wotcha
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2010
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Korean
- Home Country
- South Korea
- Current Location
- South Korea
The following is a 2 minutes speech menuscript from my student on earlier childhood
English education.
I firstly proofread and checked some grammatical errors and hope you guys
give it another check up.
Good morning everybody. Today I’m going to tell you why early childhood English learning has, in fact, no advantages at all especially in Korea. That is, we don’t need to force 1st grade elementary school kids to study English at schools and homes.
It makes sense that the earlier you start, the more progress you will make compared with someone who started later. However, there is evidence that this is not the case, particularly if the foreign language comes to take the place of the first language.
In the Philippines, for example, English is not a foreign language but a second language, so they can acquire English in natural settings as they are born. It is very natural and necessary for Philippinoes to learning English as soon as they start school. On the contrary, we Koreans don’t use English as a second common language. It is just a first foreign language, resulting in the impossibility of natural English acquisition. It means that we should use Korean language as a medium of English language learning.
Therefore, if you are already literate in Korean, you can use some of your knowledge about Korean to learn English. We all know that adolescents and adults are in many ways better at learning a new language than children.
However, I’m not saying that we should start English from middle school years. The answer to what's the best age to learn a new language is not simple and pretty much depends on the situation. Nevertheless, I dare say, it is good and soon enough for Korean to start learning English 4[SUP]th[/SUP] or 5[SUP]th[/SUP] grade in elementary school, since we have to use Korean as a medium of English learning.
English education.
I firstly proofread and checked some grammatical errors and hope you guys
give it another check up.
Good morning everybody. Today I’m going to tell you why early childhood English learning has, in fact, no advantages at all especially in Korea. That is, we don’t need to force 1st grade elementary school kids to study English at schools and homes.
It makes sense that the earlier you start, the more progress you will make compared with someone who started later. However, there is evidence that this is not the case, particularly if the foreign language comes to take the place of the first language.
In the Philippines, for example, English is not a foreign language but a second language, so they can acquire English in natural settings as they are born. It is very natural and necessary for Philippinoes to learning English as soon as they start school. On the contrary, we Koreans don’t use English as a second common language. It is just a first foreign language, resulting in the impossibility of natural English acquisition. It means that we should use Korean language as a medium of English language learning.
Therefore, if you are already literate in Korean, you can use some of your knowledge about Korean to learn English. We all know that adolescents and adults are in many ways better at learning a new language than children.
However, I’m not saying that we should start English from middle school years. The answer to what's the best age to learn a new language is not simple and pretty much depends on the situation. Nevertheless, I dare say, it is good and soon enough for Korean to start learning English 4[SUP]th[/SUP] or 5[SUP]th[/SUP] grade in elementary school, since we have to use Korean as a medium of English learning.
Last edited: