All children should study a foreign language in school starting in the earliest grade. To what extend do you agree or disagree with this statement.
School is basic foundation of knowledge being imparted to a people. Some people consider that learning second language should be taught to children in the earliest grade. I would argue that this has both positive and negative implications.
Learning second language is not the only important lesson which should be taught in the childhood because there are other subjects are more important at the age. Math and Science are more important lessons than learning second language. Taking British children as an example, they prefer to learn Math and Science rather than second language, which has career prospects and financial gain in the future. In addition, learning mother tongue language is the most important lesson which have to be taught to the children rather than second language because learning second language could delay the development of children's first language. It is thus clear that learning a new language takes a long time and definitely consumes the school children's time. In fact, children may encounter numerous problems when trying to distinguish their mother tongue from the second language. Therefore, at the age, it is vital for the children to develop their first language and to study Math and Science instead of foreign language.
On the other hand, I would argue that there are also undeniable benefits of learning second language in the earliest grade. Firstly, children who learn foreign language in the earliest grade tend to learn faster than adult. Because, they will be enthusiastic to know new knowledge in their lives. Taking children in China as an example, according to the survey, about 47.38 percent of the children first get in touch with English learning materials when they were 3 to 6 years old. In addition, although 90 percent of the parents believe that learning Chinese and traditional culture is more important than English, their children still pay more attention to the study of English than Chinese. As a result, Children who learn second language in the earliest grade may not shy to pronounce an accent like a native speaker, may enjoy communicating with their friends in other language and also they will be easy in remembering new vocabularies. Additionally, scientists have discovered that learning second language will help brain more active and response more quickly. Hence, children who learn second language from childhood will be fluent to speak second language in the future and also it is necessary for future development of each country.
To sum up, it is clear to me that although there are advantages of learning second language in the childhood, there are also drawbacks. We have to balance between learning second language and other subjects. Although it is important of learning second language in the earliest grade, first language is still learned and used by the children.
School is basic foundation of knowledge being imparted to a people. Some people consider that learning second language should be taught to children in the earliest grade. I would argue that this has both positive and negative implications.
Learning second language is not the only important lesson which should be taught in the childhood because there are other subjects are more important at the age. Math and Science are more important lessons than learning second language. Taking British children as an example, they prefer to learn Math and Science rather than second language, which has career prospects and financial gain in the future. In addition, learning mother tongue language is the most important lesson which have to be taught to the children rather than second language because learning second language could delay the development of children's first language. It is thus clear that learning a new language takes a long time and definitely consumes the school children's time. In fact, children may encounter numerous problems when trying to distinguish their mother tongue from the second language. Therefore, at the age, it is vital for the children to develop their first language and to study Math and Science instead of foreign language.
On the other hand, I would argue that there are also undeniable benefits of learning second language in the earliest grade. Firstly, children who learn foreign language in the earliest grade tend to learn faster than adult. Because, they will be enthusiastic to know new knowledge in their lives. Taking children in China as an example, according to the survey, about 47.38 percent of the children first get in touch with English learning materials when they were 3 to 6 years old. In addition, although 90 percent of the parents believe that learning Chinese and traditional culture is more important than English, their children still pay more attention to the study of English than Chinese. As a result, Children who learn second language in the earliest grade may not shy to pronounce an accent like a native speaker, may enjoy communicating with their friends in other language and also they will be easy in remembering new vocabularies. Additionally, scientists have discovered that learning second language will help brain more active and response more quickly. Hence, children who learn second language from childhood will be fluent to speak second language in the future and also it is necessary for future development of each country.
To sum up, it is clear to me that although there are advantages of learning second language in the childhood, there are also drawbacks. We have to balance between learning second language and other subjects. Although it is important of learning second language in the earliest grade, first language is still learned and used by the children.