Please help me with my essay,

Being able to speak a foreign language is an advantage these days. Some people think that children should start learning a foreign language at primary school, while others think children should begin in secondary school.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

In today's interconnected and interdependent world, the benefits of being bilingual are enormous. People have differing views about whether children’s acquisition of a foreign language should start at primary or secondary level. In my opinion, it is best to begin as early as possible.

There are two main reasons why some people argue that foreign language learning should be introduced in secondary school. First, they believe that only after children reach puberty are they capable of learning a second language efficiently. The reason is that at this point, these children’s cognitive capacity has developed to a certain extent that can facilitate efficient second language acquisition, and they have also established several strategies, skills, and qualities that are necessary or beneficial for such acquisition, such as note-taking, critical thinking, and self-discipline. Second, it is argued that dual language learning at a young age can cause children to mix up the uses of the two as they are still in the early stage of establishing their first language. This can lead to delayed language development, which is totally counterproductive. Hence, foreign languages should be taught at secondary school as students have already gotten a solid foundation in their mother tongue.

However, I agree with the belief that second language acquisition should begin at primary level. If elementary schools add a foreign language as one of their compulsory subjects, their students will spend less than 2 hours per week in such classes. This limited exposure is not likely to interfere with the acquisition of their mother tongue, which happens for virtually the rest of the day. Thus, the argument that early dual language learning will cause speech delays seems invalid. one’s mother tongue usually contains certain grammar and pronunciation rules that are diametrically different to those of the language they want to learn, for example, the order of objects and verbs in a sentence between Korean and English, and the ways to pronounce the final consonant sounds in English versus Vietnamese. This makes it hard for teenagers and adults who are so used to the structures of their first language to become fluent in the second one. To minimize this problem, foreign language learning should be taught at the elementary level when children are still in the early stage of language development. This also gives children several more years to gradually accumulate and assimilate new words, grammar and pronunciation rules, and sometimes a different writing system. Hence, the earlier children are exposed to a second language, the higher the chance of proficiency in that language.

In conclusion, the possibility of language delays related to early dual language learning and the advantage of well-developed cognitive capacity and learning strategies, skills, and qualities in secondary students cause some people to support second language introduction at the post-primary level. However, the low probability of such delays, as the exposure to a second language in school is rather limited, and the benefits of less interference from the mother tongue and several more years for gradual learning make dual language acquisition at an early age more attractive.