Today we’re doing something a little different! This is the first episode of what will become a series of check-ins with my good friend and new bilingual mom, Samantha. In this first conversation, I’ll introduce you to Samantha and her one-year-old daughter, who is learning both English and Italian at home. We’ll talk about the current joys and challenges Samantha is experiencing with her daughter’s bilingualism, and what her daughter’s language use is like right now. Then we’ll check in again in another 3 months to see how things have changed! I’m excited to share Samantha’s journey with you and have the opportunity to follow up with her throughout the next year.

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Elizabeth M. Castillo is a multilingual poet, writer, teacher, and parent. Her childhood was split between the Congo and England, and she spent her adolescent years on the tiny, tropical island of Mauritius. She now lives in Paris with her family and two cats. Elizabeth homeschools her two daughters, and writes a variety of different things, in a variety of different languages, and under a variety of pen names. She also runs a handful of small businesses, dabbles in charity work and teaches languages part-time. 

In her writing Elizabeth explores the different countries and cultures she grew up with, as well as themes of race & ethnicity, motherhood, womanhood, language, love, loss and grief, and a touch of magical realism. 

In this conversation, we talk about language, identity and how that can shift at different points in one’s life. We also talk about Elizabeth’s multilingual homeschooling journey with her daughters, and her work writing multilingual poetry and children’s books, as well as her forthcoming podcast!

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Today's Frequently Asked Question is from a listener: What if my child switches between langauges?

I'm back with another Frequently Asked Questions episode - a quick, bite-sized episode focusing on one frequently asked question about language acquisition, Montessori language development principles, or multilingualism. I alternate these episodes with the longer-form interviews parents, educators and experts in their fields on topics relating to Montessori and multilingualism that you’re already familiar with.

If you have a question about anything related to Montessori and multilingualism that you’d like me to answer on one of these episodes, you can send me a message on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠email me⁠⁠. You can also submit a ⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠, and you might hear your voice on a future episode!  

Show notes: https://multilingualmontessori.org/what-if-my-child-switches-between-languages/

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Bianca Solorzano is a Montessori guide and consultant for Baby Tour Guide. In the past Bianca has run her own Montessori Infant Classroom, otherwise known as a Nido, and has also held roles in Admissions and School Administration. She now supports parents and educators through her Montessori Babies Podcast, the Montessori Babies Course, and on her Instagram account, @babytourguide.

In our conversation, we talk about what Bianca loves about working with babies and their parents, and what it has been like raising her own son in their bilingual English-Spanish household. We also discuss how parents can support their babies by incorporating Montessori into their parenting, and we discuss the question Bianca is asked most often about raising Montessori babies. Hint: it has to do with the floor bed!

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Today is a very special day: I started this podcast exactly two years ago, in September 2021!

Since then, I’ve interviewed over 40 educators, parents, authors, researchers, professors and experts about Montessori and multilingualism.

A few months after I first started the podcast, in December 2021, I put together this bonus episode with advice from the first ten guests that I interviewed. At the end of each episode, I invited each guest to share some advice that they had for listeners, and I compiled all that advice into one episode to share with you.

Whether this is your first episode or your fiftieth - thank you for listening to the Multilingual Montessori Podcast!

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Jenna Clark Embrey is the Literary Manager and Dramaturg at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. Jenna develops plays and supports playwrights alongside serving as the Executive Editor of the Lincoln Center Review. She received her MFA from the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater School for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

Jenna is also the mom to a two-year-old named Amelia, who attends a German immersion preschool in New York. Jenna studied German as an adolescent, and now is re-learning German along with Amelia. We talked about how they utilize the time and place method at home to structure German into their day, and what the experience has been like for Jenna to observe Amelia’s language development in both English and German. We also talk about Jenna’s experiences studying in Russia during her masters program, and how her work as a dramaturg intersects with language and translation. Jenna is a fascinating person and a wonderful human - I know you’ll enjoy this conversation!

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If you've ever wondered about Montessori at the adolescent level, this is the episode for you!

In this episode, I speak with Hannah Ewert-Krocker, a former Montessori child who worked as the director of the farm school program at the Denver Montessori Junior/Senior High School for seven years. Hannah shares incredible insights about Montessori at the adolescent level, the joys and challenges of running a public Montessori program, and what she loves about working with adolescents.

Hannah also shares her thoughts about what it was like growing up with a mother who is a trained Montessorian, and her experiences teaching a bilingual English/Spanish yoga class in Denver, Colorado.

This episode originally aired on October 20, 2021.

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Jacqueline Ménoret is an American living in Paris. Jackie graduated with a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She works in higher education in Paris, coordinating French-speaking study abroad programs. Jackie founded the Immigrant Book Club in 2020, and is also the co-founder of a new bilingual magazine called Revue Version Originale, available this fall. Jackie grew up in Wisconsin and now lives in Paris with her husband and her cat.

In this episode, Jackie talks about learning French with her dad as a child and adolescent, and her experiences studying abroad in France and England. She also talks about the decision to start a book club in Paris focused on reading exclusively immigrant authors, as well as the new literary magazine she founded with our mutual friend, Maria Laura Ribadeneira, who you may remember from episode 18 of the podcast.

Warning: this episode may make you want to drop everything and move to Paris! 

Pre-order Revue Version Originale

Listen to Episode 18. María Laura Ribadeneira, Polyglot in Paris

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Have you ever wondered about what Virtual Montessori school is like? Not Montessori schools that temporarily held virtual classes during the pandemic, but an academic program designed to be a fully remote Montessori school?

In June of 2022, I graduated from Linköping University in Sweden with a Master’s Degree in Child Studies. For my final thesis, I conducted a qualitative study about teachers’ experiences, and their impressions of their students’ experiences, in a virtual Montessori program that started at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

My good friend and former coworker Claudia, an AMI 0-3 trained Montessorian, joined me back on the podcast to interview me about the master’s program and the contents of my thesis research. You might remember Claudia from episode 15, where I interviewed her, and episode 20, where she interviewed me about starting Multilingual Montessori. 

In this episode we chat all about virtual learning - both in the contexts of the master’s program, and my research on virtual Montessori preschool, what my biggest takeaways were from interviewing virtual Montessori teachers, and what the future of virtual Montessori school might be. 

Full text of Gabrielle's thesis, Virtualizing Montessori: Experiences of teachers working in  a fully remote Montessori preschool (click "fulltext" in upper right corner)

View Gabrielle's research poster from the 2023 American Montessori Society conference

Episode 15. Claudia Lundahl on Montessori with Toddlers

Episode 20. How Multilingual Montessori Came to Be: An Interview with Me!⁠

Episode 32. Linda McGurk on Outdoor Living with Children

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Today's Frequently Asked Question is: What’s the best way to raise a multilingual child?

I'm back with another Frequently Asked Questions episode - a quick, bite-sized episode focusing on one frequently asked question about language acquisition, Montessori language development principles, or multilingualism. I alternate these episodes with the longer-form interviews parents, educators and experts in their fields on topics relating to Montessori and multilingualism that you’re already familiar with.

If you have a question about anything related to Montessori and multilingualism that you’d like me to answer on one of these episodes, you can send me a message on ⁠Instagram⁠ or ⁠email me⁠. You can also submit a ⁠voice message⁠, and you might hear your voice on a future episode!  

Listen to Episode 31: Can I Teach My Child a Language That Isn’t My Native Language?

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