The Montessori Method in language learning

The Montessori method is known as one of the best in the world. It has become tremendously mediatic in the last years. It has a unique class organization that we will see in another post, and today we will focus in:

How does the Montessori method work when learning a foreign language?

One of the main characteristics of the method is that the student is the protagonist of his own learning since people only learn when they are interested or motivated.

In order to gain students attention, the teacher offers games and activities with specific features:

Gradation of difficulty
Isolation of a single property of the language
Purposeful activities using movement, daily activities and projects.
Control of error of the activities
Beautiful and attractive materials

The figure of the teacher ceases to be a rigid figure that controls what the students learn. And then...

What are the functions of your teacher - accompanying guide?

1. Getting to know you as a student:

- Understand what your interests are, what is motivating for you. Therefore, you will be emotionally involved in activities.

- Understand how you learn, and help you “learn to learn”. This is something that will be very useful in many aspects of your life.

2. Provide useful activities to the student:

- Activities, games, tasks, projects, writings, video watching... there are many possibilities, but they must accord to your level and your interests.

- The activities must level up slowly, so the learning will be securing language firmly.

3. Accompany yourself emotionally:

Your teacher must motivate you in your learning and create a relationship of trust with you. He or she must be a companion in this process and help you to overcome emotional blocks. And, of course, leverage your skills as well as support your weaknesses.

What is "learning for life"?

Montessori sees training as an opportunity for teaching for life. This is similar to the Experiential Communicative Approach, one of the most widely used foreign language learning nowadays.

The idea is that the knowledge you are gaining at the courses must be helpful in your life. You learn a language, but it helps you learn new understandings, such as environmental education, Hispanic and Latino cultures and their differences, history, current affairs, curiosities, and much more to learn and discover.

Montessori also uses a form of work by tasks, consisting of specific projects that the student will carry out with the help of the teacher, who will be giving keys and help to the student. This type of methodology resembles the so-called Task-based language learning and Project-based learning approach.

These tasks focus on cases that can easily happen in real life and situations you will need to solve when travelling to a Spanish-speaking country.

We want you to learn about the current and real world since language is a tool to communicate...

Let’s use it for that!