Some people believe that schools should teach foreign languages for primary school children. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

These days, there is an increasing trend towards teaching foreign languages for elementary school pupils. In my opinion, while this trend has positive effects, they are eclipsed by its considerable negative consequences. The essay which is discussed below will explain my claim.

On the one hand, teaching another language for grade school children can be advantageous to a certain extent. First of all, a foreign language can indeed be crucial for students’ future. Learning another language at an early age would offer fundamental essence for children. Therefore, should they study for higher education, it will be much easier for them to follow. For instance, learning basic English, an international language, from grade school can help students obtain the IELTS certificate much more simply. As a consequence, the higher band that test performs, the more opportunities for prestigious universities or jobs students can seize. Additionally, learning another language could boost children’s creativity. If they study a foreign language, it means that they are reaching a new culture. As a result, students would broaden their cognitive development of an exotic new world, which will support them in coming up with innovative ideas.

On the other hand, notwithstanding the aforementioned benefits, I am convinced that the drawbacks of giving foreign languages into academic courses at grade school are also glaring. Firstly, learning a new language can have adverse impacts on students' learning mother tongue. To some children, approaching a second language would certainly be challenging for them when their mother tongue is still bad. Consequently, this problem leads to boredom and discouragement while studying and even puts pupils under pressure. Moreover, a new language and new culture can affect young students’ perceptions. Learning two or more languages at the same time would result in cognitive disorders, especially students at a young age. This phenomenon is quite apparent in youngsters nowadays. They tend to mix some cultures together. To illustrate, recently, the young generation has always spoken Vietnamese combined with English. This tendency would somewhat alleviate the conventional cultural identity.

In conclusion, I believe that foreign languages should still be taught in primary school due to several merits mentioned. Nevertheless, younger students must gain awareness of its demerits and find methods to balance it with their mother tongue.