Plurilingualism of people in the world today is
becoming a common case. With the process of globalization and shifting borders,
knowing global languages like English, French, Russian, etc. has become an
essential advantage for successful career and education. Studying English
language has already been implemented in vast majority of schools in
Kazakhstan. But what if we go deeper and start to learn foreign languages from
kindergarten level? Let’s look from the both sides of this issue.
The obvious benefit of foreign language learning in
kindergartens is the ability of children to easily study language at the early
age. The earlier a child starts learn new language, the easier for him will be further
learning process of other languages (Yule, 2010). Hence, a child will be given
more time to learn other languages. Supporters of introducing foreign languages
claim that language study offers a considerable number of academic and social
benefits. They believe that children become better students and are more
successful than others. Moreover, knowing foreign language can open new
possibilities for studying new culture and getting access to unique knowledge.
However, studying completely new language could not
be as easy for a young child as it seems. First obstacle is the motivation of a
child. In this period of life young minds are not so interested in studying
anything. It is hard to find a child who exactly knows the benefits of knowing
several languages. All what they want is to play and interact with peers.
Hence, due to the behavior and focus of children it would be difficult for a
teacher to conduct a class. Another problem is a considerable lack of studying
materials for such young children. Without relevant books it would be impossible
to educate children. In addition, children from the age 3 to 5 are just not
ready to the studying process. It would be difficult for them to sit for an
hour studying.
To sum up, today modern parents are highly interested
in providing foreign language instruction in kindergartens for their children.
If there is a strong curriculum and lessons are conducted in playing form
without overloading of children, it could bring a lot of positive outcomes for
children’s further studying at school. But, if there are no constructive plan
and necessary study materials this education could be even harmful. A child
will remember language learning process as something boring and could
completely lose desire to study languages.
Reference
Yule, G. (2010). The Study of Language. Fourth
Edition. NY: Cambrige University Press.
Thank you for bringing up this topic! I totally support you that foreign languages are vital for child's development. Basically, the only obstacle that prevents foreign languages to be implemented in kindergartens is the absence of approach adapted for children. I believe that they do already exist. For example, cartoons are quite effective - I saw my nephew and niece repeating after Dasha (in english version it is "Dora the explorer"). In such way they easily learned how to count till 10 and simple words such table, book, etc. And this is only within few days.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting topic, Shynar. I have recently read one article, which concluded that that if each of the parents speaks only one language to his child, for example mother speaks in English, while father speaks only in Kazakh, then a child learns both langauges simultaneously and fluently speaks two languages. However, not every family is able to speak fluently both languages, so kindergarten may play this role and provide help for the parents in educating their children to speak foreign languages. I believe that teaching foreign language is very essential for our modern life, thus starting to educate children at an earlier age will bring more positive results, than teaching foreign languages at a later stage.
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