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Language


The development of language in a Montessori school includes speaking, writing, and reading in the native tongue. Throughout these areas of language development, two main principles are always in operation:
       
Indirect Preparation:
Using present materials to lay the groundwork for physical or mental skills in which the child will be engaged in the future. (As in strengthening the small muscles of the writing fingers  with the use of the small knobs of Sensorial Materials to prepare the hand for writing at a later date; or, in making the child acutely aware of slight differences of size and shape in the Sensorial Materials to prepare him to discriminate between an ”r” and an “n” in reading words as car or can.
       
Isolation of Difficulties:
Presenting one detail of  the whole at a time, leading up to the mastery of a complex Skill. (As in first presenting consonant sounds with Sandpaper Letters, then presenting each  short vowel, then  presenting  each long vowel pattern, then all the other many reading skills necessary in becoming an independent reader.)
       
Montessori Directresses are often faced with the question: “Which comes first, reading or writing?” In answer to this question, the following is taken from a lecture given by Dr. Montessori entitled, “Simultaneous Reading and Writing”.

“The child who looks at, recognizes, and touches the letters in the manner of writing is prepared for reading and writing simultaneously. Touching the letters and at the same time looking at them fixes their images more quickly, owing to the cooperation of the senses; later, the two acts are separated—looking (reading) and touching (writing). Some learn to read first, others to write; it depends on the type of individual.”


There are two types of “writing” to which Dr. Montessori refers:  one, using the Movable Alphabet to from words and sentences; and the other, using pencil and paper to write letters, words, and sentences. The first refers to the spelling and reading of words; the second refers to the manipulation of the instruments of writing.

Both types are fused from the beginning with the use of the Sandpaper Letters. When a letter is presented to the child and its sound is pronounced, the child fixes the image of it with the visual and with the tactile-muscular senses, and associates the sound with the symbol. When the child sees and recognizes, he reads; when he touches, he writes. Thus he begins his acquaintance with two actions which later on are separated to form the two diverse processes of reading and writing.