今天向大家介绍一下蒙台梭利的语言区。

Today, I would like to introduce the Montessori language area to you.

如果要了解蒙台梭利语言教育的与众不同，首先一定要听听蒙台梭利博士对幼儿语言教育目标的设定。她认为语言教育的目的应该是要培养孩子的完整人格，而不仅仅是培养一项语言技能，3-6岁语言教育的关键是增强儿童运用语言手段表达自己的自信心。

If you want to understand the distinctive features of Montessori language education, you need to first hear what Dr. Montessori had to say about the goal of language education for young children. She believed that aside from developing language skills, the purpose of language education should be to cultivate the child's full personality. The key to language education for 3 to 6 years old children is to boost children's self-confidence in using language to express themselves.

儿童学习语言的独特之处

The Characteristics of Language Learning for Children

这种目标的出发点是蒙台梭利的语言观，也是被当代语言的研究成果印证的，她认为幼儿与成人学习语言有两个重大的不同：

This goal of language education is based on Montessori's view on language which is proven by the findings of contemporary language acquisition researches. She believed that there are two major differences between how children and adults acquire languages:

首先，学习方式不同，儿童是吸收性习得语言，像照相机，按下快门的瞬间一次性将语言的所有要素（语音、词汇、语法、语义等）作为整体吸收，甚至可以同时吸收多种语言，不需要知道规则。而成人学习语言像手绘图画，要先将语言对象分解，然后再一个一个地慢慢绘制，如先学习语音、再词汇、语法等等。

First, the learning methods are different. Children absorb languages just like how we use a camera to take pictures. All the elements of a language (phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, semantics, etc.) are taken in as a whole at once as soon as children click their “camera.” They can even absorb multiple languages at the same time. Children don't even need to understand the rules. On the other hand, the process of adults’ language learning is like drawing pictures by hand. The language elements must be decomposed before they can be depicted one by one into the whole picture. For example, adults first learn phonetics and phonology, then vocabulary, grammar, and so on.

第二，儿童语言习得的过程不仅影响而且形成儿童大脑的发展，也形成人格的发展。而成人学习语言，像我们都知道的那样，不会直接影响大脑的构造，也不会对人格造成决定性的影响。

Second, during this process, language acquisition not only affects but shapes the development of children's brain, as well as the development of children’s personality. Adult language learning, as we all know, does not directly affect the structure of their brain nor does it have a definitive influence on their personality.

个性的构建发生在儿童可以与他人交流的时候。 当儿童能表达想法和感受时，其他人对他表达的反应成为了一面镜子，他通过这种互动获得理解和建立自己，在完成对语言的习得过程中，儿童也形成了自己的人格。

Personality starts to form when children can communicate with others. When a child can express his thoughts and feelings, the responses from other people are like a mirror providing feedback on the child’s expressions. Through this kind of interaction, a child can understand and build his characters. Therefore, in the process of language acquisition, children also form their own personality.

这也就是为什么一个孩子语言发展的程度常常被看作是孩子整体发展的风向标。

That is why a child’s level of language development is often considered as the major indicator of the child's overall development.

科学的语言教育 

Scientific Language Education

从这些观点可以看出蒙台梭利，她的目标没有停止在给孩子工具和知识的层面，而是更看重语言发展对思维发展的影响力，因为这个独特的吸收语言的能力在幼儿身上只存在于特定时间内，便一去不复返。

Montessori’s understanding of the nature of children's language education is truly extraordinary. Her goal doesn’t stop at giving children language as a tool. Instead, she paid more attention to the influence language development has on cognitive and social development because the unique ability to absorb language only exists in young children for a certain period of time and will disappear forever afterwards.

至此，不得不提一个让蒙台梭利教育名满天下的热门词汇——“敏感期”。语言的敏感期全过程很长：0-6岁（跟据Steven Pinker的研究则可长到12岁完全完成）。但是其中，口语在2岁前基本形成，口语的爆发期在2岁左右，书写和阅读的爆发期是在3.5岁到4.5岁之间。

At this point, I have to bring up a popular term in Montessori education – “the sensitive period.” The entire sensitive period of language learning is long: age 0 to 6 (according to Steven Pinker's research, it can go up to age 12 when it’s fully completed). However, spoken language will generally be formed before age 2 while the explosion of speech happens at around age 2. The explosion of writing and reading takes place between age 3.5 and 4.5.

发展爆发期是另一个值得注意的蒙台梭利概念，蒙台梭利博士发现儿童的语言发展并不是呈现连续直线上升的态势，而是在经历很长的平缓甚至类似无变化的阶段后，突然在短时间内爆发式地增长。这是真正的厚积迸发型。

The explosion of development is another noticeable Montessori concept. Dr. Montessori found that children's language development doesn’t follow a continuous upward trend. In fact, any visible development usually only happens after a long silent period. Then all of a sudden, language development happens at a rapid pace in a short period of time, like an explosion.

