Japanese Lessons

Aims and Reasons for LOTE Education

(Languages Other Than English)

The learning of a language other than English should be seen as an essential experience for all children. 

Together with all other curriculum areas, language education aims to promote children’s cognitive and social development. Learning a second language is an essential component of a curriculum intended to provide an all-round education.

The Aims of a second language program are:

• To use another language
• To develop a better understanding of other cultures to enhance their view of the world.
• To develop an awareness of the inextricable link between language and culture.
• To develop an appreciation that different languages and cultures have different views of the world. 
• To develop different ways of expressing themselves and to promote experimentation with language. 

Reasons for Learning:

• Children’s attitudes to learning LOTE in the future will be influenced positively or negatively by their early experiences with LOTE learning.
• Young children tend to develop better pronunciation in the LOTE than those who begin learning a second language later in life.
• Young children tend to be more eager to learn as compared with older children.