Paula Lillard Preschlack was a teacher and the head of school at Forest Bluff School in Illinois for over 25 years. Her work focuses on the principles and benefits of the Montessori approach. Paula attended Hampshire College and holds a Master's Degree in Education from Loyola College in Maryland, has diplomas from the Association Montessori Internationale for Assistants to Infancy, Primary, and Elementary Levels, and she audited the NAMTA/AMI Orientation to Adolescent Studies. Paula and her husband Jim have two children, now 18 and 20 years old. Her new book, The Montessori Potential, will be published in February 2023.

In this conversation, Paula and I discuss her experiences growing up as a Montessori child and how she decided to go into the field of Montessori education herself. We discuss her new book, The Montessori Potential, and we talk specifically about some of the important features of Montessori’s language curriculum throughout the Planes of development.

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Claudia Serrano Johnson is a bilingual speech-language pathologist and a mom of three living in Virginia. Claudia is passionate about empowering Latinx parents with accurate information on bilingual language development. On her social media platforms, she clarifies misinformation such as "Bilingualism causes delays", "Bilingualism confuses children", and "Bilingual children speak later." Claudia feels strongly that these myths negatively impact the bilingual community by making parents fear passing on their language or delaying parents from seeking the right supports for their children. Ultimately, Claudia hopes that by sharing this information, parents can continue fostering bilingualism in their families.

In our conversation, Claudia debunks some of these myths about bilingualism, and offers advice on what parents can say to doubters to help bust these myths. We also talked about what signs Claudia looks for in her work as a speech-language pathologist that indicate a bilingual child might be experiencing a speech-language delay or disorder, as well as strategies to maintain bilingualism with a child who is diagnosed with a speech-language delay or disorder. And of course, Claudia shared her own journey as a bilingual parent and the joys and challenges she and her husband have experienced in raising their three children with two languages.

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Linda McGurk is a Swedish-American freelance writer and author of the  book, There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient and Confident Kids. Linda is a passionate advocate for the Nordic outdoor tradition friluftsliv and believes that the best childhood memories are created outside, while jumping in puddles, digging in dirt, catching bugs and climbing trees. Her latest book, The Open-Air Life: Discover the Nordic Art of Friluftsliv and Connect with Nature Every Day was published earlier this month.

In this conversation, we discuss Linda’s experiences parenting bilingual and bicultural daughters, as well as her own experiences with bilingualism and biculturalism. We talk about the Nordic preschool curriculum and parallels with the Montessori approach to early childhood. We also talk about the benefits of being outside, for both children and adults, and how we can motivate ourselves to spend more time outdoors.

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Today's Frequently Asked Question is: Can I Teach My Child a Language That Isn’t My Native Language?

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!  

Meagan De Clerck is a multilingual mom of four. Meagan lives with her family in Northern Vermont and homeschools her children with a Montessori-inspired curriculum. Meagan’s children are trilingual; she and her husband use the one parent one language method in their home. Meagan speaks exclusively in Spanish to her children, her husband speaks exclusively in French, and they get English exposure from their community. Since we recorded this episode over the summer, Meagan has also started speaking Italian with her children every day at lunchtime (which you might recognize as the “time and place method”).

Meagan went to Montessori school as a child growing up in Houston, Texas. She has a Masters in International Policy and Crisis Management from the University of Rome La Sapienza and has lived and worked all over the world, including at an NGO in Kenya and throughout Central and South America.

Meagan is a great example of a parent teaching her children a language that is not her first language - if that’s you, or something you aspire to, I hope this conversation will provide some inspiration and reassurance that it can be done - and it doesn’t need to be perfect!

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A question I hear all the time is: Is it too late to raise my child bilingual?

Natalia Sáez is a professor and researcher at Teachers College Columbia University focusing on second language development as well as bilingual/bicultural education. Natalia is also the founder and co-owner of TraducGlobal, which offers language services to clients around the world. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Cognitive Science from Universidad de Chile, and a Master of Arts degree in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College Columbia University, from which she also has a Doctor of Education degree specializing in Applied Linguistics.

In this conversation we talk about Natalia’s experiences growing up in both NYC and in Chile, and what role languages played in her life as a child and a young adult. We talk about her work as a professor and researcher in the Applied Linguistics and Bilingual Education departments at Teachers College Columbia University in New York, and she shares her advice for both parents and teachers when working with bilingual or multilingual children. Natalia has some really great insights about language development and language education, and I think you’ll learn a lot from her - I certainly did!

Beth Allison is a mom, educator, and entrepreneur who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Beth is Navajo and grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, but she is not fluent in the Navajo language. When her son, who is now 2 and a half, was born, Beth decided to learn Navajo along with him. She quickly found that there weren’t as many teaching resources for an indigenous language like Navajo as there are for world languages like Spanish and Mandarin. So she began creating and sharing resources and videos for other parents teaching their children Navajo as well, which she now shares on her website The Allison Exchange.

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Diandra Morse is a bilingual mom, licensed clinical social worker and child advocate living in Syracuse, New York with her husband and two bilingual sons. Diandra is Dominican American and was raised in both the Dominican Republic and New York City. You might know Diandra from Instagram as Bilingual Playdate, where she promotes positive language attitudes towards all languages, language variations, accents, dialects and reminds parents that they are the heart of their child’s bilingualism.

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Jesse Gevirtz is the Director of Adolescent Programs at Austin Montessori School in Austin, Texas. Jesse has been teaching in Montessori schools for 25 years, 21 of them at Austin Montessori School. He holds an AMI Elementary Diploma and an AMI Diploma in Adolescent Studies. Jesse attended Montessori school as a child in Houston, Texas in the early 1970s. He is the parent of two Montessori children: both of his young adult daughters attended Austin Montessori School from their early childhood years all the way through the adolescent program.

In this conversation, we discuss Jesse’s path to Montessori and what he loves most about working with adolescents. We also discuss what it was like having his two daughters in his class, and how parenting adolescents is different from teaching adolescents. Jesse shares his insights about what children need most during their adolescent years, and how parents can support adolescents in a Montessori way even if they don't go to a Montessori school.