Writing Feedback / IELTS WRITING TASK 2 : Give opinions on teaching a foreign language in primary school years. [5]

teaching children a foreign language early

Certain primary schools begin teaching their students another language. While I accept that there are several drawbacks of this trend, I tend towards the viewpoint that it has beneficial impacts on students.

On the one hand, by learning a new language in primary school years, pupils can face up to two major issues. Firstly, students are more likely to get confused with their own mother tongue language. A recent study by National University shows that more than 40% of primary students in Vietnam have difficulties in speaking Vietnamese when learning it and English simultaneously. Secondly, studying a foreign language can cause children stress. Rather than concentrating on several areas of knowledge such as Math or Science, they also have to focus on another language, which can increase pressure on them, particularly those who do not show an aptitude for foreign languages. For example, to my brother, learning English has become an obsession, because this means he is compelled to do more homework, which makes him have less time to relax.

On the other hand, personally, I believe that these setbacks are outweighed by the benefits. One benefit is that school boys and girls are about to pick up new words faster because they have tendency to develop their language ability at the fastest speed. Hence, they will be able to prepare certain lexical resources before they are forced to cope with considerably more complex grammars. Another benefit is that children have more chances to explore foreign cultures. By understanding clearly the cultures of several countries, they are less likely to experience cultural shock and easily adjust themselves to live in these countries. Additionally, learning another language is an effective way to improve children's flexibility and memory. New York Times revealed that more than 60% of primary students who learn more than one language tend to be more active and memorise facts or figures better.

In conclusion, although teaching a foreign language at primary school has some disadvantages, it seems to me that this is more likely to have positive influences on children.