“YOUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION IS PRICELESS” MS HELEN
When I met Ms.Helen it was because my son was attending Tiny Home Nursery. Tiny Home is a Montessori nursery, and many people have asked me about the difference between Montessori and mainstream teaching.
Well, today you’ll find the answers; we sit down with Ms. Helen, the principal of Tiny Home, who moved to Dubai 4 years ago. We discuss her passion for teaching and gain a better understanding of how Montessori differs from mainstream teaching.
Q1: What led you to study the Montessori teaching stream and where did you study?
After many years working in childcare in the UK, I heard about the Montessori approach and investigated it further. I essentially agreed with the philosophy that children learn best by ‘doing’ and that ‘happy, self-motivated learners’ form positive images of themselves. This leads to a child feeling confident and becoming successful.
I completed my Montessori International Diploma in the UK at the Montessori Centre International, London, in 1998
Maria Montessori developed the holistic approach which aims to develop the whole child.
Q2. Tell us about Maria Montessori?
I liked that Maria Montessori (pictured above) specifically created and designed resources for children. Her aim was for these resources to foster independence and a love for learning from an early age. Fundamental to the approach is the belief that a child’s early years (from birth to six) are the period when they have the greatest capacity to learn.
Q3: How does Montessori differ from mainstream teaching?
Montessori is an approach to early education that focuses on the immense capacity of children to absorb information when given the freedom and independence to learn at their own pace.
What makes the Montessori approach different and what makes it work so well, is that it is based on a deep understanding of the way children learn – through choosing, trying and doing themselves.
Montessori schools depend on the availability of specially developed materials in a prepared environment that allows children access to all materials.
The close observations and guidance by a Montessori teacher leads the child to gain an enormously powerful confidence building approach to learning.
All of the Montessori elements are building blocks for future learning, allowing a child to engage with new materials and information, and providing the tools to use.
Q4: In your opinion, what are the benefits of Montessori education?
By understanding how children learn and providing them with tools and opportunities tailored to the way they experience the world around them, the Montessori approach allows children to learn through understanding rather than being told.
From understanding comes confidence and a joy in learning. At the same time there is a strong physical dimension to many Montessori activities, encouraging dexterity, balance and appreciation of shapes, colours and sizes.
In its approach to language in particular, Montessori begins with concrete examples to illuminate abstract concepts, gradually building to a deep and permanent understanding of what most adults take for granted.
Q5: How is does the Montessori multi-age classroom benefit the students?
In the family, in the workplace and society as a whole, we are in constant interaction with those who are older or younger. Children in traditional schools are the only members of society segregated by age.
Younger children are surrounded by role models a little more developed than themselves; similarly, the older child finds herself in a position of responsibility, and, by showing younger children what she knows, affirms to herself, (more surely than any test,) the extent of her learning.
Cooperation replaces competition as the driving force within these mini-societies. The auto-education facilitated by the prepared environment means that each child is learning and developing at his own pace.
Q6: How do parents know if their children are ready for school?
Usually in this day and age children attend nursery before attending school. It is during this time that the nursery and parent form a bond and have a ‘parent-teacher partnership’ where information about their child is shared.
The most important assets for all children to have when preparing for school is confidence, high self-esteem, good physical development (fine and gross), and the ability to understand and speak clear English. All the academics are a bonus but not a necessity. Schools also look at the children’s social interaction; they like to see children play with others.
Q7: How have you seen the Montessori techniques support children’s learning?
The Montessori approach has proven so successful that it has been adopted all over the world and continues to influence ‘mainstream’ educationalists’ thinking everywhere. Through my years of experience both in the UK and Hong Kong, I have witnessed the Montessori techniques develop considerable powers of concentration and self-discipline. As the child’s exploration continues, the materials interrelate and build upon each other. Later, in the primary years, new aspects of some of the materials unfold.
When studying volume, for instance, the child may return to the pink tower and discover that its cubes progress incrementally from one cubic centimetre to one cubic decimetre. At the pre-school age when the child is bombarded by sensory information, these materials help the child to order and make sense of his world and heighten his perception and wonder of it.
And the same applies with language?
Yes, the subtle preparation the child has been given in this environment – a curriculum of songs, stories, poems, or the control over the movement of the hand through polishing, allows 4 and 5 year olds to effortlessly start to write and read. Montessori education has been using an effective system of synthetic phonics for 100 years. At the centre of this system are a set of ‘sandpaper letters’ – individual boards with the primary symbol for each of the 26 letters as well as a number of the diagraphs (eg ‘sh’ or ‘oa’) sounds in the English language. 3-year-old children see and feel these symbols, and make the corresponding sound, absorbing the combination of sound and symbol through three different senses.
Finally, the cultural materials bring to the child his world and the animals, plants and people within it. Like everything offered to the child at this age, the materials are sensory-based and are introduced to the child in an orderly way.
Q8. Why do you believe investing in a child’s education is priceless?
Every parent wants the best for her/his child! In order for your children to have the best start in their lives, an early foundation in learning is the best step forward.
Q9: In our busy world, mums often put everyone before themselves. What advice would you give to other mothers about balancing their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of their family?
When you have a family it is vital that the responsibilities are shared between both parents to have a happy balance. The upbringing of your children needs to be achieved as a partnership otherwise the family unit becomes unbalanced. This then affects the children and the adults involved. It is important for mothers to communicate their needs for their wellbeing to be maintained.
Top Tip: Take thought on ‘sorry’!
We often find our children doing all sorts of naughty things and then we find ourselves telling them ‘to say’ sorry! Ms. Helen shared some light on the explanation of the behavior. She has encouraged me to ask my son”How would the person feel from his behavior? How would he feel? ” And then perhaps suggest that he say sorry. This reasons encourages children, to be independent thinkers of this world and not followers.
I’ll keep you posted on how I go with ‘sorry’, but personally I am quite confident in Ms. Helen’s advice
Janelle xoxo
