Multilingual Montessori

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.

Andrea Imhof is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on understanding language development in the early years and how it is impacted by high-stress factors. Before she went into research, Andrea worked as an elementary school teacher and advisor in low-income neighborhoods of New York City. Andrea shares her advice from her dual perspective as a former teacher and a current researcher about how we can support language development in the early years. Andrea is also raising a bilingual son: her husband Lars grew up speaking Swedish at home, so they are planning to raise their six-month-old son Axel with Swedish as well. We also chat about the similarities between Montessori and the Reggio-Emilia daycare that her son attends, and why we both love the idea of forest preschools.

This episode is all about food! Tina Laboy and Rachel Coleman are the co-hosts of Mom Genes the Podcast. Tina is a Registered Dietician and certified personal trainer who lives in Austin Texas, and Rachel is a Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist who lives in Southern California. Together on their podcast, they take listeners on a journey of unpacking their old beliefs about food and weight to increase their confidence and raise body confident kids.

I was curious to find out what advice Tina and Rachel could share about what language that can use - and what language we should avoid - when talking to children about food and about their bodies. I think this is a topic that a lot of parents and teachers struggle to approach in any language, and I knew they would have some great advice. Plus, Tina and Rachel are both moms (Rachel is a mom of three and Tina is a mom of one, with another due at the end of January) and Tina’s son goes to a Spanish-immersion preschool, so we also chatted about what that experience has been like for her family.

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Welcome to this bonus episode of the Multilingual Montessori Podcast!

Since starting this podcast in September, I’ve interviewed ten incredible Montessorians, mothers and child development experts, from all across the United States and the world, who so generously shared their knowledge and wisdom about raising and educating multilingual children from a Montessori perspective. At the end of each episode, I invited each guest to share some advice that they had for listeners. I decided to compile all that advice into one episode that I hope you will find as inspirational and informative as I did!

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Renee Chen is a mom of two girls, who moved with her husband and children from Shanghai, China to Austin, Texas five years ago. In this conversation, Renee shares the joys and challenges of raising bilingual children, and of being bilingual herself, in a country where she isn't a native speaker. She talks about her experience starting a Mandarin-language class for her daughters' friends, and how she helps her daughters maintain their Mandarin fluency as they grow older. We also discuss differences and similarities between Montessori in China and in the United States!

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In this episode, I speak with Ayanna Lewis, a librarian, a Montessorian, and a lifelong learner. Ayanna went to Montessori school as a child from ages 3 to 11, and today she is a Children's House guide in Denver, Colorado. Ayanna and I met during our Montessori teacher training at the Maria Montessori Institute in London. In addition to her AMI Diploma, Ayanna also has two masters degrees: one in reading, writing and literature, and one in library sciences. Before she became a Montessori guide, she worked as a school librarian for fourteen years!

In this conversation, Ayanna and I chat about her path to becoming a Montessori guide and how she uses her training in both literacy and library sciences in her Children's House classroom. We talk about how her love of books began and how she got started working in education. She also shares her best tips for supporting children’s literacy and fostering a love of reading at home.

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In this episode I speak with Sonia Cagle, an American mother of two who moved to Sweden with her husband almost four years ago. Neither Sonia nor her husband spoke any Swedish when they moved, nor did their two young children. We talk about what the move to Sweden was like for their family and how the experience of learning the Swedish language was different for each of them.

Sonia and I also talk about the differences between the Swedish and American education systems, and how children’s home languages are supported by the schools and community. Sonia also shares what has surprised her about Swedish parenting and child-rearing and why she’s so glad her children are growing up in Sweden. Even though she is not a Montessorian, Sonia and I  talk about similarities between Montessori and how Swedes raise and educate their children!

I’ll be honest, this conversation is probably going to make you move to Sweden - it sure made me want to. So brace yourself for that, and after you finish the episode, let me know if you also started googling flights to Sweden!

There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather by Linda Akeson McGurk: https://amzn.to/3ojE0l5

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In this episode I speak with Jessica Whinery, a Montessorian, mom, and entrepreneur in Austin, Texas. She is an AMI 3-6 Montessori guide who started her own Montessori school in August 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to that, she and her partner Joe took a year off to travel throughout Asia in 2019 with their then-three year old daughter! We talk all about what that experience was like for their family and how it led to the decision to open her own Montessori school.

Jessica is Indian-American, and she shares what biculturalism looks like in her family and how she and her daughter are learning more about Indian culture and traditions together. Jessica also shares her experiences with the sex-positive parenting movement and why the language we use to talk about our bodies and consent with young children is so important. 

Register for the Childhood Potential Conference: https://childhoodpotential.com/?a_box=994qh3we&a_cam=1

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In this episode I speak with Lucie Tamášová, a mother and Montessorian who lives in Prague. Lucie shares her experiences working in Africa over the past twenty years with the NGO that she now runs. She also talks about the joys and challenges of bilingual parenting with five children - Lucie has three children and her partner has two - and how the bilingual experience has differed in raising each of her children.

Lucie is also the founder of the Childhood Potential online Montessori conference happening in November. We talk all about how the idea to hold a free online Montessori conference came about and why she refuses, under any circumstances, to charge a registration fee for the conference.

I will be speaking at this conference, and I’ll be presenting on “Learning a Second or Third Language in the First Plane of Development.” I hope you’ll join me for that presentation and for some of the many other incredible speakers that will be presenting during the conference! You can find the link to sign up below. The conference is free to attend live (my presentation will be on November 17th) but you can also purchase a Lifetime Access pass to have the videos forever. If you decide to purchase the lifetime access pass, I’d so appreciate if you use the link below - I get credit for everyone who signs up using my link!

Register for the Childhood Potential Conference: https://childhoodpotential.com/?a_box=994qh3we&a_cam=1

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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.