by Diana Coode

Created on: March 29, 2009

As an EFL teacher, I feel strongly that childhood is the best time to start learning a new language. I am not talking about children learning lists of verbs, grammar rules, writing or even reading. What I believe is so important is pronunciation, a feel for the sounds of the language itself and, this can definitely be achieved best whilst the child is still young and receptive to new information from all directions.

My opinion stems from experience, both of teaching and travelling. In the classroom a student's poor pronunciation creates so many problems for everyone concerned. Often this has two causes. Firstly, the mother tongue is far removed from English, such as Arabic or Japanese and clearly this cannot be changed. Secondly previous learning, usually predominantly book based, is not started until secondary school. Vocabulary, grammar and most other aspects of language can be improved at an older age: trying to correct bad pronunciation can be almost impossible once bad habits have set in and, for the learner it is so frustrating and such hard work.

So, what can be done? Teaching children languages from a much earlier age is definitely the answer. Introducing some language teaching at elementary level in state schools is an excellent step forward but, this must be fun based and non academic in order for it to be effective. It can be in the form of songs or visuals or simple stories, all of which children love, with little or nothing written down and, preferably with a native speaker. The children definitely absorb the intonation and basic tones and stresses and remember them, even if their language learning is disrupted for years.

The importance of this early language exposure was brought home to me during our travels in Asia. We spent two months in Thailand and, I can count on one hand the number of Thais we met whose English was comprehensible, despite years of studying and even university degrees. In Malaysia, however, it was a different story. Even when people had limited vocabulary and probably not much education, we were able to communicate with them. And the reason? Children's television programmes in Thailand were always dubbed into Thai, whilst in Malaysia subtitles were used and the original language could be heard. Watching television programmes is something that children do as a matter of course: they do not see it as teaching but, clearly this exposure to the sound of English, long before they understand a word, gives them an invaluable head start.

A few months ago I was talking to a Portuguese man whose English was virtually accent free. From past experience with many Spanish students, few seem to ever lose their Hispanic pronunciation, so I made a point of complimenting him. He went on to tell me that the reason was the children's television programmes which, in Portugal are subtitled and not dubbed. It was certainly gratifying to have my theory put forward by someone else.

The proof of the pudding though lies with the children fortunate enough to live in a bilingual family. Being exposed to a second language from a very early age, their learning is in a natural environment, probably with no formal teaching and yet, they usually become fluent with little or no real effort on their part. So I say, if you want children to speak another language, start thinking about it as early as you possibly can.

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