It is considered by experts that learning a non-native language during elementary school is better for children while others think that they should start learning the language at the secondary school level. This essay will examine both the benefits and drawbacks of introducing primary school students to a foreign language. From my perspective, I believe the merits of this totally overshadow the demerits.
On the one hand, teaching primary school students a foreign language may lead to various problems. Firstly, there is a very likely tendency that students will get confused between their mother tongue and the second language, as they are still in the process of establishing their native language. Secondly, in many schools, languages are taught in a traditional way which is reading the textbooks and answering the questions. As a result, some students will find difficulty communicating or using the language in daily conversations. For example, a sadly huge number of Vietnamese kids are unable to speak or understand English, even though they have been exposed to the language since their elementary ages.
On the other hand, students who have access to a foreign language during their elementary years may master the language more easily than those who start learning later. This is because the flexibility in children’s brains allows them to not only remember vocabulary and grammar faster but also communicate fluently and effortlessly. Another benefit of learning a different language is that students can spend their time developing other skills in their later ages. If a kid starts studying a language when they are young, they will find it less complicated to acquire knowledge of the language in their later grades and thus concentrate on other subjects or skills instead.
To conclude, while having a kid learning a second language from an early age is associated with language confusion and lack of application, I believe the ability to use the language natively obtained from early studying and more time spent on other skills in the future are more beneficial for children and hence outweigh the mentioned disadvantages.