了解儿童语言发展的特点和自然规律是我们帮助儿童语言更好发展的前提。早期语言教育必须要遵循儿童习得语言的自然规律，绝对不能拔苗助长或一味灌输知识，施加记忆压力，对于双语习得也是如此。

Understanding the characteristics and natural rules of children's language development is a premise for us to be able to better help them develop their language skills. Early language education must follow the natural rules of children's acquisition of language. We cannot spoil things by rushing children to learn or putting unnecessary pressure on them. We also should avoid meaninglessly stuffing them with knowledge. This principle also applies to bilingual education.

蒙台梭利的语言区教具的设计和使用顺序就是按照儿童的发展规律开发而来的。语言将与其环境中的所有材料一起提供。所有这些来自孩子现在每天可能看到的环境中的每个东西现在都有了自己的名字。 蒙台梭利相信语言应该是孩子日常生活的一部分。 通过熟悉的环境和他的个人经验，孩子会增强他已经同化的语言。

The Montessori language materials are designed and used in accordance with children’s development order. Language will be provided with all the materials in the prepared environment. Everything that a child sees in the environment now has its own name. Montessori believed that language should be part of a child's daily life. Through a familiar environment and his personal experience, a child will enhance the language he has assimilated.

蒙台梭利的语言区结构 

The Structure of Montessori Language Area

3-6岁的语言教育有以下特点（在此介绍的是以英文为框架的语言区构建，但原则通用于中文）：

Language education for children who are 3 to 6 years old has the following characteristics (This introduction is based on English materials, but the principles can be applied to Chinese materials):

• 打开心扉：口语强化，增加口语表达的自信心

  Open the Heart: Enhance Speech, Boost Confidence in Spoken Language Expression

  口语练习是孩子自我充实的主要工具。 这些不是以正式的方式进行的材料演示，而是提醒导师花时间让每个孩子与他交谈。 他们应该在孩子到来时每天进行，并在整个课堂上继续作为小组或个人活动。 导师应该提出开放式问题，并让儿童接触故事，押韵，谜语，诗歌，谜题，绕口令，歌曲和讨论，以使孩子们对所有形式的语言感兴趣和兴奋。

  Spoken language exercises are the main tools for children's self-enrichment. These exercises do not require the presentation of materials in a formal way, but rather they remind the guide to take the time to invite each child to talk to him. The exercises should start as soon as children arrive at school every day and continue as group or individual activities throughout the classroom. The guide should ask open-ended questions and expose children to stories, rhymes, riddles, poems, puzzles, tongue twisters, songs and discussions to keep children interested and excited about all forms of language.

  语音游戏是这个阶段有代表性的活动，通过语音游戏中对词汇中的语音要素进行分解，增加儿童对词汇中语音成分的意识，在接受过蒙台梭利感官训练的儿童，通常有敏感的辨别力和语音细分能力。

  The Sound Game is a typical activity at this stage. The phonetic features in a word are decomposed in the Sound Game to increase a child's awareness of the sound elements in the word. Children who have gone through the Montessori sensorial training are usually sensitive and discerning. Therefore, they have the ability to discriminate and segment sound.

• 打下根基：扩充词汇

  Lay the Foundation: Expand Vocabulary

  通过分类命名卡等活动，增加儿童的词汇增长，从一般常用词汇到细分词汇到专业词汇等，重要的不是孩子记住了什么，更重要的是孩子锻炼了语言肌肉、语言的记忆力并积累了语言材料。蒙台梭利的三段式语言教学法对迅速增加词汇很有效。

  By using Classified Cards and other materials, children's vocabulary, including general vocabulary and professional vocabulary, is greatly increased. The vocabulary children remember is not as important as how they exercise language muscles, build language memory, and accumulate useful language elements. Montessori's three-period lesson is a very effective method for achieving these goals.

  第一步：命名：告诉孩子这是什么。通常排列出目标词汇的图片或实物，如：等边三角形，直角三角形，钝角三角形。一一告诉儿童它们的名称。

  Step 1: Naming: Tell the child what it is. Display images or real objects of the target vocabulary such as equilateral triangles, right triangles, and obtuse triangles. Tell the child the names one by one.

  第二步：操练：通过给出指令让孩子拣选目标词汇来完成动作。如：“请把等边三角形给我。”

  Step 2: Practicing: Complete the action by giving directions to the child to pick the target vocabulary. For example, "Please give me the equilateral triangle."

  第三步：引导孩子说出目标词汇，询问检测让儿童说出目标词汇。“这是什么？”-“等边三角形。”

  Step 3: Output: Prompt the child to say the target vocabulary. "What is this?" - "Equilateral triangle."

  

• 初露头角：先写后读

  First Sign of Emerging Talent: Writing Before Reading

  蒙特梭利语言教育另一个独特之处在于，“写”在“读”之前。这基本亮点原因：首先，写是一种表达方式，儿童基本只需要知道自己想说什么，是一种分解能力的培养。而“读”是一种理解力和表达力结合的方式，儿童要发展出不仅知道自己怎么想的能力，还需要发展出理解对方怎么想的能力，是一种“综合”能力的培养。在难度上，对儿童来说“读”大过“写”。第二，“写”要伴有肌肉的训练，需要更长的时间。

  Another unique aspect of Montessori language education is that writing happens before reading. The reasons for this sequence are: First, writing is a way of expressing. Children just need to know what they want to express, and writing fosters the ability to analyze. Reading is a combination of comprehension and expression. Children must develop the ability to not only know their thoughts, but also develop the ability to understand the thoughts from the other end. Reading helps develop the ability to synthesize. Reading is more difficult than writing for children. Second, writing requires muscle training which takes longer to complete.

