The Montessori Language Program has fascinated me from the day of my first introduction. The Math materials are incredible – without question – but the language activities are so intelligently created, so logically sequenced and so beautiful to work with that it deems it almost impossible for a child not to be able to learn to read. If one has strong reading skills everything we learn becomes so much easier. Montessori promoted the use of realistic renditions for her materials, exciting the young mind with recognizable, identifiable objects or cards to manipulate. While grammar has become a mere thought in traditional schools the Montessori student is alive and well in the realm of words and phrases and subjects and predicates. Students are encouraged to question and manipulate - English is, after all, a seriously strange language. Words have more than one meaning, spelling rules change, two words can become one word, we can leave letters out, add an apostrophe and the word is the same even though it isn’t? Punctuation can change the meaning of the same group of words – the changes and possibilities seem endless.
The materials flow seamlessly and logically from Pre-Casa through to the end of Grade 6. The Montessori student develops a strong understanding of the nuances of the English language – as with all Montessori areas – not simply learning but UNDERSTANDING and creating a foundation for all that lies ahead as they grow into solidly contributing members of society. As is always possible moving forward in KNOWLEDGE with UNDERSTANDING.
RSS Feed