Do Young Children Really Need “A Smattering of English”? The Pitfalls of Early English Education I Noticed at a Local Festival

The other day, I went to a local festival. It was a purely community event with no religious affiliation, and the venue was crowded with people.

In one corner, I spotted a familiar English school running a booth for children. It was a school I used to attend.

I no longer attend it, however. The reason was simple: it was poor value for money.

I now take a 30-minute online English lesson with a Filipino teacher every day. Each lesson costs about ¥500, or roughly $3.30. By contrast, a 45-minute face-to-face lesson with a British teacher in Japan would probably cost around ¥5,000, or roughly $33.

This is less about a difference in teaching ability than a difference in the cost of living. Teachers living in Japan cannot reasonably be expected to charge the same rates as teachers living in the Philippines.

Is There Any Point in Teaching Children English?

At the booth, children were enjoying a game in which they arranged simple English words.

As I watched them, a question suddenly occurred to me.

“Is English education for very young children really necessary?”

It may sound self-important, but I think my English is relatively good by Japanese standards. I use English routinely and have little difficulty obtaining information in English.

That is precisely why I found myself wondering whether I would send my own child to an English school from an early age.

My conclusion is that I probably would not.

There is no doubt that exposure to English from early childhood offers advantages in pronunciation and listening. But I do not believe that learning a few English words or singing English songs several times a week will enable a child to use the language freely in the future.

If you seriously want a child to master English, one option is to provide an environment where English is used every day, such as an international school.

But then tuition becomes an issue. And that is not the only problem.

English Is Not Enough If a Child Cannot Use Japanese Well

For someone who will live in Japan, attend Japanese schools, and work in Japanese society, proficiency in Japanese is indispensable.

This is not simply a matter of being able to hold a conversation. It means being able to read accurately, understand abstract concepts, and express one’s thoughts logically.

If parents choose an English-centered education, they must separately consider how their child will develop Japanese literacy and prepare for Japan’s entrance examination system.

Of course, some people can use two languages at a high level. But that requires an appropriate educational environment and sustained effort.

What concerns me is the possibility of a child being able to manage everyday conversation in both English and Japanese, but unable to handle complex ideas adequately in either language.

Language is not merely a tool for conversation. It is also a tool for acquiring knowledge, thinking deeply, and communicating those thoughts to others.

Clear English pronunciation means little if you cannot explain your own ideas logically.

There Are Experiences I Would Prioritize Before English

If I had a child, I would want them to experience sports and extracurricular activities in early childhood before focusing on English.

Being physically active. Failing. Arguing with friends. Cooperating. Experiencing frustration.

I believe those experiences would do more to build the foundations of a person than memorizing hundreds of English words at a young age.

English can be learned later, when it becomes necessary. That is what I did myself.

Some experiences, on the other hand, are available only in childhood.

That said, I do believe there is value in opportunities to interact with people from other countries.

There are people in the world who do not speak Japanese. Other countries have cultures and customs different from Japan’s. What we consider common sense is not universal.

Experiencing those realities firsthand is important for reasons quite separate from memorizing English words.

The booth at this festival was meaningful enough if viewed not as English education, but as an introduction to intercultural exchange.

What Matters More Than the Label “Bilingual”

To begin with, does becoming bilingual really need to be an educational goal in itself?

What matters is not how many languages a person speaks, but what they can think about and communicate through those languages.

When English becomes necessary, it is enough to have the intellectual foundation needed to learn it. Conversely, if that foundation is weak, adding a second usable language will not solve the problem.

Before spending money on English education for young children, perhaps it is enough to have them read, think, and speak in Japanese while gaining a wide variety of experiences.

Those were the thoughts that crossed my mind as I watched the children happily arranging English words at the festival booth.

If we become so preoccupied with raising children who can speak English that we forget to cultivate something worth saying, we have put the cart before the horse.

Even if they can confidently say “Hello!” to the world someday, the conversation will end right there if they have nothing to say next.