Montessori Language Teaching: Materials Analysis and Evaluation

M A S A R Y K U N I V E R S I T Y F A C U L T Y O F E D U C A T I O N Department of English Language and Literature Montessori Language Teaching: Materials Analysis and Evaluation Diploma thesis Brno 2015 Supervisor Mgr. Jana Chocholatá Author: Irena Lněničková

Bibliography LNĚNIČKOVÁ, Irena. Montessori Language Teaching: Materials Analysis and Evaluation: Master Thesis. Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2015. Supervisor Mgr. Jana Chocholatá Bibliografický záznam LNĚNIČKOVÁ, Irena. Výuka jazyka v Montessori: Analýza a hodnocení materiálů: Diplomová práce. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury, 2015. Vedoucí diplomové práce: Mgr. Jana Chocholatá. Abstract The present diploma thesis analyses the study materials used in the Montessori teaching method in the instruction of languages. It focuses on teaching and learning the English language at a primary level, but the principles and materials are also suitable for teaching and learning any language, e.g. Czech or German. In the theoretical part, there is some basic information provided about Maria Montessori, her life and the system of education she developed. The four epochs of development are described in detail. It is followed by the description of the principles typical for this educational approach, The Five Great Stories, the Language system of Montessori. The aim of the practical part of the thesis is to analyse and evaluate the study materials used during Montessori teaching and learning of languages, and to conduct an experiment in order to find out which method of learning/ teaching is more suitable for the particular group of students I 2

worked with. The actual process and feedback on six sets of materials is provided. The materials and photos of the materials are enclosed in the appendices. Keywords children, education, teachers, English, language. Anotace Tato diplomová práce analyzuje materiály užité při výuce jazyka Montessori metodou. Soustřeďuje se na výuku a učení se anglického jazyka na prvním stupni ZŠ, ale principy a materiály lze využít i při výuce jiných jazyků. V teoretické části jsou poskytnuty informace o Marii Montessori, jejím životě a systému výuky, který vyvinula. Detailněji se práce zabývá etapami vývoje člověka, principy Montessori metody, velkými příběhy a jazykovým systémem. Cílem praktické části je rozbor a hodnocení materiálů využívaných během výuky jazyků v Montessori systému, a provedení experimentu, jehož smyslem je zjistit vhodnou metodu výuky a učení pro danou skupinu žáků, s kterými byly hodiny vedeny. Materiály jsou popsány a doplněny zpětnou vazbou. Pomůcky a fotografie jsou v příloze. Klíčová slova Děti, výchova, učitelé, anglický jazyk, jazyk 3

Declaration I hereby declare that I have written this diploma thesis on my own and that I have used only the sources listed in the bibliography. Brno, 29 th March 2015 Irena Lněničková 4

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. Jana Chocholatá, for her kind support, patience, valuable advice, ideas and guidance, and my colleagues and friends for help. 5

Content 1.Introduction... 8 2. Theoretical Part... 11 2.1. Maria Montessori... 11 2.2. Montessori system... 14 2.2.1. The First Epoch of Development... 16 2.2.2. The Second Epoch of Development... 16 2.2.3. The Third Epoch of Development... 17 2.2.4. The Fourth Epoch of Development... 18 2.2.5. Graphs of development... 19 2.3. Principles... 22 2.4. The Five Great Lessons... 29 2.5. The Language Development... 32 2.5.1. Introduction to Literacy... 32 2.5.2. Speech... 33 2.5.3. Writing... 34 2.5.4. Reading... 35 2.5.5. Early Literacy... 36 2.5.6. Grammar... 42 2.5.7. Later literacy... 44 2.6. Materials... 45 3. Practical part... 47 6

3.1. Class description... 47 3.2. Classroom books and curriculum... 49 3.3. Experiment... 51 3.4. Material 1 - Nomenclature Cards- Pets... 55 3.5. Material 2 Indefinite Articles... 59 3.6. Material 3 Giving orders... 64 3.7 Material 4- Reading sentences... 67 3.8. Material 5- Building up sentences... 71 3.9. Material 6 Plural form (adding s)... 77 4. Analysis of findings... 81 Conclusion... 90 List of References:... 93 List of Appendices... 95 Appendices... 96 7

1. Introduction Learning foreign languages has become a very important part of human lives. It is almost necessary to be able to speak at least one language except the mother tongue. People need it for travelling, for work, for communicating with people abroad. It is essential part of today s communication. Therefore more teaching units have been implemented to the school curriculum. Even little kids in kindergartens start to learn one foreign language, mostly English because it is the most widely spoken foreign language in the world. There are many ways and methods how to teach and learn languages. In the 20 th century the development in foreign language teaching was marked by a rise of a number of methods (e.g. the grammar-translation method, silent way, TPR, direct method) and approaches, e.g. communicative language teaching, to name just a few. The idea behind this development was to design a method that would suit everyone and would be most effective. The recent development advocates eclecticism and we speak about the post-methods era when sharing a common belief that there is not a single, perfect method for everyone. The alternative pedagogy started to flourish in the 20 th century. These are special types of schools that use methods different from the traditional approach to education. The aim is to help students who need to learn in another way. They also give opportunities to pupils who would not be able to study in a traditional type of school. They respect the individuality of each student and try to meet their needs. To name some of the alternative approaches, it is necessary to mention Montessori system, Waldorf schools, Dalton Plan, etc. Montessori pedagogy was developed many years ago. The main organization, the Association Montessori international-ami, with headquarters in Amsterdam was founded by Maria Montessori and her son. The Montessori associations have been co-operating since the year 1929. During the years the Montessori system was 8

spread to many countries. It accommodates various cultures and meets their needs but the basic principles remain the same. After the Second World War, when this educational approach was prohibited in Germany and Spain because of the regime, it started to appear and spread again. These days, it is possible to find Montessori schools around the whole world. The most educational institutions are in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, India, the USA, Finland, and in Spain. In the Czech Republic, there are currently more than sixty Montessori classes in kindergartens and primary schools. Many family centres with Montessori elements have been and still are being established. The activity is supported and conducted by the Montessori association in Prague. They organize various courses, seminars for general public and teachers who are interested in this approach. The education programmes are coordinated by the Ministry of Education (Rýdl, 2007). The aim of this diploma work is to raise awareness of people of how to teach and learn languages thanks to an alternative method, namely through the Montessori system. I also want to introduce some of the materials created on the Montessori basis to help make the teaching and learning process easier and respectful to the children s needs. The results of my work can be used as an aid for teachers in English lessons, for parents and children for practicing English language. In the theoretical part, there is some basic information about Maria Montessori as a founder of the Montessori approach, a brief history and development of the Montessori Approach. Finally, I focused on the Cosmic education represented through Five Great Lessons that are the basis of the Montessori teaching system at primary schools. And in fact they are one of the key differences between the Montessori and traditional approaches to learning and teaching. The practical part deals with description of several teaching and study materials designed for pupils in the first, second and third grade of elementary school. Each description consists of the aims and instructions on using the material. All these materials were used in my lessons only with the children at the age of ten because there are no 9

heterogeneous classes for learning languages. Lesson delivery and feedback from these lessons accompany every newly designed study material. The sources and materials used for this work are Czech and English books, methodology publications, Maria Montessori s handbook and her other books concerning child s development and education. I also used periodicals, journals, articles dealing with educational topics from the Internet and from the university electronic databases. 10

