Issue 7 | Feature brought to you by Modern Montessori International
Many expatriate parents in Asia are opting to send their toddlers to Montessori preschools, where their children can learn more than how to recite the alphabet.
Unlike traditional preschools in Asia, there is no teacher standing in front of a classroom saying, “A,B,C– now repeat after me,” at the Modern Montessori International school in Bangkok.
What parents will find instead when they peer into one of the open MMI classrooms is a small group of multi-national children working independently on a variety of tasks and challenges. One child may be standing at a table solving mathematical problems by balancing different-sized blocks. Others may be working in pairs to organize shades of colour into a full wheel. Some of the more advanced students may be using a puzzle to match each letter of the alphabet with their cursive counterparts.
Visually, the activity and demographic in the MMI classroom couldn’t be more different from what most parents, both expat and local, in Asia are used to seeing. But what really makes the Montessori Method stand out from publically run education in Asia is that it places high value on cognitive development as opposed to memorization; self-teaching as opposed to observed repetition.
The Montessori Method, established in 1907, is a move away from the impersonality of textbook-led lessons; the nonempathetic approach to students’ progression. While it has been quite popular in the Western world for over a century now, it’s still a relatively new and unique education style in Asia. The MMI school in Bangkok is currently the only Montessori training center for early years in all of Thailand.
Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori Method noticed that young children are naturally drawn to the types of things that allow them to put their sense of order to use, and have an inner developmental need to gain independence. She believed that children develop best in a caring environment where they are allowed to express themselves; where learning experiences interest them and can become a part of their world. For an expat child is living in a new part of the world, the Montessori Method may be the very thing to help them reach their optimal level of achievement.
A combination of both Thai and expatriates, the children who attend MMI come to school with backgrounds from all corners of the globe. While the parents who send them may not all hold the same passport, they do all share an open-minded commitment to this alternative education style, which centres on a child’s global integration through guided self-teaching.
Parents who don’t have a firm understanding on the method are often the only ones who decide to pull the children from the MMI program, which is why parents are encouraged to attend Montessori training courses, observe and become actively involved in the school.
The children at MMI are not graded by pass or fail, but rather they are evaluated on their individual progress and development on a daily basis. This is perhaps one of the biggest reasons why the Montessori Method is specifically so popular among expat parents who want to truly understand how their own child is progressing and developing; not how they compare and measure up to students from different cultural backgrounds. Because the children are essentially responsible for teaching themselves in this method, they each work at a different pace from one another.
Self-teaching happens naturally in a carefully planned Montessori classroom, which are always filled with learning tools that children naturally gravitate to and offer a sequence of increasingly challenging tasks that follow the child’s development. With a Montessori learning tool, the child will be able to master the task at hand in stages of a work cycle, starting with the simplest and moving on to the next level once they are ready for it. To the undiscerning observer, a Montessori classroom may look like little more than a group of happy children playing with wooden toys, but what is really happening is positive reinforcement that learning is enjoyable, and that the child is already a capable and intelligent human being.
“The self-confidence that children gain when they solve a task or a problem on their own gives them a belief that they can do anything they set their mind to,” Mr. Cedric said. “This is especially important for expatriate children, because having real confidence in yourself is one of the most important factors to succeeding in a foreign culture.”
Who Was Maria Montessori?
The founder of the Montessori Method of Education was Dr Maria Montessori. She was born in Italy in 1870 and became the first woman doctor in her country’s history. She was one of the most influential pioneers in early childhood education. She decides a method of education which combines a philosophy with practical approach based on the central idea of freedom for the child within a carefully planned and structured environment.
The great pioneering achievement of Dr Maria Montessori was to recognise the crucial importance of a child’s first six years of development. It is during this time that a child’s powers of absorption are highest and lifelong attitudes and patterns of learning are firmly formed. It is for the sensitive period that the Montessori system of education was most uniquely and effectively designed.
Dr Montessori’s success was so great that she travelled the world establishing schools and lecturing about her discoveries. Her books have been translated into twenty-two languages and are readily available. Her method has become a part of every teacher training course.
Dr Maria Montessori left the world a wonderful legacy: a philosophy of life, a unique method of education, which give children the best possible foundation for life.
