Babies and Language

I have been working with my daughter Theia for the last few days. Theia is just approaching two years of age. We have been using most of the early Montessori materials. Theia tends to voluntarily go to the shelves to choose what she wants to work with. What has struck me is the level of understanding she has for language.Recent research suggest that babies are practicing in their heads over and over the words they want to say when they begin to speak. We have noticed this with Theia. She is desperately trying to speak and we can even hear the stress on syllables but no clear words come out other than mama, dada, etc. Theia has been learning the sounds of letters via flashcards, sandpaper letters and a computer programme. She already identifies the letter sounds, s, m, t, a, o and c. Theia is our fourth child. We worked with all of the children but Theia arrived as a surprise package in our mid life. We have more time and more patience and we have more experience. It is difficult to juggle everything and keep the various websites and blog pages updated. I am also writing a book 'Make Your Own Montessori Classroom' which should be available by Christmas.

Sugata Mitra

Looking at Sugata Mitra's work this is a post from www.facebook.com/montessoricentrewales Darin M. Bicknell Hole in the Wall... the Granny Cloud. It is coming. It is here... but you know what you still need collaboration and interaction. It is social learning above all else that will "replace" the teacher. In Montessori that happens everyday. http://sugatam.blogspot.com/.../schools-in-cloud-what... Imagine you integrate this idea with Montessori for the 3rd plane what could happen? Barefoot In the head: Schools in the Cloud – What could they be? sugatam.blogspot.com Alan Evans You are right and I have already seen this with my own children. I am sure a lot of parents or teachers who have a belief in the true nature of the child and rid themselves of the ego will also see this. Alan Evans Mitra's model would be interesting to apply in children's play environments. The closest we have to that is the chaos theory of Tina Bruce. I would suggest that a lot of home schooled children and children outside of education per se like travellers and hippies are inadvertently using Mitra's model. There is so much data and research evidence out there but unfortunately or even fortunately people outside of the norm's of education are reticent to be involved in any scrutiny and for very good reasons. Alan Evans http://prezi.com/m78dlnjsdcbs/modern-perspectives-of-play/ Modern Perspectives of Play FdA Early Years Prezi