primary schooleducation should be given in mother tongue or English?

Question

Tell me, in which language a kid should learn? English or mother-tongue? there are some hot arguments on my blog and I support mother-tongue, and say any language should be learned through mother tongue.
http://o3.indiatimes.com/ashokchavdablog/

Answer 1

It depends on the official language of the country you live in. If you live in the USA, allowances are made in some states with large immigrant populations for children to ease into English education using mother tongues to start. However, since children acquire languages rapidly, this expensive "extra" is not always offered, nor often even really necessary. It does makes some interfering adults testing out new educational theories feel they are doing something to "help".

If, however, you live in a country where two or more major languages predominate, such as Hindi and Arabic or Farsi, it would seem logical that since a child's mind is so flexible, speaking one language at home and another at school is no problem. The Chinese family's children living two houses from me speak fluent Mandarin, but at school their English is flawless and without accent. They have taught their parents English through their homework and by studying along with their children.

It is an immigrant's best interest to quickly learn the language of their new country, and many adult immigrants learn that language from their children as they come home from school and share. Teaching in the mother tongue defeats that secondary goal of spreading the new language as painlessly as possible.

It has been proven by foreign-language courses that total immersion is the fastest way to acquire a new language. Having spent time in Japan, as an English-speaker I know this is true. After two weeks it was possible to listen closely and understand most slowly spoken Japanese, and also to recognize commonly used Kanji symbols in train stations and business signage. Had I spent that time in France, that time would have been much shorter as I had studied French in school as a child.

Since total immersion works so well to teach adults, applying that knowledge to educating children only makes sense.

Answer 2

I agree with ajjaec. english, as the child gets to learn a new language tht is used throught the world, the mother tongue can b learnt at home

Answer 3

English.Since we can learn the mother-tongue in home itself.