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【Abstract】The growing concerns over the preschool English learning make it a popular topic for people in China today. In this article, both the benefits and weaknesses of English learning at children’s early childhood are elaborated through the discussion on the viewpoints from pros and cons. Approval opinions believe that the early childhood is the optimal period for foreign language learning and the learning facilitates the personal development of the Chinese children, while the opposite opinions assert that the bilingual environment for education is hard to reach and the excessive focusing on English learning may affect children’s understanding of their mother tongue. The article further points out that English as a language should not be learnt at the expense of the children’s mother tongue, and finally discusses the proper and sound way for early childhood English education.
【Key words】preschool English learning； mother tongue； bilingual education
【中图分类号】H319.2【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）05-0062-02
1 Bilingual preschool institutions spring up all over the country
“100,000 Yuan as annual tuition, the immersion English-speaking kindergarten opens up”-the eye-catching news of an immersion English-speaking preschool education center located in Nanjing has drawn attentions from a great number of parents all over China. In this kindergarten, English is taught to young children who aged between 3 and 6, and 95% percent of its faculty are professional native speaking teachers from overseas. Despite the sky-high tuition fee, the first two weeks of the kindergarten’s opening has witnessed a registration of more than 20 kids. Similar organizations are not rare. In Hangzhou, a preschool education center called “Gymboree” provides the English curriculum for young kids older than 6 months. In Beijing, English language has already been almost a compulsory subject in most kindergartens since 2001.
2 Why Chinese are crazed on English learning？
Why English learning is so important for preschoolers in China？ Is it sound and proper for kids to learn English before their understanding of mother tongue？ Bringing these questions to some parents of young kids，we find their answers have something in common: I will not let my child end where it started. Mother tongue is naturally acquired by the kids when they are growing up, while English as a foreign langue is ought to be learned the earlier the better.
2.1 From the micro point of view-personal development and competition：There are something true lie in the answer. The language of English does play an important and inseparable role in one’s personal development in today’s China. From primary school to college, the students will not be qualified for graduation without passing the English exams. After that, when the graduate is going to find a job, English still plays a crucial role as the job-seeker is very unlikely to get the upper hand in the fierce competition if he is lack of the English ability, or he is even not able to get the chance for any competition.
2.2 From the macro point of view-globalization：Further more, considering the time we are living in, it says that it’s the age of English language. So far English is the most frequent and widely used language by most of the people in the world, and globalization makes the language even more important and necessary for the communication between the different communities on this planet. Today, 45 counties use English as their official language and 1/3 of the population worldwide speak in English everyday.
3 Early childhood English learning-Pros and Cons
Realizing the important role the English language playing in today’s China, more and more parents are keen to equip their children with English so to enable them to take the precedence over others.
3.1 Early childhood English learning-Pros：To a certain amount of parents in China, under the current circumstance, it seems a wise decision for them to equip their children with English as early as possible. To them, the advantages of English learning since very young age of children are obvious.
3.1.1 Benefits on English learning at young age：People in favor of English learning at children’s very early age believe that it is both scientific and beneficial to acquire or learn languages at the young age. According to the well-known critical period theory, “there is a period when language acquisition takes place naturally and effortlessly” and the optimum age of language acquisition falls with the first ten years of life. During this period the brain retains plasticity, but with the onset of puberty this plasticity begins to disappear. （Rod Ellis）
The brain plasticity of young kids enables them to adapt to the foreign language circumstances quickly, and the exposure to the diversified language information facilitates the development of the language ability, social ability, and personal character.
3.1.2 Mother tongue affects the English learning：In addition, the linguistic experts point out that there will be negative effect of the influence of the first language in the second language learning. The negative impact of mother tongue usually impedes the second language learning and leads to some errors. In this case, for the Chinese children, If English learning is after the mastering of their mother tongues, the children may learn English passively by keeping some mother tongue language habits, which may result in errors or sometimes the so-called Chinglish. For instance, at the beginning of English learning, the Chinese learners may can’t help to try to find out the similarities between English and Chinese Pin Yin, which is similar in some way to the phonetic sound of English, but still different with the English phonetics system.
3.1.3 Access for children to different cultures：Furthermore, the ever increasingly intensified communications and exchanges between different peoples of the world make language the carrier of culture both necessary and crucial during the perception of different cultures. As for the Chinese children, to learn English at their early age may provide access to them for a wider and better perspective of the world with diversified cultures.
3.2 Early childhood English learning-Cons：As long as it’s generally recognized that the English language leaning is beneficial and important to the preschoolers, the bilingual education is enthusiastically advocated in a great number of preschool institutions. However, as some people doubt, how many of them are able to provide a sound bilingual language environment？ Are the kindergartens which provide English teaching for a few hours per day qualified to be called as “bilingual？”
3.2.1 Bilingual environment is hard to reach：A major problem which should arise our attention is that if English is taught to the young kids in the way it’s taught to the school students rather than providing an entire bilingual circumstance, the language of English could not be learned by the children naturally and quickly. Unfortunately, in most kindergartens in China, this bilingual environment can’t be reached. Kids who live in the Chinese speaking surrounding could get in touch with English only in a limited way. In this case, the proper timing for children’s foreign language learning should be after their initial mastery of their mother tongue.
