Every year parents come to us and anxiously ask us the question: “when should our children start a foreign language?” For us, the answer is all too simple, but for parents, understandably, the answer to the question seems quite difficult. Parents are afraid that, because the child is in the first grades of primary school, he or she will have difficulty, confusing Greek with the foreign language, while at the same time getting very tired and possibly “not taking it well”.

These fears, however non-existent they may be with our experience and knowledge, are very reasonable, so it is worth trying to answer them with the responsibility that distinguishes the renowned LINGUA Language School.

Scientists and researchers working on teaching issues note that “the ability of a child’s mind to learn is inversely proportional to his or her age”, while they stress that children up to the age of 12 assimilate foreign languages particularly easily because their brains create neurons relatively easily and their vocal abilities are open to every new sound and can be shaped accordingly. The result is obvious: Children who start a foreign language from a very young age absorb knowledge like a sponge while acquiring the correct pronunciation.

Of course, for the above to apply, we must:
– The teaching method should have the appropriate teaching material that, on the one hand, captures the interest of young students and, on the other hand, has the element of alternation, because, as we know, children of this age cannot concentrate for long on the same subject.

– The use of visual aids (tape recorder, video, computer, multimedia, etc.), which are essential daily teaching aids.

– Teaching staff must be properly trained to apply specific and exclusive teaching methods. The teacher first and foremost has the responsibility to enthuse the child, to make him/her love the language and at the same time to give him/her a solid basis for the rest of the course (this, of course, is not only possible with reading, spelling and traditional exercises that will drive the young student away from the foreign language for many years).

– They should have created an appropriate space, exclusively for these young students, because the child should feel that he or she is working in a place different from the school, because there he or she will be doing things that he or she likes and enjoys.