplier events for promoting the developed teaching and learning methods and material as part of the project’s dissemination. The LAD project contributes directly to the goals of the Europe 2020 startegy that aims to reduce the dropout rates under 10 %.