3.2.2 Mother tongue-the language of our nation：Besides, the overwhelming enthusiasm on English learning also gives rise to some other worries. They claim that the emotional value of the mother tongue learning should not be ignored. Language is the product of culture and identity, and the mother tongue ties people to their ethnicity, traditions, and ways of life. If the mother tongue is lost, children are deeply at risk for losing their sense of identity, of their culture, and the reflection of themselves. In this case, the language of English is imposed on kids and on the other hand, the mother tongue is ignored, replaced or displaced. When children are encouraged to reject their mother tongue, their conceptual foundation for learning is undermined. However, the bilingual education is to provide children the access on foreign language learning and optimizing the environment for the foreign language learning, and it should by no means enhancing the foreign language at the expense of our mother tongue.
3.2.3 English affects the future development of young children：Furthermore, learning English at a too young age is likely to affect the development of children’s normal way of thinking. When they are thinking in their mother tongue, the foreign language may emerge and interfere with different thoughts, which may even cause logical confusion to the young kid.
4 Proper way for preschool bilingual education
As a result of the previous discussion, English learning is crucial and important for the Chinese kids on the one hand while their mother tongue should not be ignored or replaced one the other hand. So that, what will be the optimal or proper way for young kids to start their preschool education？
Some preschool education experts point out that English education at children’s young age deserves credit if it’s carried out in a proper way. According to the well known theory of critical stage for language learning, an age before 10 remains the optimal period for language learning, but the premise should be that the young children’s exposure to the entire bilingual circumstances. Usually, the young kids are equipped with the natural and innate interests and perception of language. The way in which the young kids understand language is usually through language acquisition rather than language learning. For young kid, they are not worrying on the vocabulary recitation, the grammar memorization, and the examination. Instead, their perception of the English language is through vivid imitation or repetition. Their understanding of a foreign language is in a way of natural, relaxing and enjoying. And the English influence on them is a gradual and subtle process.
Therefore, if the entire bilingual environment can not be reached for the young kids, the English language is much more than not taught or imposed to the young kids.As a result, the teaching methods such as vocabulary explanation, text reading, sentence building are applied on the young kids, which may both impair their interests on the language learning and lead to psychological obstacles for them on the further language learning in the future. In this way, the language is not absorbed by the children naturally and quickly. Therefore in this case the proper timing for children’s foreign language learning is after their initial mastery of mother tongue.
In short, the preschool English education deserves credit, if it’s carried out in a proper way.
Bibliography
[1] Ellis, Rod. Understanding Second Language上海：上海外语教育出版社，1999
【Key words】preschool English learning； mother tongue； bilingual education
【中图分类号】H319.2【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）05-0062-02
1 Bilingual preschool institutions spring up all over the country
“100,000 Yuan as annual tuition, the immersion English-speaking kindergarten opens up”-the eye-catching news of an immersion English-speaking preschool education center located in Nanjing has drawn attentions from a great number of parents all over China. In this kindergarten, English is taught to young children who aged between 3 and 6, and 95% percent of its faculty are professional native speaking teachers from overseas. Despite the sky-high tuition fee, the first two weeks of the kindergarten’s opening has witnessed a registration of more than 20 kids. Similar organizations are not rare. In Hangzhou, a preschool education center called “Gymboree” provides the English curriculum for young kids older than 6 months. In Beijing, English language has already been almost a compulsory subject in most kindergartens since 2001.
2 Why Chinese are crazed on English learning？
Why English learning is so important for preschoolers in China？ Is it sound and proper for kids to learn English before their understanding of mother tongue？ Bringing these questions to some parents of young kids，we find their answers have something in common: I will not let my child end where it started. Mother tongue is naturally acquired by the kids when they are growing up, while English as a foreign langue is ought to be learned the earlier the better.
2.1 From the micro point of view-personal development and competition：There are something true lie in the answer. The language of English does play an important and inseparable role in one’s personal development in today’s China. From primary school to college, the students will not be qualified for graduation without passing the English exams. After that, when the graduate is going to find a job, English still plays a crucial role as the job-seeker is very unlikely to get the upper hand in the fierce competition if he is lack of the English ability, or he is even not able to get the chance for any competition.
2.2 From the macro point of view-globalization：Further more, considering the time we are living in, it says that it’s the age of English language. So far English is the most frequent and widely used language by most of the people in the world, and globalization makes the language even more important and necessary for the communication between the different communities on this planet. Today, 45 counties use English as their official language and 1/3 of the population worldwide speak in English everyday.
3 Early childhood English learning-Pros and Cons
Realizing the important role the English language playing in today’s China, more and more parents are keen to equip their children with English so to enable them to take the precedence over others.