2. Theoretical Part 2.1. Maria Montessori Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870 at Chiaravalle in Italy. At five, she moved to Rome with her family where she attended a primary school. At that time, children were looked upon as having an empty brain, only waiting for having it filled with information. Teachers were in charge of everything and pupils had to only sit, listen and memorize everything by heart. The schooling/teaching was limited to a transmission of information needed for exams, not for themselves or for their lives. Most young women who continued in further education dealt with a classical education. It included the study of literature, the history, and languages of Ancient Greece and Rome. Montessori decided to study a technical school for her secondary education. Her father did not like it, but her mother supported her very much. She played an important role in the whole philosophy in the Montessori approach to education. After graduating at the technical school, Montessori became interested in studying medicine. She was accepted into the medical school in 1892. Until that time, no woman was allowed to attend that type of school. She had to overcome many obstacles. She also considered leaving medical school. However, Montessori found a new inspiration, gained the respect of her classmates. She won a position as an assistant in the university hospital and got rich clinical experience. She gave a lecture to her class. In June 1896, she graduated as a specialist in surgery and in the diseases of women and children. She was the first woman in Italy who was certified as a medical doctor. After her graduating, she was invited to many conferences; spoke about the progress of education for women, against child labour, about people who were not treated in a proper, fair way. She accepted a work as an assistant at the San Giovanni Hospital. She began private practice as a physician. She preferred 11

a holistic attitude toward patient care. Maria Montessori believed that everyone doing the tasks of everyday life is benefited from the skills that are involved in doing these duties. She based on that fact the core of her programme, the Practical Life. She continued in her research in psychiatric medicine. She observed children with mental, psychic, or emotional disabilities. Montessori discovered that many of these little patients were not given the opportunity to gain experience and stimulation for their development. She believed that mental deficiency was a pedagogical problem rather than a medical one. She believed the special educational treatment could help make better their mental condition. That form of creation which was necessary for these unfortunate beings, so as to enable them to re-enter human society, to take their place in the civilized world and render them independent of the help of others-placing human dignity within their grasp-was a work which appealed so strongly to my heart that I remained in it for years. (Standing, 1998, p.28.). She attended courses in pedagogy. She gained much information from Jean- Jacques Rousseau, Johan Pestallozi, Robert Owen, and Frederich Froebel. She further explored the field of education. She became a co-director of a school for children with various disabilities. She observed the kids and designed specific materials and methods that helped them learn. Later, when she took care of children from the poor slums in San Lorenzo in Rome, she found out that these materials and methods were also suitable for children with no disabilities. In 1907, she established first Casa dei Bambini, translated as The Children s House. Her method became successful and started to flourish. Later she applied the same principles and methods to normal children. Montessori published several books about her methodology, gave lectures all over the world, set up new schools, and started running courses for teachers. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her work was usually prohibited in the states with dictatorship. The system was considered as pedocentric, and it raised independent individualities. Therefore her way of education was not suitable for 12

that current regime. When Mussolini came to power in Italy, he planned to use Montessori style of education in order to promote Fascist goals. The Mussolini government supported and funded many Montessori schools and projects. He wanted Montessori to become an ambassador of children in Italy. She said she would accept this offer with the condition that it would be her right to determine how and where her system was implemented in schools in Italy. It was the reason for closing all the Montessori Italia schools. Maria Montessori had to leave to Holland. When the World War II broke out, Montessori and her son Mario went to India. They planned to establish there a training centre. Montessori met there many people and was influenced by Indian culture. She began to think about implementing the peace and cosmic education into her system, especially for children of elementary age (6-12). Her idea was to present the children the world as a whole. She wanted them to realize that this whole is a combination of other smaller parts related to each other. Therefore it was the impulse for creating the Five Great Stories that are told every year at the elementary schools. Maria made up the first story. The other stories are work of her son Mario and other educators interested in Montessori approach. Maria Montessori died in the Netherlands in 1952. Her son, grand-daughter and other people went on, and are still going on in spreading, and developing Montessori s ideas. Thanks to them the Montessori system is an open conception that applies and uses the information from new research in the field of education and sciences about people. 13

2.2. Montessori system Montessori system is an example of one of the teaching and learning approaches in education. It is named after Maria Montessori who founded this system. She devoted many years to work with children whom she closely observed. In fact, it is an application of fundamental principles of nature to the education of children. Sometimes, she is called a New Columbus, because she discovered a world within the soul of the child (Standing, 1998). She connected the results of her observations with the information and knowledge from study materials from famous physicians who influenced her work and dealt with disabled children and people. She was inspired by Edouard Séguin, Jean-Marc- Gaspard Itard, and Jacob Rodriguez Periera. They examined children with mental disabilities in more detail and created specific activities and materials for them. These materials should have stimulated and developed the senses and motor abilities. Montessori was influenced by their respect for these little patients, and by their opinion that mentally disabled children are very capable if they have a special education and if provided with special education and care. Thanks to suitable education they are probably able to learn some basic skills of everyday life. When she worked with deaf children and children with other disabilities, she used some materials made by Séguin and Periera. She connected them with her own ideas and designed new materials. They should help children learn how to learn. In many books, articles and magazines, this system of education is called Montessori method. However, Montessori herself did not want to call it a method because a method is a set of given rules that should be obeyed, and it is taken as a dogma. Generally, methods have given sets of principles that are given at first and applied in practice only later. Unlike these approaches, Montessori based her system on observing children, respecting their characters, and specific features. When observing the child and realizing the needs, she applied suitable sets of rules, principles, and educational methods that encouraged 14

and stimulated children and their development. She took into account the children s needs for development, and respected their sensitive periods. Many people were interested in education. Usually, each of them focused on one area, or a specific phase in children s development. Friedrich Froebel focused his studies on children in kindergartens, Robert Owen believed in education as a way of carrying out social change. He started an infant school and laid the groundwork for establishment of infant schools in Britain. John Pestalozzi studied children under the age of five. Edouard Séguin was treated children with mental and physical disabilities (NAMC, 2009). Maria Montessori was the first one who created a system that linked and interconnected all the phases in development from the conception of the child until the age of 24. She divided this period of twenty-four years into four epochs of development that follows each other. Each epoch lasts six years. The infancy and adolescence are further divided into two sub-periods. These four phases of life differ from each other very much. They are powerful, unique, and influence the children s lives, their being, thinking, learning, and acquiring the language. It is time of physical, mental and social development and changes. They have decreasing and increasing tendency. The first part of each phase is active; the second one is for maturation. The sensitive periods appear and further develop in each phase. The human being is influenced by the inner dispositions and external environment. Therefore, it is necessary to create as good conditions for development as possible. Now, says Montessori, the important thing for us to realize, as educators, is that in a similar (though less strikingly visible manner) the child in his development passes through different epochs of more or less uniform growth, which alternate with period of transition or metamorphosis. These latter are real transformations. They relate to the physical, mental, and social aspects of development (Standing, 1998). The child undergoes both a mental development and a bodily metamorphosis. Montessori realized the difference between the child s and adult s body proportions, and created a set of activities Exercises of 15

