Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

Traditionally, children have begun studying foreign languages at secondary school, but, as the ability to speak a

second

language

gained a lot of importance in our globalized society, introducing them earlier, at primary school, is recommended by some educationalists.

This

policy has been adopted by some educational authorities or individual schools and I tend to believe their benefits are greater than the drawbacks. The obvious argument in its favour is that young children can learn languages much more easily than teenagers or adults. Their brains are still programmed to acquire their mother tongue, which facilitates the acquisition of another

language

, and unlike their older peers, they are not inhibited by self-consciousness. Children

also

have plenty of free time, which they can use to practice the

language

by doing exercises, reading books or watching films. Another benefit is that the greater flexibility of the primary timetable allows for more frequent, shorter sessions and for a play-centred approach,

thus

maintaining learners’ enthusiasm and progress. Their command of the

language

in later life will benefit from

this

early exposure

,

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while learning other languages

subsequently

will be easier for them. They may

also

gain a better understanding of other cultures. There are,

however

, some disadvantages. Primary school teachers are generalists, and may not have the necessary

language

skills themselves.

Thus

, it may be a good idea to hire

language

specialists. If primary

language

teaching is not standardized, secondary schools could be faced with a great variety of levels, resulting in a classroom experience that undoes the earlier gains. There is no advantage if enthusiastic primary pupils become demotivated as soon as they change schools. To sum up, anything which encourages

language

learning benefits society culturally and economically, and early exposure to

language

learning contributes to

this

. Young children’s innate abilities should be harnessed to make these benefits more achievable.