Montessori revolution in teaching language

(Part II – Montessori Revolution in Education)

I was impressed by how articulate (madaldal) were the  Italian children in the Montessori Scuola Elementare in Via Abruzzo 1 in Perugia, Italy where they speedily learned to read and write in beautiful longhand calligraphy as early as the age of four. The acronym GROW refers to the four competencies of communication, which are Grammar, Reading, Orals, and Writing that make a person literate. It starts with one’s oral expression constantly improved by enriching the vocabulary. This leads to the development of writing and reading skills. Grammar is essential to give the proper structure and meaning to both spoken and written speech.

Discovery of children’s spontaneous writing and reading

Dr. Maria Montessori’s “discovery of the new child” all happened in a tenement housing for workers at Via Marsi, San Lorenzo in Rome that still exists today. The government had built housing blocks for the poor but employed workers. As soon as both parents went to work the small children left behind would vandalize the building. The management of the Istituto dei Beni Stabili, the biggest housing agency thought of hiring Dr. Montessori to organize the children – a solution found more economical than constant construction and repair.

Dr. Montessori readily consented to work with these “ignorant little vandals” using a limited budget and assisted by the porter’s daughter. She had children’s work tables and chairs made since the standard classroom furniture was more expensive. The porter’s daughter was taught how to use the materials so she could help the children work everyday. First, they were taught how to clean themselves and their surroundings. Right after, she taught the children letters and their corresponding sounds.

One day while sunning and playing on the roof deck, they began to scribble on the walls and pavement. One by one, they discovered that they could join letters together, “Look Signora Montessori, I can write.” Montessori saw the scrawled Italian words: t-e-t-t-o (roof), S-o-f-i-a (girl’s name), p-a-n-e (bread), v-e-n-t-o (wind) and f-i-o-r-e (flower). The absence of a regular classroom and an official teacher led to Montessori’s discovery that there is within each preschool child an invisible teacher.

Analyzing the difficulties of writing and reading

The difference between conventional Language lessons and those in a Montessori class is vast. Each subject is taught with workbooks within blocks of time in regular schools. Language, Math and Science are in 30-40 minute periods, which prevents concentration. In the Montessori class, a one-hour work period allows everyone the full use of all materials classified per subject area and available in open shelves.

For vocabulary, Classified Picture Nomenclature Cards (farm animals, zoo animals, girls’ clothes) with loose noun labels are matched first, and later they concentrate more on reading their labels. A writing stand with Geometric insets, colored pencils and paper boards prepare the younger kids to write, shading vertical lines on geometric figures. These develop the pencil grip, the wrist movement, and the arm pressure for writing and the corresponding sound per letter.

The printer box and the movable alphabet

During the one-hour work period, children keep busy tracing and sounding the Sandpaper Letter boards. Unlike the Sandpaper Number boards which must always be laid out in sequence, the letters need not be. For order, Montessori classified them as vowels a, e, i, o, u, short consonant letters c, m, n, r, s, v, w, x, z, tall letters b, d, f, h, k, l, t, and the tailed letters g, j, p, q, y. Observe that the lower case letters, not capital letters, are used since Dr. Montessori’s practical sense noted that we read and write more small letters than capital letters.   Learning the names of the letters is easily accomplished right after.

For composing familiar words with loose letters, Dr. Montessori designed the Movable Alphabet Box similar to the sectioned letterbox of the old-fashioned printing shop. Using the illustrated monosyllabic noun cards like cat, dog, man, sun, etc. the child picks these picture cards like ‘cat,’ laying each down on a mat. Mentally he separates it into c-a-t placing the corresponding letters together beside the picture card. This is the Montessori version of “word composition” or writing. Polysyllabic words would be banana, papaya, tiger, and hippopotamus. Note that this does not require him to read back the words. After numerous drills in composition the child’s skill in reading will eventually develop.

The thrilling ‘secrets’ in the reading basket game for nouns

Noting how significant the moment is when a child begins to read, Dr. Montessori strictly taught teachers to fold the reading card as a “secret” to give the child the thrill of discovering a “special” idea printed on a card. From this, was born the Reading Basket game. About four to five baskets are kept in the shelf within reach of the children. The Montessori teacher replenishes these baskets weekly with names of classmates, names of colors, numbers, non-movable furniture (piano, desk, windows, cabinet), or movable objects (books, flower vase, pencils and pitcher), names of materials such as geometry insets, puzzle map of the world, puzzle map of Asia, Botany cards, etc.

The exciting ‘command cards’ for reading lessons on verbs

Dr. Montessori’s unique anecdotes on the discovery of a child’s feat can provide parents joyful moments of learning together with their young children. One morning, Dr. Montessori thought of testing the reading skills of the class.  She wrote on the blackboard: Da mi un bacio (Give me a kiss). Such an emotional command, if it can be read, she foresaw would trigger a flood of reaction, and it did. Several children read the “command” and happily bussed her cheeks. This brought about the exercise of the Command Slip cards which emphasize action or the verb.

Later on Maria Montessori made it more difficult following her principle of “gradation of difficulty:” Give me a kiss and embrace me; Give your friend a chair and a flower; Open the window and dust it; and Wash the table, dry it and place it along the wall. The difficulty increases as one reads more instructions which must not only be worked out, but whose sequence must be remembered.