Balance and Rhythm and Exercises in Practical Life to meet the children s developmental demands. Montessori stresses the fact that children are not like an oak tree growing by getting bigger, but they are compared with the butterfly because they also have to do with different types of mind at different periods (Standing, 1998). 2.2.1. The First Epoch of Development This first stage lasts from the conception to the age of six. It is further subdivided into two periods, from 0 to 3 years and from 3 to 6 years. Taken as a whole, the same type of mind, described as the Absorbent Mind, is typical for this era. In the first subdivision, from 0 to 3 years, the child s mind absorbs impressions from the environment without knowing or willing it. The intelligence is being formed. Therefore it is sometimes called as a period of creation. The child starts from nothing, absorbs the whole of the environment and fixes it. He/she also takes in his/her mother tongue, just only by living in the environment where the language is spoken. In fact, it is a sort of accumulation of the materials that is later used for building up child s conscious life. In the second subdivision, from 3 to 6 years, the child s mind passes from the unconscious to the conscious. It is completed through movement, using hands and body. The hand is an instrument of the brain. This process goes on independently. The conscious mind is being built. Adults and teachers can help only by providing the suitable conditions. 2.2.2. The Second Epoch of Development The second epoch lasts from 6 to 12 years. It is described as one of the era with great stability. The growth continues along the same line for a long time. In other words it is a period of growth without much transformation, whereas the other two 16

periods are more aptly described as growth with transformation (Standing, 1998). The body and mind are getting to be robust and strong. Children are able to achieve a great deal of mental work during these three years. It is the time when they store cultural information. When the child reaches the sixth year of his/her life, he/she goes through the transition from the first to the second stage of childhood. It is marked by physical and mental changes. The children get thinner, taller. Their first teeth begin to fall out, and the second teeth start to grow. The character of children is getting stronger. They become more self-conscious and they have tendency to boast. They suffer from the herd instinct. It means they love being and working in groups. It is the time when they usually enter the school. After the acquiring the information from senses, the absorbent mind slowly disappears and is changed by a new power, the imagination. The left and right hemispheres of brain start to cooperate more intensively. Children begin to analyze, systematize, and feel a strong need to examine the rightness and wrongness of actions. It is necessary to support it conveniently through the presentations and stories. After that, the child is able to work just from his/her own inner motivation. The child s moral and social personality is changing during these stages. Therefore it is not possible to apply only one education principle and approach for every period. The methods used in the first stage would not be successful in other stages. It is the reason why the Montessori approach for the pupils differs from that one used in the kindergarten. 2.2.3. The Third Epoch of Development This epoch is called Adolescence and lasts proximately from 12 to 18 years. It can be divided into two periods. The first period of adolescence (12-15) bears a resemblance to the first epoch in childhood (0-3) because it is also a big transformation. It signalizes the end of childhood. Because it develops rapidly 17

with lots of changes it becomes a dangerous and difficult period of time. Adolescents suffer from hesitation, violent emotions, decrease in intellectual capacity, doubts. On the other hand, they have a tendency to creative work and a need for self-confidence. It can be so strong that it could be accompanied by leaning to revolt against authority. The children in the first epoch were oriented on the outside world, adolescents are more introverts. A new sensitive period is being born. They become more sensitive to experiences, facts, reality connected with their lives. The socially conscious individual is created and they are becoming conscious of themselves. However, they are still not adults. These new born individualities want to be treated with respect. They become more sensitive to criticism. Sometimes they can have a feeling of inferiority. It may give rise to revolt, depression, laziness, and even criminality. Therefore, there was created a settlement plan for the youths. It is called Erde-Kinder and in fact, it is a prepared environment for adolescents. It should help them to be prepared for the adult society. The last years of this epoch, adolescents gain a new form of independence, the economic independence. Generally, during this period, they should be prepared for entry into social life with a strong self-confidence and a knowledge of own capacities. 2.2.4. The Fourth Epoch of Development This phase starts at the age of 18 and lasts until 24. It is the time when adolescents become adults. The development becomes steady. The adults accept themselves as a personality, want to be mentally independent. They stop being critical, and are able to be responsible for their lives. They study interesting things into depth. Their aim is to settle down, have a family, and get a job. It signalizes the fact they can accept given rules. 18

2.2.5. Graphs of development Maria Montessori designed two graphs of stages of human development from birth to maturity. The first graph, see Figure 1, called The Constructive Rhythm of Life, illustrates the relationship between the human development and the system of education. In the upper part, there is the line of life chronologically divided according to the age of the individual. Along this line, there are different periods of development from the birth to the age of twenty-four. Each period lasts six years. The life starts from the zero, at the moment of conception. The steep line goes from the zero point and represents certain perception and typical characteristics of that age. The line of development reaches its maximum in the middle of those six years; about the age of three, changes the direction, and returns back. The triangle stands for one stage of development. The left side of the triangle opens a certain stage of life with its experiences. The right side of the triangle closes that certain stage and prepares the individual for opening of the further stage of development with new characteristics and perception. Sometimes the graph is colour coded. However, it is not the case of the graph illustrated in this work. The triangles with the stages of infancy and adolescence should be in red colour to symbolize the creative period. The stages of childhood and maturity should be blue to signalize that they are calm and peaceful epochs of smooth development. Figure 1, Chart 1, Perugia, 1950. 19

The second graph, see Figure 2, Four Stages of Development- The Bulb, consists of two parts and demonstrates the development of human from birth to maturity. The drawing below the bulbs illustrates what the society can offer to the individual in development. The colours here are green, black and red. The black and red colours stress the special and important growth during infancy. The size and volume also support this fact of importance. The larger and bigger, the more important and dramatic. The bulbs differ from each other. The part for infancy is larger and bigger, and therefore more important. Therefore it should be given much more attention to the first three years of life. The difference between these two creative periods lies in colour-coding. Black and red colours are for infancy, green with red along the centre for adolescence. The first part is divided into two sub-parts; the stage of adolescence is shown as a whole. Childhood and maturity represent the calm periods of development. They are drawn in green colour. However, there are also differences between these two stages. The green line for childhood rises, that one for maturity goes horizontally. The whole drawing looks like a curve or an arc of development. Paying attention to the lines, at the beginning, it is very steep, later it graduates during childhood and adolescence, and it almost disappears when reaching maturity. The dotted line expresses the fact of an almost finished development. At the age of twenty-four, there is a sign of an arrow indicating the reality that the life continues in the same way, in a direction and intensity. The style of life established is usually kept, too. The graph, especially the lines, symbolizes the energy. The child is given a large amount of this life power to go through the all stages of development and for formation of human being. The education line is a kind of help that should work with this energy and support it. 20

