Kids and Languages

[MissLT]

At what age would you let your children learn another language? And would you send them to a school for foreigner people in your country, so they could learn other languages or regular public schools could do the job good enough????

[Shazzam]

At what age would you let your children learn another language? And would you send them to a school for foreigner people in your country, so they could learn other languages or regular public schools could do the job good enough????

In Australia kids start to get (basic) learning of other languages in Kindergarten (up until grade 1) basically one year.

I think children in Australia have enough trouble grasping the basic curriculm without the added pressure of an additional language. If parents feel that their children are able to cope with more, then they should do it outside the education system (ie. private tutor).

My opinion is high school. Children should have the choice. High school usually offers these choices for children to pursue. If they choose to take an additional language as an elective; then they can. Most western countries are showing that the current curriculm isn't offering enough time ; or repetitiveness of the basics (maths, english, science).

I would prefer my children to be able to read, write and add up before taking on other subjects.

[serenella]

I agree with Shazzam.
I would let my children learn a foreign language when they can correctly write, speak, understand and read their mother tongue.
Learning other languages is surely very important and useful, but I think that their learning path should start from the language which names the things around them, which defines the world they live in.

[MissLT]

My opinion is high school. Children should have the choice. High school usually offers these choices for children to pursue. If they choose to take an additional language as an elective; then they can. Most western countries are showing that the current curriculm isn't offering enough time ; or repetitiveness of the basics (maths, english, science).

I would prefer my children to be able to read, write and add up before taking on other subjects.

This is too late. The best time kids can comprehend more than one language is when they are little. The longer you wait, the harder for kids to learn another language. This is the reason why kids adapt to learn a language of a foreign country better than adults. For instance, kids come to America around 13 year-old and younger learn English and have lighter accent than kids who comes after that.
My biology teacher used to tell us a story about her son who could speak English and Spanish because she put him into a kindergarten where there were a lot of Spanish kids. His classmates were speaking English and Spanish back and forth. She said at first he didn't understand them, but then he got used to the language and he started to speak some. Now he speaks kinda fluent Spanish and of course English since his mother tongue is English. She told us whenever he has some Spanish words he doesn't know the meanings, he'll ask her and she says she doesn't know. He would said, "Mom, you need to learn Spanish."

[quicksilver]

It is too early to discuss bout this topic.
In my country every child has to learn foreign language at the age of 7.Still very little, children easily learn foreign language.
It is said that children's brains are more discerning than aldult's ones.
They should be learnt foreign language when they are small .
They also can remember better than adult.
But the prb is that the pronunciation of the teacher who teaches them foreign language is wrong, so children are wrong at the first time.It will become their serious habit.
We should send our children to the foreigner 's school.
But every prb has 2 faces.It is diffilcult for your children to intigrate into those schools cos their language is different from your children's language.It will make your children feel lonely.
He doesnt have enough confidence to communicate with others

[MissLT]

But the prb is that the pronunciation of the teacher who teaches them foreign language is wrong, so children are wrong at the first time.It will become their serious habit.

Yeah, this can be a big problem. I remember I used to learn English at 6th or 7th grade there, and I had to forget everything I'd learned about pronunciation when I came to the States since most of the things about pronunciation they taught me were wrong. No offense.

We should send our children to the foreigner 's school.
But every prb has 2 faces.It is diffilcult for your children to intigrate into those schools cos their language is different from your children's language.It will make your children feel lonely.
He doesnt have enough confidence to communicate with others

What about schools for foreigners in the country? The child could learn different languages and still speak the language that his/her family speaks at home. About lonliness? I think kids feel it at this age, but then they will get along with other kids just fine.

[Shazzam]

I agree with Lenny. I heard that the best period for kids to starting learning foreign languages is before 12 years old. Otherwise the memory of foreign languages will not enter the so-called "native part" in their brains, as a result, they will meet more difficulties when studying them or using them.

Overall I agree with everyone here. The problem I have is that in my country so many children are having problems dealing with learning english. They have difficulties with reading and comprehension, composition. Until these issues are resolved I'm not really interested in my child learning additional languages.

It is more important to me that my child understands her mother tongue first. When she has that down; ok we will work on others.