3.1 Early childhood English learning-Pros：To a certain amount of parents in China, under the current circumstance, it seems a wise decision for them to equip their children with English as early as possible. To them, the advantages of English learning since very young age of children are obvious.
3.1.1 Benefits on English learning at young age：People in favor of English learning at children’s very early age believe that it is both scientific and beneficial to acquire or learn languages at the young age. According to the well-known critical period theory, “there is a period when language acquisition takes place naturally and effortlessly” and the optimum age of language acquisition falls with the first ten years of life. During this period the brain retains plasticity, but with the onset of puberty this plasticity begins to disappear. （Rod Ellis）
The brain plasticity of young kids enables them to adapt to the foreign language circumstances quickly, and the exposure to the diversified language information facilitates the development of the language ability, social ability, and personal character.
3.1.2 Mother tongue affects the English learning：In addition, the linguistic experts point out that there will be negative effect of the influence of the first language in the second language learning. The negative impact of mother tongue usually impedes the second language learning and leads to some errors. In this case, for the Chinese children, If English learning is after the mastering of their mother tongues, the children may learn English passively by keeping some mother tongue language habits, which may result in errors or sometimes the so-called Chinglish. For instance, at the beginning of English learning, the Chinese learners may can’t help to try to find out the similarities between English and Chinese Pin Yin, which is similar in some way to the phonetic sound of English, but still different with the English phonetics system.
3.1.3 Access for children to different cultures：Furthermore, the ever increasingly intensified communications and exchanges between different peoples of the world make language the carrier of culture both necessary and crucial during the perception of different cultures. As for the Chinese children, to learn English at their early age may provide access to them for a wider and better perspective of the world with diversified cultures.
3.2 Early childhood English learning-Cons：As long as it’s generally recognized that the English language leaning is beneficial and important to the preschoolers, the bilingual education is enthusiastically advocated in a great number of preschool institutions. However, as some people doubt, how many of them are able to provide a sound bilingual language environment？ Are the kindergartens which provide English teaching for a few hours per day qualified to be called as “bilingual？”
3.2.1 Bilingual environment is hard to reach：A major problem which should arise our attention is that if English is taught to the young kids in the way it’s taught to the school students rather than providing an entire bilingual circumstance, the language of English could not be learned by the children naturally and quickly. Unfortunately, in most kindergartens in China, this bilingual environment can’t be reached. Kids who live in the Chinese speaking surrounding could get in touch with English only in a limited way. In this case, the proper timing for children’s foreign language learning should be after their initial mastery of their mother tongue.
3.2.2 Mother tongue-the language of our nation：Besides, the overwhelming enthusiasm on English learning also gives rise to some other worries. They claim that the emotional value of the mother tongue learning should not be ignored. Language is the product of culture and identity, and the mother tongue ties people to their ethnicity, traditions, and ways of life. If the mother tongue is lost, children are deeply at risk for losing their sense of identity, of their culture, and the reflection of themselves. In this case, the language of English is imposed on kids and on the other hand, the mother tongue is ignored, replaced or displaced. When children are encouraged to reject their mother tongue, their conceptual foundation for learning is undermined. However, the bilingual education is to provide children the access on foreign language learning and optimizing the environment for the foreign language learning, and it should by no means enhancing the foreign language at the expense of our mother tongue.
3.2.3 English affects the future development of young children：Furthermore, learning English at a too young age is likely to affect the development of children’s normal way of thinking. When they are thinking in their mother tongue, the foreign language may emerge and interfere with different thoughts, which may even cause logical confusion to the young kid.
4 Proper way for preschool bilingual education
As a result of the previous discussion, English learning is crucial and important for the Chinese kids on the one hand while their mother tongue should not be ignored or replaced one the other hand. So that, what will be the optimal or proper way for young kids to start their preschool education？
Some preschool education experts point out that English education at children’s young age deserves credit if it’s carried out in a proper way. According to the well known theory of critical stage for language learning, an age before 10 remains the optimal period for language learning, but the premise should be that the young children’s exposure to the entire bilingual circumstances. Usually, the young kids are equipped with the natural and innate interests and perception of language. The way in which the young kids understand language is usually through language acquisition rather than language learning. For young kid, they are not worrying on the vocabulary recitation, the grammar memorization, and the examination. Instead, their perception of the English language is through vivid imitation or repetition. Their understanding of a foreign language is in a way of natural, relaxing and enjoying. And the English influence on them is a gradual and subtle process.
Therefore, if the entire bilingual environment can not be reached for the young kids, the English language is much more than not taught or imposed to the young kids.As a result, the teaching methods such as vocabulary explanation, text reading, sentence building are applied on the young kids, which may both impair their interests on the language learning and lead to psychological obstacles for them on the further language learning in the future. In this way, the language is not absorbed by the children naturally and quickly. Therefore in this case the proper timing for children’s foreign language learning is after their initial mastery of mother tongue.
In short, the preschool English education deserves credit, if it’s carried out in a proper way.
Bibliography
[1] Ellis, Rod. Understanding Second Language上海：上海外语教育出版社，1999