Figure 2, Four Stages of Development- The Bulb. The two drawings, figure 1 and figure 2, differ from each other. The first plan of development is more abstract. It represents the ideal rhythm and process of development. The second graph is more natural, based on the biological facts. The development is illustrated as a continual line of life with no sharp points, the abrupt changes of direction, the sudden changes of colour, that are to be found in the first graph. However, there are significant differences between these two drawings, they complement and enrich each other. 21

2.3. Principles The most of the important parts of the Montessori system is observing. Montessori observed the child to know his/her skills and needs, and then she offered that child suitable material. When considering the language skills, at first the focus was on training of children s fine motor skills, so they were able to hold a pencil and write words. Later they were introduced to the sounds letters represents. Thanks to the observations she discovered many interesting facts. These facts are described in detail later in the part about the principles of Montessori approach: How and when children concentrated (The Polarization of concentration): showed considerable ability to concentrate on a task in which they were interested at certain times, focused entirely on an activity or work with a material in which they were interested, repeating it over and over again What the children preferred (it is mostly connected with the sensitive periods described above): having order around them-especially children under three and a half, but generally all the children if they saw objects in order in the first place having the chance to keep their surroundings in order themselves doing real-life over play using real-life work materials rather than toys working in quiet, and often in complete silence learning socially acceptable ways of personal care, such as blowing the nose 22

How the children learned: by receiving neither reward nor punishment by having the opportunity to correct their own mistakes by having freedom to choose what work to do or what material to work with by doing things themselves (Taken from North American Montessori Center, NAMC. Classroom Guide. Canada: Dale Gausman 2009). Montessori stressed the importance to start the education as early as possible. The bases for work are laid in the early childhood and practiced in the kindergarten. Another method involved the teacher who showed the child how to do a specific task. Then the child could try to repeat the task on his/her own as often as he/she wanted. Montessori s ideas about education formed the base of her method. She formulated them when working with disabled children. According to her, children should be treated with respect. They should be given the opportunity to do the task that interests them. The materials used during the teaching and learning process are designed for specific learning goals. Teachers should be positive and nice to their environment, keep the eye contact with children and smile. Their task is to show children how to do the tasks and work with material step by step. Children should correct themselves when working. Teachers observe children when working and find what the children need. They modify material on the basis of their observations. They accept that each child is an individual and has its own pace of learning and working. Montessori stressed that teachers help rather than judge, and that mental work is not exhausting, but it feeds the spirit. 23

There are several principles typical for Montessori system. It is not necessary to keep these rules very strictly. They should be viewed as a set of recommendations what the class should look like. The most important matter is to be able to adjust the environment according to children s needs. The principles vary according to the age of children. There are different in kindergarten, in the first grade of elementary school, and in the second grade of elementary school. The first principle is love. It means the love to other children, to adults, and to the environment. A friendly attitude is the second rule. It is based on mutual respect, tolerance and partnership approach. Adults should accept children s dignity. One of the things, how to reach it, is to invite children, and together with the teacher create the rules for coexistence in the class and in the school. Usually, children then take more responsibility to obey the rules. If pupils are treated with respect, they can create their self-respect, co-operate with others. They are able to make decisions, to find out information without the help of others, and become empathetic. They also learn to express their opinions, both positive and negative ones, and defend their friends against adults. Respect for the sensitive periods is the next rule. Every child goes through these sensitive periods. These phases come from nature without any help of educators, adults. They are based on evolutionary needs of humans. The child is very strongly interested in certain things, and matters, and is full of energy for the development of its skills. In a period of time, children are tuned on managing certain problem or the learning method. They can learn new things without almost any effort and with pleasure, through observation, movement and exploration. It is the best period for acquiring and memorizing new information. These sensitive periods are individual. 24

Each child goes through them at a different time, and focuses on different activities. If the teacher recognizes that period and helps the children to use the powerful energy for their development, the child can develop all the skills harmoniously. Here, the teacher s duty is to give time and space for the child s realization. If this sensitive period is missed, the child has to learn the skills later with great effort. Polarization of concentration is the state when the child is working on material with the maximum of his/her attention and repeats the activity until the nourishing of his/her needs. A child gets into this state unconsciously, and can learn best in these moments of deep concentration. It leads to an increasing child s interest in an activity and brings the feelings of joy. The time of this polarization varies according to the children s age and needs. Teachers and classmates should respect when someone is concentrated on his/her work and not to interrupt him/her. Usually, children in deep concentration do not react to the environment and are completely absorbed in the activity. To reach the state of maximum concentration, it is necessary to create a prepared environment. It is an environment full of stimuli for children. It motivates, gives support and lurks to find new information. Children can feel and move freely. They seek for new information instead of being given it by the teacher. In the kindergarten, teacher s role is to prepare the environment and adapt it to children s needs, give them presentations and assist them when they need help during their explorations. In the elementary school, teacher should prepare suitable environment for working. There is no place for competitive atmosphere. Each child works at his/her own pace. One part of that environment is didactic material. It enables children to get to know the world and understand it step by step. 25

Each material isolates one characteristic feature and also offers checking of the results. The child should be able to solve problems independently. It leads to the development of analytic thinking. The presentation of new subject matter is done by so called three-period lesson. It is mostly used in kindergartens and sometimes in the first grade in primary school. These are three consecutive phases which enable complex understanding information. The first phase introduces the manipulating with material. It connects sensory perception with naming that material. (f.ex.: It is a tree. It is a flower.) The second phase deals with recognizing that material presented in the previous stage. It is checking of the child s understanding of the first phase. If he/she has connected the subject and its name in his/her mind. The teacher asks a question according to that material (f.ex.: What is a tree? Can you show me a flower?) The last stage serves for repeating the name of the material/object. It is checking of the first phase of presentation. Teacher points at the object and asks a question: What is this? It is the activation of the connection object-its naming. Everybody makes errors and mistakes in life. In Montessori classes, the errors are considered as a normal matter important in the learning process. It is good to view them as valuable parts of solving problems and a source of new information. The errors are also a certain feedback for the learner. He/she can check what he/she can or cannot do. They help to improve the ability to evaluate correctly, and enable to analyze the causes of errors. Children who can work with their own errors and mistakes gain higher degree of independence and safety. The teacher has to respect the child that makes a mistake without correcting it. The teacher checks errors if the child asks for. Montessori stated that the teachers have to teach, not correct. That is, they 26

