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Some people believe that young learners should not be taught grammar lessons until they can communicate basic English and build up quite vocabulary for themselves first just by learning words with pictures or flashcard or by singing or chanting. Others, by contrast, are worried that if they are not well prepared with grammar lessons as soon as possible, they will struggle in their learning English later on. Personally I can understand the two opposing points of view; I both agree to build up vocabulary, listening and speaking skills first and grammar lesson is also crucial to be integrate along with those skills so that teens can catch up the progress later without any troubles. On the one hand, children at young ages tend to play games or be attracted to something fun, interesting and colorful. That is the main reason why many educators believe that kids learn best through play. Games are a great way to make learning fun and help kids practice communication and use the language naturally without much thinking. Some games can mainly focus on listening skills, for example, “Simson Says” game where students need to listen and act as requested, whilst other can emphasize on memory through flashcards. What is more, children love song, rhymes and chants and their repetitive nature and rhythm make them an ideal vehicle for language learning. All in all, young learners is much excited and active and the target language should be taught in a fun and visualized way. On the other hand, ignorance and negligence in correcting grammar mistakes while young learner produces English language during some beginning English course may lead them in trouble in the future. It is undoubted that children still have to study basic grammar points in order to make good sentences and better speeches in their later stage of learning. They must be able to distinguish four main parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, and adverb) as well some simple tenses (present, past and future simple tenses) to describe events or activities at period of time. It is great for children to start to be familiar with the timeline during their early years learning English. Last but not least, grammar lessons sometimes need to be separated and taught with much repetitive drills to help kids better understand the language and spend more time on thinking what they want to express. In my opinion, the heavy and intensive grammar lessons do not help the young learners to boost their language at ease and as their fastest pace as they could. With help of technology, there are a variety of choices for visual aids to motivate and develop kids’ language skills while they can possibly take in grammar points without notice. Reading to children from an early age helps a lot to foster an interest in language and to develop the sounds, sentence structures and story timeline, which is quite important to provide the foundation to build upon prior knowledge and the ability to learn more as they grow up. Schools and educators should continue to research more effective ways so that children can better absorb and use the language well.