  具体方法在英语中的体现是，首先教孩子字母的发音而不是名称，如：c这个符号是/k/的发音，而不是名称/si/。这样就建立起了语音和字母符号之间的直接联系。

  The approach in English is to first teach the child the sound of each letter instead of the name of the letters. For example: the sound of the letter c is /k/, not /si/ like its name. The goal is to establish a direct connection between the sound and the letter symbols.

  然后，示范给孩子看如何使用这些字母符号将听到的语音成分表示出来，这时口语中的语音游戏训练的效果就发挥出来了。写的最初表现形式就利用蒙台梭利的移动字母教具将词汇组合出来。孩子第一次看见了自己想要说的话变得有形了，这是一件多么令人兴奋的事情。

  Then, the child will be shown how to use the letter symbols to represent the sound he hears. That’s when the effect of the Sound Game is demonstrated. The initial form of writing is to create words by using Montessori's Movable Alphabet material. How exciting it is for the child to see what he wants to say become tangible for the first time!

• 阅读爆发期：机械拼读时期 

  The Beginning of Reading Explosion: Mechanical Spelling Period

  训练儿童掌握拼写规则，能够读出所看见的词汇甚至句子。但是，并不一定代表他可以很好地理解他所读出的东西。但是对这一个阶段已经足够了，在这个阶段你经常能看见孩子们如饥似渴，感觉打开了另一扇大门。

  During this period, children start to master spelling rules, sight words and even sentences. It does not necessarily mean that they can understand everything they read. However, this is sufficient for this stage at which you will often see children try to read with hunger and thirst.

• 阅读深化期：通向完全阅读的道路

  Read for More: The Road to Total Reading

  蒙台梭利对阅读能力的培养的目标是完全的阅读。完全的阅读是指儿童不仅能读出所看见的语音，而且能理解所读语言的准确意思，能分析语言的逻辑关系，能理解说话人或作者的意图。那么通向完全阅读的路径是什么呢？词形变化，词类及其功能分析，句型分析到解释性阅读。

  The goal of Montessori's cultivation of reading skills is total reading. Total reading means that children can not only pronounce the words they see, but also understand the exact meaning of what they read, analyze the logical relationship of the language, and understand the intention of the speaker or the author. So what is the path to total reading? It starts with word study, function of words, reading analysis, and ultimately, interpretive reading.

  但是千万不要误会，孩子们不是在学习语法，他们从来不会被告诉这是名词还是动词，然而这些训练对他们来说和游戏感觉一样，在活动中，玩着玩着他们就明白了词语和词语的区别，词语的不同角色和句子的不同构造。

  However, don’t misinterpret it as that children are learning grammar. Children are never told whether a word is a noun or a verb. Instead, these exercises should feel like games to them. While they think they are playing games, they are actually learning the differences between words, the various functions of words, and the different structures of sentences.

蒙台梭利老师在语言教育上发挥的作用

The Role of Montessori Guide in Language Education

1. 观察每个孩子语言的发展特点和阶段，并留意是否存在语言发展障碍（语音、表达、理解力等等）

   Observe each child's level and stage of language development. Pay attention to existing obstacles in his language development (speech, expression, comprehension, etc.)

2. 留有专注倾听孩子的机会，耐心倾听

   Find opportunities to listen to each child. Be patient and attentive.

3. 做一个“多话”的老师：语言要见缝插针，要自然流露，也要多样化。

   Be a “talkative” guide: Be communicative and seize every moment to offer natural and diverse language.

4. 制作工作材料：语言区的教具制作任务是非常繁杂艰巨的，蒙台梭利大部分的自制材料都是在语言部分。

   Make materials: The task of making language materials is very complicated and challenging. The Montessori language area requires the most amount of self-made materials.

语言教学对老师来说起步常常积累于无形，过程需要耐心和信念，特别是在儿童语言发展的沉默期，要相信默默努力的作用，因为这样坚持的效果是巨大的，当见证到一个孩子发现自己可以阅读时的喜悦，这种成就是不可替代的。

Language teaching experience is accumulated over time. The process requires patience and faith. We must always believe that our effort will eventually pay off particularly during the silent period of children's language development because the result of our persistence will be huge. The joy of witnessing our children realize that they can read is irreplaceable.

今年夏天我们将荣幸地邀请到Matt Bateman博士和其他资深AMI讲师在中国举办针对老师和家长的工作坊。如想获得更多信息，请点击此处：名额有限，欲报从速！教师工作坊和家长工作坊。

The Prepared Montessorian is honored to invite Dr. Matt Bateman and his colleagues to conduct workshops for teachers and parents in China this summer. Click here: Limited Seats Available for Workshops for more information.

--end--

声明：本文章由网友投稿作为教育分享用途，如有侵权原作者可通过邮件及时和我们联系删除：freemanzk@qq.com