Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at a primary school rather than secondary school.
Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?
It is often considered that it is more advantageous for children to start learning a foreign language at a primary school in lieu of secondary school. In my opinion, studying the second language at younger ages can bring about more benefits than drawbacks for children.
On the one hand, learning another language is said to have certain drawbacks. For instance, education requires children to learn many subjects such as math, geography, history, science and so on that they may lose enthusiasm and energy for learning another language because of their fully occupied schedule.
On the other hand, we can observe that kids acquire a new foreign language more easily than adults as a result of the flexible brain’s language center. For instance, they are likely to imitate pronunciation more naturally and correctly than adults through smartphone by watching many interesting TV shows or short stories for kids. Besides, while the economy has become more competitive and globalized, learning another language will help them enhance employment opportunities. For example, most companies require candidates who are bilingual in English, Japanese or Chinese, which makes them top priority to be selected. Finally, children are able to have bigger view of the world. In fact, studying a foreign language is the main measure of a country’s progress and a tool to communicate despite language barrier. As an example, children can travel abroad and gain more insight into various culture among countries and increase in awareness of perspective.
To summarize, I strongly believe that learning a second language at early ages are much more beneficial than its negative impacts. Specially, children should balance the studying foreign language with other subjects so that they can become develop well-roundedly.