Children should begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start school

[Suspensi0n]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Children should begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start school.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your position

Nowadays, because of new technologies such as the internet, the Earth is no longer divided into lots of different countries, but is now a global-village, where we all can share our cultures. Therefore, we can’t just speak our native tongue : starting learning a foreign language since the beginning of school helps us to be good citizens from this global-village.

First of all, starting learning a foreign language at 6 – which is roughly the age children are when they start school – makes the children feel closer to this language. Even if they obviously start by learning basic things such as the colors, the animals, the numbers and the alphabets, they get used to the pronounciation and the structure of the words. For example, I have been learning English for 13 years (and I’m now 17) because a teacher used to come to my class to make us play games or sing in English : I learnt the animals’ names, the colors…and it was then easier for me to learn this language when I went to secondary school. By watching cartoons in a foreign language, the children can discover a new culture or maybe find out that their home country is not that different from the country represented in the cartoon.
Besides, the children can try and find pen-friends, write letters and even organize an exchange programme - which is easier to do with young people than with adults. The children will also learn to put apart stereotypes to discover their friends’ culture : the other countries won’t be seen as enemies but as their friends’ home country. Therefore, learning a language while people are young is a way to cross cultures faster.
Finally, starting learning a foreign language in primary school is easier than to learn once you are an adult because children can remember more things than adults. Besides, the foreign language becomes an automatism : they know how to express themselves and even to think in another language. Then, it will not be difficult for these children to learn other languages because they will know how to face the problems that you usually have when you want to learn a language. For example, 8 years after my first English lesson, I started Spanish, and 1 year later, I tried and learned Russian. Learning a language as soon as I started school thus created a real fascination for languages to me.

The younger a child starts a language, the better his skills will be and maybe the more fascinated he will be by other languages and foreign cultures.

TOEFL listening lectures: Who are not included as members of the Underground Railroad?

[Mixmixi]

Hi my dear Suspensi0n,
Ok, that was a really good essay, in my opinion. Very reasonable. Good job my sweet little friend.

Mixmixi
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