Should children learn English before the age of 6?

You should learn.

Babies before the age of 6 are dozens of times stronger than their mothers in learning foreign languages. Professor Dekai of the University of Maryland found that the learning area of the brain is the strongest before the age of 6. Brain nerve fibers are covered with a protective film composed of fat and protein. With the increase of age, this protective film accelerates the speed of signals passing through the brain and limits the ability to make new connections. Therefore, as soon as people are over 6 years old, their ability to master a new language effortlessly begins to decline.

Some scholars have done the research of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and found that the closer the learning time of the first language and the second language is, the closer the brain processing areas of the two languages are, or even partially overlap. The sooner children are exposed to bilingualism, the sooner their inherent language learning opportunities will be stimulated by two different languages. Therefore, mother tongue learning and second language learning are complementary and not antagonistic.

Due to the cultural differences between the East and the West and the differences between English and Chinese, English is a brand-new language for China people, which is quite different from other knowledge (such as mathematics and history). Learning a foreign language is a kind of "adventure" to a great extent, such as shyness, timidity and anxiety, which will have a great negative impact.

Compared with adults, children have less psychological side effects. They dare to speak and actively participate in various activities and language environments. The earlier they learn, the easier it is to be free from pressure. Before the age of 6, it is a good time for children to get in touch with and learn English. Before the age of 6, it is a sensitive period for phonetic learning. At this time, learning a foreign language also conforms to the baby's natural learning method.

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In addition, the age of 3 is an important period for children's language development, and providing early English experience during this period has a great influence on mastering English in the future. It doesn't matter if parents don't understand English at this time, that is, let children learn English unconsciously at an early stage.

The key is to give English stimulation in children's life, such as playing English tapes two or three times a day for 5 minutes each time. You can turn on the tape recorder when you get up and get dressed in the morning; Usually, when children play with building blocks, they can be used as background sounds; It is also played by the way when washing the children at night.

It should be noted that this method is unconscious learning, that is, whether the children are listening or not, they will "do routine work" according to the plan. Parents should not try to guide the children to listen to the recording, nor ask them to follow the pronunciation. Of course, it will be better if you can record English tapes yourself. This method can be used for children over three years old, and it can be maintained for more than 4 days a week for a long time.

Fenghuang. com-Parents are entangled: Should I learn a foreign language before I am six years old?