Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign at primary school rather than secondary school. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?
In recent years, a debate regarding the age at which
children
should start learning foreign languages
emerged. In particular
, some people argue that foreign languages
should be taught in primary school
, rather than in secondary as it is today. In this
essay, a brief explanation of the debate and some considerations about it will be given.
It is undoubtedly true that beginning to learn foreign languages
in childhood could have some advantages. In fact, recent studies suggest that the sooner children
start learning languages
, the faster and better they can comprehend them. This
is due to
the mental flexibility of children
, who can learn things rapidly if given the opportunity. Consequently
, secondary school
language
programs could be enhanced, because pupils coming from primary school
would have already learned the basics. Finally
, it could be beneficial for students, because they would familiarize themselves with foreign languages
sooner, thus
it would be part of their everyday life to speak in other languages
. Therefore
, it is not entirely inaccurate to say that children
should begin learning a foreign language
at primary school
.
On the other hand
, there could be some negative sides to this
policy. First of all, some students have more difficulties in learning languages
, their own included. Hence
, for them, it could be detrimental to add another language
, while
they are already struggling to learn one. Moreover
, some countries could see their mother tongue being less and less used because another language
could become more used,
since everyone knows it. Remove the comma
apply
For instance
, in Norway, younger generations learn English at school
and through television programs since childhood and for this
many of them are partially forgetting Norwegian.
In conclusion, I think that the advantages of teaching in the primary school
a foreign language
outweigh the disadvantages. It is surely true that there could be some extreme situations, such
as the ones stated above, but they are a minority. Overall
, the benefits of beginning to learn a foreign language
sooner are so great that cannot be overseen.Submitted by formaggio124 on
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