解碼蒙特梭利語言區結構化課程設計

蒙特梭利博士喜歡用結構的方式，進行各個區域的課程設計 (curriculum)，讓每個幼兒依著自己的發展狀況及興趣，決定課程進展的速度，強調培養幼兒成為自主學習、為自己的學習負責的教學方式。透過結構的方式，簡化課程的內容 (isolation of difficulty)，從簡單到困難，有層次的介紹課程內容，並透過重複操作的過程，把教材內容內化為概念，讓幼兒理解抽象的概念及符號規則。

以蒙特梭利教學法進行第二語言的學習，預備好的環境還是最重要的。蒙特梭利教學與傳統教學最大的不同，是保留了幼兒自主學習的精神，透過自主學習的過程，保有他們對於第二語言的興趣。蒙特梭利教學以幼兒為主體的學習方式，引發幼兒在情感上的興趣，進而強化幼兒的學習動機，增加自信。

蒙特梭利教學是以感官為中心的教學模式，因此在語言區也是從辨別聲音開始，強調每個字母的聲音 (phonetic sound of the letter)，而不是字母的名字 (name of the letter)，幼兒練習把字裡面的聲音分出來，然後各自找到相對應的字母，就完成重組的工作 (coding)。蒙特梭利相信寫比讀早開始 (writing before reading)，所有的課程設計都是依照這個原理排序從簡單到困難的工作。由於寫比讀早開始發展，因此重組拼音的工作(coding)，比讀(decoding)的工作簡單，這與傳統教學方式的教學原則完全相反，而這就是蒙特梭利語言教學的特色。

不是有蒙特梭利教學的字母砂紙板(sandpaper letter) 及可移動的字母盒(movable alphabet box)就稱為蒙特梭利的教學方式。了解其中精神的課程設計，才是為什麼蒙特梭利語言教學會成功的原因! 看看我們預備好的環境，是不是一個語言豐富的環境呢?

Montessori method is a structural curriculum to help children develop their concepts in all areas including math, language, foreign language, and etc. Children can learn at their own pace in accordance with their development and interests, which can help them become autonomous and responsible learners as well as promote their interests in the affective dimension of the foreign language learning.

Montessori education is a sensory-based pedagogy that is based on the belief that children decide their speed of learning through manipulation of objects. Montessori teachers need to provide a prepared environment to facilitate their learning. Children use the auditory sense to learn language; therefore, we emphasize on phonetic sounds of letters instead of names of letters. Dr. Montessori believes "writing before reading". Children can easily use translate the sounds they hear from the words to the corresponding letters to start their journey of writing. It is called creative writing, which is not necessarily to be correct spelling, but certainly is "souding out" correctly. Writing is the process of coding, and reading is the process of decoding. The essential characteristic of Montessori language education is coding (spelling) is simplier than decoding (reading), which is the opposite concept of traditional language education.

It is not enough to have Sandpaper letters and movable alphabet boxes in the classroom to start Montessori language education. Applying the principles of Montessori language education to design language curriculum is the key to help children excel language learning. Check our prepared environment!