should not, for instance, brusquely interfere if they see a child carrying out an action imperfectly, correcting him in the middle of it. His natural reaction, then, would be a defensive one, and in most cases they should probably do more harm than good. (Montessori in Standing, 1998). Further rule is a free choice of work. It is mostly preferred in kindergartens. The aim is to deal with the task that satisfies children s interests. Children on the basis of their own decisions can choose what material / learning area they can deal with, and what they want to learn, where they want to work in the class, and when and with whom they want to work on that material. However, the freedom is not that the child can change the activity as he/she wants. Each child has to choose a task. The teacher coordinates children s activity and helps them to find a suitable one. If the child decides for a task, it is his/her duty to finish it. The boarders of this freedom are wide, but fixed. Everyone should also keep the given rules when working with a material. In the case that children cannot deal with so much freedom, they are given a detailed plan for a specific period of time (one day, one week), until the child is able to plan his/her activity alone. In schools, there is a plan/ a framework that should be fulfilled. Children learn to work in teams and to co-operate. The personality of a teacher plays also an important role. The role differs in kindergartens and schools. According to kindergarten, Montessori called teachers directresses. They are the dynamic link between the children and the environment (Standing, 1998). Teachers should support children s independence. They are not directors of the educational process. They act as guides, help, observers, and advisors when the child needs it. One of their tasks is to prepare suitable environment for children to feel safe, to arrange materials and support for their development and learning process. They respect individual development of each child, its 27

specifications and personality, do not force children to do new activities and memorize information, do not disturb the child during his/her work. Teachers help only in case they are asked. They behave naturally, heartily, patiently, and speak calmly. They should be examples of a positive approach, and shows children respect and courtesy. The communication between the child and the teacher is based on mutual respect. They communicate as equals. Nobody judges, blames, evaluates others. In the school environment, the teacher should give up his/her own activity, become passive, and let the child discover. He/she has to become passive so that the child could become active. The teacher is a kind of help, a partner in education. He/she observes children s work and is always prepared to change the environment to be interesting again (Rýdl, 2000). Heterogeneous classrooms are further typical feature. They include multiple age ranges. Usually, three consecutive classes are gathered in one class. It offers more opportunities for cooperation, and development of social skills among pupils. Older children can help or give advice to younger ones, and vice versa. They learn to be aware of the needs of other children. They will discover that they are members of a small society, family. Thanks to this mutual interaction, children can draw inspiration, develop their social skills, patience, tolerance, and courtesy. 28

2.4. The Five Great Lessons As mentioned above in the chapter about Maria Montessori, the beginning of the Cosmic education started when Montessori visited India. She saw the cruelty of the wars and wanted to change it. She believed that the task of society was to educate and bring up children who would ensure the peaceful world. In traditional classes, children are just taught certain subjects from the beginning. There is no background why and how everything started. They are given small ideas and information that are not linked together. On the contrary, in Montessori Method, all teaching and learning begins with introducing children to the Five Great Lessons. These lessons are a set of five stories that create and give pupils an overall impression and idea of the beginning of the universe, the earth, and life on earth. The children are given, or they explore these grand topics to get the answers on their questions: When did the world begin? What was before? How human did begin to exist? Montessori believed that exploring such questions with elementary students would build a strong foundation for their intellectual, spiritual, and psychological development (NAMC, 2009). These lessons are in the form of the stories, cover about 15 billion years and describe the development of the universe, earth, life, the beginning of letters, written language and numbers. The purpose of the Five Great Lessons is to introduce pupils to the universe, initiate their love for exploration of the world around them, inspire them and learn them. They teach children by giving an overview of the nature, natural laws and humans, and inner connections of everything with everything in the life. They should offer the view of the world and life. After hearing the stories, children are keen to find out more information and discover answers to their questions by 29

dealing with other subjects in the curriculum, such as history, math, science, language arts, music and geography. Thanks to their exploration, they connect past with present and future. These stories are told to lower and also to upper elementary pupils. However, they slightly differ. They are presented every year, so the children can hear and enjoy them more than once. Every time they can pick up something new and interesting they did not notice during the last hearing. The children are introduced right away to the large concept- the beginning of the universe and being. They create a certain framework. They are shown how the small ideas and information from other subjects fit into that framework and create a whole. The stories are about: The First Great Lesson is The Beginning of the Universe and Earth. Children are shown how the universe, solar system were created and how the earth developed. It leads to further study of astronomy, chemistry, physics, geology, geography, etc. The Second Great Lesson tells the story about Coming of Life. The earliest life forms and their adaptation to changing conditions are described. This lesson introduces to study sciences such as biology, botany, etc. The Third Great Lesson called Coming of Human Beings speaks about the early beginning of humans on earth and their special gifts-a mind for imagination, a hand for work, and a heart for love. This lesson supports children to deal with the history of beginning the ancient civilizations, culture, social studies, and inventions. The Fourth Great Lesson is How Writing Began. It is the story about the development of the written alphabet. This is an introduction to the study of reading, writing, language, and the structure of language. The Fifth Great Lesson, The Story of Numbers, explains how people invented numbers, numeric systems and mathematics. Further, children can study mathematics, numbers, geometry, applications of mathematics (estimation, money concept, etc.). 30

As it was stated above, these great stories are sources for further studies and searching for information. For this diploma papers, it is the Fourth Great Lesson- How Writing Began. 31

2.5. The Language Development 2.5.1. Introduction to Literacy For teaching languages, it is necessary to know and understand the development of language. If the teacher masters this problematic, he/she is able to help and support pupils to develop their language skills to higher levels. Children start to absorb the language just from the birth. First three months of their lives, they rely on lip-reading. In six months, they are able to repeat syllables, they babble. Three months later, the words become meaningful. When children reach the age of one year, they intentionally and consciously repeat the words. Later, the things get their names. Around 18 months, they begin to speak. At first, these are only words, then phrases, and at the age of two, sentences. Self-esteem and motivation play very important part in the language development. They can be supported by the prepared environment. If the children feel well about themselves, it will be reflected in everything they do in their lives. According to Montessori, the child absorbs the language from his/her environment as a whole. The new-born baby is very sensitive and his/her brain is able to highly concentrate on the development of speech. The reason is that certain parts in brain fulfil the function of collecting words. The ears react on the spoken words. The sound is created. The creating of speech is not done on the conscious level. Human can absorb only through seeing and hearing. The best time for this process is in the period from 0 to 3 years, on the unconscious level. The child learns words in this way. The language is not the result of conscious work. The language development is a subconscious act (Montessori, 2003). Developed language skills are important for building and enriching the basis of reading and writing. It can be reached during the early childhood by inspiring the pre-school child s curiosity. The children love imitating the people around, 32

therefore it is important to be careful about the language we use when speaking to them (Hainstock, 2013). 2.5.2. Speech Speech is the most important means of expressing feeling and thoughts. The speech and thinking are interconnected. It is the basis for communication with the environment and people around. The development of speech is held under the certain rules. The sensitive period for speaking is the birth to the age of three and half. Montessori stresses two periods of the speech development. The first one is on the unconscious level. It is the explosion of words that are absorbed and classified. The first is sound, then syllable, later word, and finally sentences. The second period is the conscious phase. The child of the age 3 to 6 further classifies and creates the structures. He/she starts to express his/her thoughts, name things and completes the sentence structures. It is the sensitive period for language development. When the child speaks, he/she learns to express his/her ideas in words. He/she needs the feeling of safety and self-confidence. The role of the teacher/parent is to encourage the child, prepare suitable environment that meets the child s needs. Teacher and parents support the child s language development through asking the questions, discussing, playing various language games. Language Games There are many language games that reinforce the children s understanding and their competency in language. The well-known game Simon Says is an example of introduction to grammar. If the teacher asks children to jump, smile, clap hands, he uses verbs. He/she can ask them to walk fast, speak quietly, stand behind the table, put the bag on the chair, and stresses the use of adverbs and 33

