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This study examines the language and school skills effects of Arabic-language learning on bilingual children from Maghrebi and Arabic-speaking communities attending ELCO (Teaching of Languages and Cultures of Origin) classes. In France, ELCO is the only primary-school program providing weekly 3-hour courses in first languages to bilingual Franco-Arabic children. 179 children enrolled in first and second year of primary school were compared using 4 indicators of school success: phonological awareness, reading, resolution of arithmetical problems, and reading comprehension (for the second year of primary school). Results reveal that learning the Arabic language at school has a positive effect on school performance in the second year of primary school whereas no significant difference is found in the first year.