It is by acceptance that vocabulary and structure are acquired. In the beginning stages of second language learning, a good deal of repetition of sounds, vocabulary words, and structures is necessary. Young children accept and expect repetition in nursery rhymes, stories and songs. Repetition, which in one form or another is necessary for remembering, meets with resistance in older children, even when the themes are more advanced. The phonetic and linguistic content of already familiar children's stories, songs and activities play a considerable part in the early learning of a second language.
Most young children take a new language in stride.
They still enjoy experimenting with language, singing, reciting, using gestures, acting, performing. Many of the mother tongue strategies can still be used effectively. Adolescents and adults are reluctant to plunge into a new language. Their learning process is accompanied by far more reticence. Although the older student's interest and motivation are often high at the outset, frustration may soon negate these.