Nguyen Hong Hanh in Tay Ho district in Hanoi, who spent many years living and working in foreign countries, believes that foreign language skill is an indispensable skill people need to have in the age of global integration. Therefore, she sent the five year old daughter to foreign language classes, where the girl practiced four languages at the same time. She believed that the childhood is the ideal age for learning foreign languages.
Everything went smoothly in the first months, when the girl could easily acquire knowledge. However, things have got quite different recently, which has made Hanh realize that it was a blunder to force children to learn too hard.
Both Hanh and her husband have aptitude for foreign languages. Her husband can speak English, German, Chinese and French fluently. Therefore, Hanh believed that it would be not difficult for her daughter to learn the languages as well. Hanh and her husband spent time talking with the child in English, French and Chinese every evening.
However, recently, the girl has been in a jumble in foreign languages. The girl speaks English and French with parents and speaks Vietnamese with the grandmother. A problem has arisen that in the conversation with the grandmother, she cannot find suitable Vietnamese words and she has to use another language. However, she usually makes mistakes.
“The doctor said my daughter has suffered from the “language disorder” problem,” Hanh said. “My daughter has stopped going to foreign language classes. Meanwhile, I have to bring her to a special class everyday, where she is helped to practice Vietnamese.”
Pham Thu Thuy in Cau Giay district also thinks that it would be better for children to learn foreign languages at the age of 3-10. Scientific research works all have proved that in the first 10 years of life, it would be more easily for people to learn music, languages and other live skills.
Therefore, Thuy decided to send her first grader son to English, French and Japanese classes, hoping that the child would become a “language prodigy.”
However, the child has become afraid of learning languages just after a short time of attending classes. “He has been leaving his meal untouched for the last one month. He is afraid of learning foreign languages,” Thuy said.
“Sometimes, in his dream, he speaks a lot in a quite strange language that I myself do not know what it is,” she added.
Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa, who has been teaching foreign languages at a primary school in Hai Ba Trung district, said that children would be able to learn foreign languages well if they can feel the pleasure in learning.
She said that learning more than one foreign language at the same time is a difficult task. Not only the children aged 3-6, but high school students also complain that learning French makes them find more difficult when pronouncing English words.
Phuong Anh, a high school student, said that she began learning English since the day she entered secondary school. Therefore, she is now proficient in English and decided to learn French. However, she now cannot speak English in the right tone, and usually misspells words.
Dr Tran Tuan, Director of the Center for Training and Community Development, said that in the first years of life, learning the mother tongue should be put as the top priority. Children can begin learning foreign language at the age of 3-5, but they need to follow a scientific and suitable method of learning.
Source: NLD
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