prepositions. It should lead children to reinforce their understanding. It will make teacher to be aware of children s competency in language. At the beginning, it is more suitable to start the games through rhymes. Songs are used as a good introduction to phonemic awareness. It is necessary to introduce it in stages. The child begins to distinguish the sounds at the beginning of words, later at the end and in the middle of the words. Memory games can help to strengthen a visual memory of words. Children can be given messages to pass on, or asked to do simple tasks. These activities refine the children s memory skills. Picture Lotto is good for visual discrimination. They can be designed to stress the rhymes, or the words beginning with the same sound. These pre-literacy exercises are very important for further language development. The teachers/parents observation plays a crucial role. They can discover more about the children, their preparation for reading and writing. Then they are able to follow and satisfy the children s individual needs in language development. 2.5.3. Writing The sensitive period for writing starts around the age of three and half and lasts until four and half of the child s age. The four-year child should be prepared for writing. It is the period of formation and development of movement. Montessori claimed that writing was easier than reading for the child under the age of six. Around this age, the child s hand becomes fixed. Bad habits will be difficult to correct. She also says that all the children s previous education is a preparation for writing, reading and number. The knowledge comes as an easy, spontaneous, and logical consequence of the preparation (Montessori, 1964). In Montessori system everything starts just from the early childhood. Children go through the exercises of the Practical, Sensorial exercises and Creative activities. 34

Thanks to the practise with sensorial material, children learn how to manipulate with objects softly; they improve the hands and fingers motor skills, the coordination of eyes with hands. These indirect preparations for writing are reached by development and perfection of the senses such as sight, touch and hearing. Children learn a correct pincer grip, flexibility, lightness of touch, control of hand, co-ordination hand-eye. They strengthen their visual discrimination and memory. The mind and hand start to co-operate and be led by the will. Children become more concentrated, and heighten their self-esteem. According to Montessori, writing consists of two elements: the motor mechanism and the intellect. She created two pieces of material for the mechanic mechanism. These are the insets for design and sandpaper letters. The insets for design prepare the child for writing. They hone the pencil grip and control with precision of movement with flexibility. The sandpaper letters are used to training of writing the symbols. It is a perfect multi-sensory approach to learning. It supports a kinaesthetic perception of the letter shapes, and shows the relationship between the phonic sounds and the kinaesthetic impression. Thanks to the help of this material, children develop their memory of the letters and perfect their visual perception. They will learn direction when writing the letters. For the intellect, she designed the large moveable alphabet. It offers the opportunity to write without proper writing. Children learn to create/build the words from the letters cut out letters. Thanks to the colour coded letters, the vowels are in blue colour and the consonants are red, children are able to distinguish the vowels and consonants. 2.5.4. Reading The sensitive period for development of reading lasts from the age of four and half to the age of five and half. The child gets the information through the written 35

symbols, is able to understand them, and interpret the writer s ideas. It is necessary to know the meaning of the words, their function, syntax, and understand them. As stated in the section of writing, at first, the writing starts then reading. Writing is a mechanical process, reading is intellectual. Maria Montessori focused on developing both of them through the movable alphabet. When the child touches the letter, he/she prepares for writing, when he/she hears the teacher to pronounce them, he/she prepares for reading. Using this material activates the auditory, visual and kinaesthetic senses (Montessori, 1998). Reading helps the development of thinking. The child loves learning new words until the age of three, later he/she is keen on discovering the language. The phase before reading is speaking. Speaking is a sort of preparation for writing and writing is a preparation for reading. There are about two weeks between the changes in interests from writing to reading. 2.5.5. Early Literacy This stage of language development leads the child from the basic phonetic words to complex words. Vocabulary becomes more difficult and varied. Child is introduced to the basic grammar rules a in a simple, understandable way. Maria Montessori prepared three series for the development of literacy. She distinguished the early and later literacy. The early literacy contains two series and grammar introduction. They differ in colour, and level of complexity. The first one is Pink series. It is followed by more complex Blue series and the introduction to grammar. After mastering these basis series, the Green series can be introduced as a part of later literacy (Montessori Centre International, Literacy Skills, Module 9, 1998). 36

Pink series Pink series is the basis of early literacy. It is the simplest one from all the series. The words used in this section are two- and three- letter phonic words. They follow the pattern of short vowel/consonant or consonant/short vowel/consonant. Some sight words are also introduced. Sight words are words which are nondecodable in the child s reading development. They have to be learnt through the sight recognition. For better illustration, there are listed some of the sight words: a, an, the, and, he, if, of, I, in, is, that, to, was, look, we, like, come, day, dog, big, etc. The pink series contains the materials such as Pink box 1, Pink box 2, Pink box 3, Pink picture card, Pink box 5, Pink box 5, Pink reading lists, Pink phrase strips, Pink sentence strips, Capital letters, and Pink level reading books. Pink box 1 Pink box 1 is a set of six small objects representing two- and three-letter phonic words (such as cup, pig, rat, bag, hat, etc.). Children practise decoding these words into their constituent sounds, are provided to writing without the physical skills needed for writing, and prepare for reading and writing. They choose some objects, name them, find the appropriate letters from the Large movable alphabet and build these words. Pink box 2 Pink box 2 contains six pictures representing three-letter phonic words (such as bug, mug, net, hen, etc.). The purpose of this activity is to build further words and go on in preparing for the process of writing and reading. Using the pictures and the Large movable alphabet, the same procedure is conducted as Pink box 1. 37

