Many experts claim that it is more merits for children to start learning a foreign language at elementary schools compared to secondary school. Although there probably some problems for children to learn a second language at a young age, it definitely has numerous upsides. Personally, I believe that its upsides take precedence over the downsides.
To begin with, learning a second language during childhood fosters cognitive flexibility and enhances communication skills. Younger learners at the primary level are especially adept at acquiring new languages due to the brain’s plasticity and rapid development of neural connections, a phase often referred to as the “critical period”. Secondly, a young age promotes flexible thinking and communication skills, when learning many languages as a child, the brain is educated to pay attention to key information and ignore irrelevant information. Thirdly, learning a foreign language earlier at primary school helps kids obtain academic development to outperform those students in the same phase.
On the other hand, young schoolchildren may be too immature to handle the additional burden of learning foreign languages. For example, they already face academic stress and the challenges of adjusting to early education. Under such circumstances, integrating foreign language learning into their daily lives can be a difficult task. However, with proper time management, they can successfully cope with it. The burdens and the education can be handled correctly with the help of parents and professional teachers, and then native language and the second language should be treated equally as kids grow up to become bilingual.
To conclude, although there are certain challenges associated with introducing foreign languages at the elementary level, the benefits of early language learning significantly outweigh the drawbacks. It is expected that in the future, more educational systems around the world will adopt this approach, recognizing the long-term cognitive, academic, and social advantages it offers to young learners