Language Rationale

Nicole Rousey
Lander University
Summer 2014

The language area is important within any classroom, in a Montessori classroom children
can begin with having no concept of reading and end up developing sentences and breaking
down the different parts of a sentence. Montessoris approach to language is truly remarkable.
She instilled three major areas of language at the primary level which are vocabulary
development, writing, and reading. Language is a significant part of the learning process, within
a classroom, and everyone believes it is important in different ways.
When we look at vocabulary development most people will automatically think of letter
sounds and forming words. Montessori starts at an earlier stage, first students will work on less
complex lessons that are creating order and preparing them for reading and writing different
letters and words. Some of these beginning lessons include Matching Sequence, Lotto, I Spy,
Rhyming Objects, and Opposite Cards. Lessons like these help children hear different sounds
and help them create these sounds with their mouth before trying to read or write them. Other
options to engage them in vocabulary development would be singing songs, doing finger plays
and simply talking to the child about what they like to do and what they have done.
The special importance of the sense of hearing comes from the fact
that it is the sense organ connected with speech. Therefore, to train the
childs attention to follow sounds and noises which are produced in the
environment, to recognize them and to discriminate between them, is
to prepare his attention to follow more accurately the sound of
articulate language. (Montessori, 1914).
So it is crucial that we as adults and more importantly teachers are forming and
pronouncing our words correctly so the child does not mistake what is heard; so that later in life
this will prevent the child from speaking and writing incorrectly. The silence game is a great way
to teach children to stay calm and just use that one sense of hearing to help develop and engage
the ear to hearing the way sounds are created. The child loves silence in itself. (Montessori,
2005). The child enjoys the time they get to shut everything off other than their sense of hearing,
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they will wait and wait until they hear something and it stirs up this wonderful emotion and
anticipation inside of them. The one who is last and has waited the longest must be truly
satisfied. (Montessori, 2005). There is a sense of achievement once the child is able to see that
they created that silence and they worked so hard to create it.
Often the children, to abandon themselves to this delight, close their
eyes, because they are accustomed to blindfold their eyes in order to
perceive better the sensations: this closing of the eyes sharpens the
hearing and we see children closing the eyes to hear purely the voice.
Thus, this exercise and others bring little by little a discipline
composed of calmness and interior beatitude. (Montessori, 2005).
Once again, children find this inner beauty of creating silence and using their ears to
listen and become calm so they can hear every single noise. The silence game helps heighten
their sense of hearing and develops the ear to hear sounds and articulations of the different
letters.
Another problem we face is children are not being spoken to once they get outside of the
classroom. We have so much technology that we put a child in front of a television, computer, or
phone to play games as a free babysitter so we can do other things that at the moment seem more
important. The problem is not just that the toddler isnt talking no one is. (Calise, 2009). This
says we are all set on this track that we can sit in front of a television for hours without talking
and become mindless of what is happening around us because we unaware of what it is actually
happening, drawing the communication skills out of us all.
Most important to note, however, is that communication is comprised
of far more than words. It is the human connection with another. It is
the expression of joy, love, fear. It is the expression of imagination. It
is the making real of the bond that is exclusively human. (Calise,
2009).
Children will begin writing by using sandpaper letters. Their fingers are going to help
reinforce what the shape of a letter feels like when tracing over each sandpaper letter. Touching
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the letters as if they were being written initiates the muscular training that prepares for writing.
(Costelloe, 1967). When we are presenting the sandpaper letters it is not only preparing the child
to write but it is also preparing them to read because they are making each letter sound when
they trace the letters. There are several different lessons that go with sandpaper letters and the
child will go through every set of these until they have continued through the entire alphabet.
The child has had practical life and sensorial lessons that have developed the pincer grip
and sense of order to prepare them to hold a pencil and write from left to right. The child will
begin with metal insets just to refine that pincer grip and develop a positive attitude towards
writing. According to Seguin, therefore, it is not necessary to teach a child how to write; a child
who can draw will write. (Costelloe, 1967). So children will have that desire to draw, to prepare
them for writing.
They are taught in successive stages: 1) to trace different kinds of
lines; 2) to draw them in different directions and in different positions
with respect to the flat surfaces; 3) to join these lines so that they form
graduated figures of increased complexity. (Costelloe, 1967).
Dr. Montessori created these metal insets to help the child create all of these different
lines and curves. This prepares the child to take a pencil and create the different letters that have
various horizontal and vertical lines, as well as, different types of curves. The children are
attracted to the metal insets because they are shapes that they have seen in Sensorial and the
possibilities of what they can create with them are endless. Children can produce different shapes
overlapping one another, they can shade, create various types of lines within the shapes and so
much more. Once they really have a feel for the lessons in the metal insets they will have time to
work at a writing center, where they can write letters, use stamps, stickers, envelopes, stationary,
and other fun items that are rarely used anymore, but it really makes writing pleasurable for a
child. The children will then move to more complex stages like creating words using the
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moveable alphabet. They will use the moveable alphabet to create words that make sense and
have a meaning to them. They will make words from simple objects such as a cat, fan, mug and
other words.
Once a child is able to build words with the moveable alphabet then they will soon
be ready to read. While they were creating the words they were making each letter sound, so
when reading they will be able to break down each letter of a word to sound it out. Children will
get to begin by playing fun detective games with the teacher; where the teacher will write a word
on a slip of paper, a word of an object sitting in front of the child, and then the child will get to
read the paper and figure out which word the teacher wrote. Children will read one-word books,
that hve a picture for each word to help them, they will learn about puzzle words like: the, are,
from, where and other challenging words that one cannot sound out. Then they will get to work
on reading different things like nouns, parts of our environment, and simple commands. Once we
see a child doing well with these lessons and tasks we will move on to working with phonograms
and blends. Creating more challenging work, children will learn that some letters that are
together make a special or a different sound. We will also introduce them to the letter E and
sometimes it makes other letters make a different sound and sometimes it is silent in a word.
After working on blends and phonograms children can be introduced to the function of
words. This is showing children what a noun, an article, an adjective, a conjunction, a
preposition, a verb, and an adverb are. Children will get to use different pieces that give a symbol
for each part of speech and place it over each word. Soon students will be able to do this without
the symbols because it will be so easy for them to find each part of the sentence. This is
remarkable if a child can do this in a primary classroom because this is not typically taught until
fourth through sixth grade in a traditional class.
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I believe that creating a positive feeling towards the language area of the classroom is
something that has to be done from the start. I have seen so many children that do everything in
their power to stay away from this area and I believe it is because the children do not find it
exciting. Mainly because it is not like Practical Life and Math where teachers change things out
throughout the year, this is an area that several teachers push to the back burner of constantly
changing out and keeping the children engaged in it. Growing up I hated language and loved
math but as I continue my education my feelings are almost switching, I still enjoy math but I am
finding new ways to make language exciting and that is encouraging!

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References

Costelloe, J. (1967). The discovery of the child. New York: Fides Publishers, Inc.
Montessori, M. (1914). Dr. Montessori's own handbook. New York: Frederic A. Stokes
Company.
Montessori, M. (2005). About the importance and the nature of the silence game, 1930.
Association Montessori Internationale.
Calise, W. (2009). The great input deficit. Montessori Teachers Institute for Professional Studies.

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