Recently, teaching children a second language has sparked a great deal of debate. While I believe that it is of the greatest importance that children learn another foreign language besides their mother tongues, teaching them a single, universal second language (=lingua franca) may not work due to some obvious reasons.
I believe that there are some reasons for children learning a universal language, one of which is speaking another foreign language can make children more cultural due to fact that they can socialize with all children around the world and learn about their cultures. Moreover, speaking a language besides their own one can enhance children’s communication skills which is so crucial for working places. When they grow up, they can work in high positions in companies like being a CEO by their developed communication skills which they learned while communicating with other children by speaking the same language.
Teaching children a single, lingua franca may work for some reasons due to fact that if children learn another language beside their own language, it might be so confusing and can make it difficult to speak their mother tongue in a fluent way. Furthermore, all children should not learn the same language because they need to learn languages that will be beneficial for their future work or life. While a Turkish trader in Saudi Arabia should learn Arabic, a French actor in America should learn to speak English.
In conclusion, it is crucial for children to learn a different language in adition to their own language. I opine, teaching children only one common and universal language may not be the best choice.