Pink box 3 Pink box 3 consists of six objects representing three-letter phonic words (such as pig, box, lid, pot, etc.) and six cards which correspond with the objects. It enables children the first word reading and provides them practice in sounding out and blending sounds. Pink box 4 Pink box 4 contains six picture cards representing three-letter phonic words (such as pip, ten, fin, bin, etc.) and six word cards corresponding with the pictures. It offers further practice in reading and expands the children s vocabulary. Pink picture card is A4 size pink card with six to eight pictures in two rows. There are separate corresponding word cards. The purpose of this material is to provide children with further reading and enriching their vocabulary. The task is to match the pictures and appropriate words. Pink box 5 Pink box 5 is sometimes called the Mystery box. It contains pieces of paper, folded in quarters. On each paper, there is written two- or three- letter word phonic word. The objectives of this material are further reading practice, developing the ability to read silently and with no contextual clue. It refines the memory skills. Words used in this box should be enjoyable and inspiring for children. It might be words like hop, pop, fan, mad, etc. Children choose one strip of paper, unfold it, read it silently, and refold it. Sight words Sight words, as mentioned above, are non-decodable words that have to be learnt through the sight recognition. These words should be learnt during the exposure of the pink series. The sight words are written or printed on the white cards, and are taught through the Three Period Lesson. The list of the most common sight 38

words is available on the Internet or in the book by McNally, and Murray, Key Words to Literacy. Pink reading lists Pink reading lists are lists of words (usually eight or ten) with a picture at the top of the card. It can be concentrated on the medial sound (i.e. all the words have the vowel a ), or an initial or final consonant file. It is suitable to use the words that rhyme. This exercise follows the practice on Pink box 5 when the child is able to read words without contextual clues, and should help child to extend reading practice and vocabulary. Pink phrase strips Pink phrase strips are a great and important step for the child because he/she is going to read a string of words. He/she tries to be fluent, and read with comprehension. Capital letters The lecture about Capital letters can be taught during the pink series, too. When presenting this topic, capital sandpaper letters are used. Usually, they are introduced when they appear in the environment, or in the text in nursery rhymes, in the children s names, in the calendar. The capital letters are also divided into groups for better memorizing and learning. Pink sentence strips Pink sentence strips are pink cards with a picture and corresponding sentence. They are used to increasing reading for meaning, and as an introduction to the structure of simple sentences. Children get to know that the sentences start with the capital letters and finish with a full-stop. The sentences can be structured as in the example: An ant can run. The bed is red. The pin is on the map. It is suitable to create sentences that the teacher can ask about, i.e., Can an ant run? Is the bed 39

red? Children learn to respond. One variation of using these strips is to create a set of strips that are related. They can put in order to make a story. It supports the reading with comprehension and logical sequencing the sentences. Pink level reading books These books use the words from the pink series. The sight words are written on the cards and attached in envelope to these books. The child can study them before reading to get to know them. Children develop their reading skills and expand vocabulary. Usually, children read aloud and teacher listens to them. It is necessary to discuss the story before and after reading. It is a way how to get the information about the child s ability to understand. Example of the sentences in these books: Tom is five. Tom is a dog. It is black and white. Tom is sad. Tom lost a bone. Tom is happy. Tom found a bone. Blue series The blue series comes after the pink one. When the child masters the reading phrases and sentences from the pink series, he/she can be introduced to this higher level. The sequence and principles are the same in both series. It starts with the box 1 and goes on through other boxes until the reading books. The difference is that the teacher helps the child to use the previously gained skills in process of creating the new skills. Children expand their vocabulary and knowledge about the language structure. It is done by systematically introducing new information a stage at a time. The new ones are double and triple blends, double consonants, ng and nk digraphs (and other consonant digraphs/ trigraphs, sh, ch, tch, th ), and schwa vowel. These changes enable children to learn longer and more complex words. 40

Blue box 1 It is a box with words containing initial double blends. Words could be: tram, pram, frog, drum, etc. Using the Large movable alphabet and pronouncing the word, child connects the visual representation and hearing the blend. It should lead to better understanding and memorizing. Blue box 2 In this box, the picture cards and the Large movable alphabet are presented. It can be focused on the final blend. The words such as milk, lamb, lamp, and fist might be used. Children are encouraged to find the rhyming words. Blue box 3 This box focuses on reinforcement the initial and final blends. It can be conducted through reading the words from the boxes 1 and 2. Blue box 4 The words with initial, final blends, triple blends, double consonants and some digraphs are found in this box, i.e., duck, lock, sock, trick, pack, etc. More times the child reads and sees the words, more easily he/she knows them and understands them. Blue picture cards The same principle as in the pink series is applied. It can be focused on multisyllabic and compound words, or words with the schwa vowel. Blue box 5 It is an analogy to the Box 5 in the pink series. It should contain funny words for children. 41

Blue reading lists These lists are used to practise reading the words from the blue series. It might be focused on double blends, triple blends, or the repetition of a blend, i.e., truck, trunk, trumpet, trust, etc. Sight words It is a repetition of the sight words from the pink series. New sight words containing digraphs/ trigraphs can be introduced. Blue phrase strips The presentation is done in the same way as in the pink series. However, children have more experience, can build and read more complex words. It is recommended to start from the simple phrases and go on to the more complex one. Blue sentence strips The strips contain words from the blue series. They again start from the simple sentences and progress to the complex ones. Blue level reading Children have enlarged their vocabulary and enriched their language skills. Now, they are able to read the books with the words from the pink and blue series. 2.5.6. Grammar There are two types of grammar, the early grammar and the later grammar coming after the green series. The early grammar is introduced when the child is working with the pink and blue series. It is focused on the function of the parts of the speech. The simple grammar rules are taught as soon as the child is reading at the 42

pink and blue level. Children have an innate understanding for grammar that enables them to learn the structure of their language. For better work and understanding, the grammar materials are colour-coded. The colours are: Nouns black Adjectives-royal blue Verbs-red Adverbs-orange Conjunctions-pink Prepositions-green Articles- light blue/grey Usually, at first, children are introduced to the nouns. They continue to the singular and plural nouns, adjectives, combination noun-adjective, verbs, and prepositions. The culmination of the early grammar activities is the theme, sometimes called as farm box. The children have worked with all the parts of grammar in isolation. This activity brings together all these isolated parts. The farm box contains the farm objects and animals and colour-coded grammar cards. The purpose is to visualize and learn the structure of phrases and sentences. Children set up the farm, take the grammar cards, read them and place them below the appropriate objects. At first the cards with nouns are read, then adjectives, verbs, and articles. At the end the conjunctions and prepositions can be introduced. 43

2.5.7. Later literacy Green series After going through and learning the words, phrases, sentences and the grammar from the pink, blue series and the early grammar, the child can progress to the green series. It introduces to the other sounds (phonograms) and their spelling. This series contains Phonogram boxes, Small movable alphabet, Phonogram lists, Phonogram booklets, Phonogram sentence strips, Phonogram books, and Phonograms in an envelope. These materials are based on the same principles as the previous series. However, the new element of phonogram is stressed. The child reading at the green level can be introduced later grammar. The principles are the same as in early grammar, but more complex words are used. The terminology for the speech parts is used more often. 44

2.6. Materials Montessori didactic material was developed by Maria Montessori. She took over some of the materials designed by Séguin and Periera. These materials are used for stimulating, training, and developing the senses. Montessori implemented her own ideas and created new sets of materials. They are an important part of the prepared environment. There are two types of materials. The first type is for acquiring. It means to get familiar with a new learning target. The second type is a training material used for anchoring and internalizing the learnt topic. There is a tendency to incorporate senses when working with materials. The materials used in kindergarten differ from materials in schools. They have another purpose, design and use. We must give no more to eye and ear than we give to the hand. (Standing, 1998) If the materials are challenging, they lurk children more than toys. Children love doing things for themselves, and are more interested in activity rather than in rewards given for working. Each material is available only once in the class. It guides children in the social interaction with each other, when more of them want to work on the same material at a time. There are some requirements for the didactic materials: The material should be simple and easy to understand. The child must be able to understand without the help of a teacher. Materials should be interesting to attract the children s attention. 45

