Language 

A love of reading and writing comes about quite naturally for a child who grows up seeing other people tell stories and read, and who is often read to. Writing notes, grocery lists, thank you letters, and recording personal experiences and thoughts, by means of drawings and written stories, can begin at a very early age.

A nightly ritual of family reading is a good way to make sure that there is time for all the great literature and poetry that you might want to read to your child.

Poetry brings more important elements into the child's language; there is a great increase in vocabulary when one delves into poetry. Even in the simplest forms words are used that are not common in prose. The music of poetry gives greater pleasure and facilitates memorization.

Reading well can take years, hopefully of enjoyable experiences, and a child continues to need to be read to. This is how he hears the correct pronunciation of new words, many new words that increase his vocabulary, the intonation and beauty of voice and expression of an experienced reader.
But most of all he needs, and perhaps never outgrows the need for, the love and the closeness, the personal attention from parents, a friend or a teacher, that comes with curling up with a book, picturing the magic scenes in his head with his eyes closed as he listens, and listens.

The child over seven is intensely interested in morals and heroes. Mythology provides a wealth of material for this exploration, and inspires discussion which will encompass behaviour in everyday life, in the family, the class, and society.

 

 

Learning to Read

If a child learns to read in a motor-sensorial way with no pressure she may learn before the age of five or six. But it is quite natural for a child not to show an interest until later. The most important thing is that learning be a relaxed and enjoyable experience.

When a child first begins to read independently, we never ask him to read aloud. To read a word while you are, at the same time, saying aloud the word you have just finished decoding, is a very complex operation and can cause a lot of stress—certainly not enjoyment.

We give beginning readers reading cards and vocabulary or word books to help them build up a large vocabulary with no stress.

The best first books are written about the child's environment, about the real world—history, sciences, etc.—or are abridged classics which lead to an interest in great literature.

 

Creative Writing
I hear and I forget;
I see and I remember:
I write and I understand.

—Chinese Proverb

 

A child who has had an active physical and mental life, with her whole body and with the hands in particular, will usually find writing easy. Running, hopping, cooking, gardening, sewing, drawing, all help to prepare for writing.

When the child first begins to write we do not make corrections. We "teach by teaching, not by correcting." Instead we teach all the necessary skills through activities that are completely unrelated to the creative writing effort, as indirect preparation.

 

 

Spelling

Most of the words in the spelling lists usually given to children in mainstream education to learn are seldom really used. In Montessori classes the child constructs his “spelling dictionary” of words which are a part of his individual writing vocabulary.

For this you can use a simple address book, preferably one without any writing in it, just the alphabetized tabs. Or you can cut tabs into the pages of a small notebook. Whenever a child comes to you for the spelling of a word, or if he asks you to check the words he has written and you find some misspelled, write these words—beautifully of course —in his spelling dictionary, words beginning with 'a' in the 'a' section and so forth. The next time he wants that word he will be able to find it in his own book. Eventually he will be able to find the words he needs in a regular dictionary and add them to his own book.

The children can have spelling tests among themselves to learn their own particular words. You will soon find that there are not so many words the child needs to learn to spell, and those will be the ones he always uses. This will gradually give the child confidence to use more varied words, because they will be in his own book – and his writing vocabulary will grow by leaps and bounds.

 

 

Handwriting

Beautiful writing has been a lost art in our country for many years but it is having a resurgence. Children feel very good about themselves and tend to write far more when they have been taught beautiful handwriting. Giving a child a new alphabet and a different kind of writing utensil often does wonders to inspire writing. The Italic script is very beautiful and a link between cursive and print. I have seen a child's cursive writing improve dramatically as he casually worked through a set of Italic workbooks over a period of years.

 

 

The History of Language

Through stories, pictures and beautiful carefully chosen books, we enable the child to begin to understand:

 

1. The path traced by language growth and development of language—through travel, colonization, commerce, war, etc.
2. How humans have given a name to everything found or made and how this process continues
3. How language constantly changes and why
4. How language expresses the creative force of humanity

At this age children in many ways are repeating the history of humans on earth. They want to cook, sew, garden, and begin to learn all of the skills of adults. Children and adults alike find it fascinating to trace the development of the language, to realize that in the past only a few people, sometimes only priests, knew how to read and write. They find the connection between the migrations and other contacts between groups of people and the many different languages on earth.

 

Etymology (The study of word origins)

Etymology, or the origin and historical development of words, is fascinating to children at this age. It is a fine basis of learning to spell, and contributes to understanding the history of cultures.

The dictionary is always usable. We look up the etymology, or the origin of words, even more often than we look up the meanings. If you do not have a good dictionary and are planning to purchase one we recommend that you make sure that the origin of words is included along with the pronunciation and definition.

We often take names of people and places for granted, assuming that they existed from the beginning of time. Imagine the amount of history and geography one can learn from stories of how people and places were named!

Studying the history of names, first names and last names, is a wonderful way to interest children in language. Most of us have completely lost touch with the history of our families for more than two or three generations, and have no idea how and why we are named what we are. This information can inspire a never ending study of language.

 

 

Grammar

As adults we may have unpleasant memories of learning grammar. Usually these studies were considered very difficult and taught at a period of life when we were not really interested in language. It works best to follow the child's interest and this is the time of life when children are very interested in the progress of civilization, including language—including the structure of their own language.

Many great educators and philosophers have stated that there is nothing that cannot be taught if the student and the subject matter are well understood and creatively put in touch with each other. We try to make everything interesting, so that it will be enjoyed and retained.