A Bilingual Montessori Environment
By Catalina Murcia
What is a Bilingual Montessori environment and how does it differ from a Spanish Immersion environment?
Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages fluently. The developmental period to learn a language is from in utero to age six. The best time to learn a language and learn it well is during this period of the absorbent mind when children are just acquiring language. They have a special sensitivity to learn language and proper grammar, syntax, and even the correct accent, so they learn all this naturally without formal lessons.
When I acquired my Montessori training from the Montessori Institute of North Texas, I learned that children learn best through interactions with their environment. I knew that being immersed in an environment that exposed students to Spanish speakers would add value to their early childhood education. This is how many children around the world learn to speak another language, simply by being surrounded by it.
I was determined to create a rich language environment at Casa de Paz Montessori where students always had an adult speak exclusively in Spanish. Our bilingual classrooms have one guide who speaks and presents in English and another who presents and speaks only in Spanish. This has been a rewarding experience for our students and families in acquiring a new language. Living in Texas we are surrounded by a diverse Latin heritage community with many of our neighbors speaking Spanish. It is a gift to our students to learn to speak Spanish at this age when it is effortless and natural for them to learn it simply by being around it daily.
What does a bilingual environment look like? Let us define the environment. In Montessori pedagogy, we are taught that humans are by-products, or better yet, co-creators with their environments. Children acquire the knowledge and skills to live in a particular community by being immersed in that environment. Children use their senses and the power of the absorbent mind to acquire all they need to know to function in the time and place where they were born. Children absorb the language, culture, values, mannerisms of their environments naturally by being exposed to them.
The environment is crucial and a part of the organism. This environment is what Montessori teachers develop, study, adjust and observe. Montessorians observe how children interact with and are affected by the environment. This is Montessori pedagogy, studying and analyzing the environment and optimizing this prepared environment so that it serves to aid the children’s natural development.
A Montessori environment is rich in experiences that aid children in developing their mind, body, hand, concentration, social skills, independence, interdependence, and their personality. Creating a bilingual environment consists not only of having one adult speak to adults and students exclusively in Spanish but also of preparing an environment that exposes our students to Latin heritage cultures and celebrations, daily Spanish songs, stories, books, language vocabulary lessons, and Spanish conversation.
A bilingual environment has one consistent adult (ideally a native Spanish speaker) who presents vocabulary and teaches Spanish simply by speaking to the children in Spanish throughout the day. The other adult in the classroom speaks and presents in English.
After many years of offering this bilingual environment to our students, we opened our toddler Spanish immersion program and have now graduated to also opening Primary Spanish immersion environments. How do the bilingual and Spanish immersion programs differ?
Well, the difference is in immersion -- being immersed in something is being surrounded by it almost exclusively. So, for example, foreign exchange students who travel to live in Mexico for a year acquire the language by being immersed in an environment where almost everyone is exclusively speaking Spanish. The person immersed in such an environment has no other choice but to learn the language and use it in order to communicate.
At Casa de Paz Montessori we offer Spanish immersion classrooms in which all the adults who teach in that environment speak and present lessons to the students exclusively in Spanish. This program has increased our student’s Spanish language development and we see more Spanish language output from them; rather than only understanding Spanish, many of our students also speak it. The guides in the Spanish immersion classrooms speak, sing, tell stories, recite poems, and present all their lessons in Spanish.
Some of our students have a parent or grandparent who speaks Spanish at home, but many of our students come from homes where no one speaks Spanish. This does not seem to affect them. During this powerful sensitive period of absorbing language, children have such an ease and ability to acquire, understand and learn a second language. Our students come in and enjoy music and stories, and the books and materials show them the images of the vocabulary they are learning.
The Montessori environment, which is rich in sensorial experiences, gives a concrete experience to the child’s hand before giving them an abstract thought. For example, when we give children a lesson on anything at all (and including when presenting language lessons), we first show the child and allow them to touch and explore each item as we name it, such as “pitcher, ball, or water.” So, children learn with their senses what the thing is, creating an imprint of the sensorial input, and then they learn that it has a name.
This is easily done in Spanish. The children in a Montessori environment receive one-on-one lessons, especially important as it allows the guide to see the individual’s level of development and understanding so they can adjust to the child’s needs. The other students are usually engaged in independent work and are working to master themselves, their movements, language, and personalities.
We have observed many benefits to our students in learning a second language in both environments and feel that it is a parent’s decision that determines which environment is best for their child.
Creating a Spanish bilingual or Spanish immersion environment is a work of love and it is very intentional. One of the biggest gifts we have as humans is our capacity to abstract, think, and communicate and creating a rich language environment full of beautiful and intentionally prepared bilingual music, stories, and conversations. This is the key to creating lifelong bilingual learners.
© 2021 Catalina Murcia
Catalina Murcia, School Director & Owner - Casa de Paz Montessori School
Catalina Murcia, MINT graduate and native of Bogota, Colombia, moved to the U.S. at the age of 9 with her family and settled in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, TX. Catalina obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Development, Early Childhood Education, and Family Studies at the University of North Texas. She is a certified AMI 3-6 guide through the Montessori Institute of North Texas. Catalina holds several additional AMI accreditations, a director’s certificate, and is a certified adult educator and coach. She established a school, Casa de Paz Montessori, taught for over 16 years, is a school director, staff trainer, parent and educator coach, and curriculum developer. Catalina is also a mother of two beautiful daughters.
