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

With the process of modernization and globalization it has become a necessity to learn various languages in order to communicate with the people around the globe. One school of thought believes that this process should commence at the level of primary schools, while others argue its inception at a later stage of education. In my opinion, I stand firm with the former notion.

Young, fresh and impeccable mind of a child is a keen and eager learner with the haste of learning new things everyday. They grasp things, said or heard, really well as compared to the older people. It is, therefore, better to start teaching them a foreign language at the primary school level. This is the age when the child is carefree, confident and not shy of making mistakes, and this eventually helps them to learn new things daily. In addition to this, the teaching should be made more enjoyable and playful so that the child does not think it as an academic subject and learn it in a playful manner. For example, rhymes can be sung or games can be played in a particular foreign language. This will make them learn as well as play side by side and the pupil will not even feel the burden of this subject.

Nevertheless, on the other hand there is a group of people who opines that this learning should be delayed until later life, somewhere around secondary education. They consider that other subjects like, math, science, history, geography etc have a key position in the curriculum rather than the foreign language which is just an additional load for the kids. Also, that the pupil should first have a grip of these important subjects rather than wasting their time on learning a new language which would divide their attention.

Conclusively, I would say that learning is an ongoing process but young and fresh minds are open for learning anything new daily so, incorporating this learning of a foreign language earlier in life would be beneficial for them and this would be in their hearts for eternity.