The control of errors is built into materials, so the child can find and check his/her errors. Each material isolates one learning target. Every material should be also completed with information what is needed to know for the test, or what the results of learning should be. Learning materials differ from level to level according to the children s skills and abilities. Materials should be arranged neatly and according to a certain system. On the shelves, they are placed from the simplest on the left side to the most complex on the right side. The language material should be divided into four areas: speaking-writingreading-listening. The aim of the English language materials is to support pupils speaking, reading, and writing skills, use the words in context, and communicate on a certain level. 46

3. Practical part The aim of the practical part of this diploma thesis is to suggest and present some teaching and learning materials which could be used during English classes/ lessons. This part consists of the class description, course book and curriculum, the research experiment described in detail below and a detailed analysis of the materials designed by the author. The ambition is to design materials for English classes which would respect the principles of the Montessori method. With each material, there is a description, usage, its purpose and a short feedback provided. 3.1. Class description The class I prepared the materials for is the third grade of the primary school. It is a group of young learners in the Montessori department, so all the pupils have, in fact, their individual lesson plan. It consists of sixteen pupils, nine girls and seven boys at the age of nine or ten. Four of them are learners with specific learning differences. They have dyslexia and dysgraphia. One girl suffers from the Asperger syndrome. Most of these children started learning English as early as in kindergarten. The first two years at school, they had four lessons of English every week. Three lessons were in the class and one lesson was English physical education. In the third class they have three lessons a week. Some of the pupils attend language schools in their free time, or an English group for repeating the learnt things and for fun. These pupils are used to working and learning according to the Montessori Method. However, the English lessons are not learnt under Montessori style because of lack of materials and not prepared environment for English learning/ teaching. This year, I decided to carry out a little experiment and tried to implement some Montessori materials and rules into the English lessons. It was conducted with all the kids in this class. There was a great opportunity to observe 47

and compare two styles of learning and teaching foreign language, the alternative style and the traditional one. In traditional lessons we used the English textbooks that are designed for the third grade of the primary school. In Montessori lessons, children worked with the language materials. I tried to design these materials according to the Montessori principles. There are no evaluating tests for pupils when comparing the results from these two different learning and teaching approaches. Moreover there are no marks or credits in Montessori. When I observed and juxtaposed the outputs from various lessons, I focused on the children s behaviour during these lessons, their ability to co-operate, their responsibility for own learning, home preparation for the lessons, the atmosphere in the classroom, and working pace. 48

3.2. Classroom books and curriculum The pupils, I did my project with, learnt from the books Little Bugs 1 and Little Bugs 2 when they were in the first and the second grade. This year, in the third grade, they are going through the class book Chit Chat 1 written by Paul Shipton and published by Oxford University Press. The set of learning materials consists of a textbook for kids and a workbook. There is also a teacher s book, an activity book, flashcards and two CDs. On the Internet pages of Oxford Publisher house, there are links on this pupil s book. It is possible to download a vocabulary book, vocabulary lists for dyslectic pupils and a learning journal. The book is divided into twelve chapters. Each chapter focuses on one theme. Usually, these are topics from everyday life like shopping, pets, body, café, clothes, etc. Each unit contains new vocabulary, grammar, songs, reading, and activities for speaking thematically connected with the topic of that unit. At the end of each unit, there is a comic strip story for recycling the language. The book incorporates non-fiction texts with photographs to promote cross-cultural awareness, some festival activities and songs to celebrate Christmas, Easter and Halloween. It goes into detail about the verb to be, have got and to like. Even though, Montessori classes have its own curriculum, the English lessons are planned according to the school curriculum of the elementary school which Montessori classes are connected with. This curriculum of a foreign language emphasizes the pupils communicative abilities. Pupils should acquire basic vocabulary, conversational phrases, and grammatical structures. It is based on inductive and deductive way of teaching British English. Curriculum also incorporates the key competences, cross-cultural awareness and related topics. During the year, the pupils go through the given topics for that certain class. They follow the structure of the pupil s book. 49

In Montessori approach the system of education is based on its own curriculum. The basic philosophy is the orientation on the child s personality, support and development of inner motivation and individual abilities. The basic assumption is the pupils real interest in learning new things, getting new information and implementing of gained knowledge into practice. The important part of this curriculum is the principle of freedom, the opportunity for choice with responsibility, self-knowledge, and competence to establish and fulfil own further life program and fully develop their potential. Pupils are led to be independent, work actively, choose freely, and be responsible for their choices and behaviour. The tuition is realized according to the Montessori principles such as the sensitive periods, prepared environment, polarization of concentration, heterogeneous classes, free choice of work with own responsibility, principle of errors and selfcorrection, own planning and organization of learning, communication in Montessori Circle, leading pupils to self-evaluation, presentation of own work, keeping own portfolios, the co-operation with parents. Some of these principles are discussed in detail in the theoretical part of this work. The evaluation follows the pupil s work and the principle of error and own checking. The pupils learn to recognize their strengths and failures, to estimate own abilities and strength, and use it in their planning of learning strategies and goals. Pupils compare their work according to the checking in the materials or given criteria. They learn from their own errors and from finding the correct solutions for these errors. They can be also given a feedback from their classmates. The Montessori curriculum stresses the respect of pupils individuality, their needs. Pupils co-operate in teams, work with materials, various texts and information. The Montessori program implements the realization of current modern trends in education into the learning/ teaching process. 50

3.3. Experiment The pupils in this third class are used to working according to the Montessori principles. I was curious if it was easier for this particular group of pupils to acquire the English language through the Montessori Method rather than the traditional one. I decided to divide the school year in two periods. In one period, the English language was learnt/ taught in a traditional approach to learning and teaching languages. TPR method, grammar-translation method, Direct Method, communicative approach and others were implemented in lessons. In the second period, the Montessori Method was used. I designed and made materials for these lessons. I tried to follow the rules for Montessori materials in general. These specifics are described in Chapter Materials in the theoretical part. I got the inspiration from various sources dealing with Montessori pedagogy, or I made up my own materials trying to preserve the Montessori principles. For comparison of these two periods with different approaches to education, I did not set any tests. The method of observation was used. I stated the categories for self-observation which are described in detail below in the chart. I focused on pupils behaviour during the lessons, on their interests in working, the level of their responsibility for their learning, their preparation for classes at home, their working pace during the lessons. I was interested in pupils preferences of learning styles. I observed if they work rather individually, in groups, or with a partner. I compared the level of information the pupils parents got as a feedback from the lessons, pupils taking notes of their progress and work. I also measured my time needed for the preparation for the lessons. Finally, I analysed the learning outcomes in the classes taught by the traditional method and in the classes taught by the Montessori method to find out which method is more suitable for this particular group of students. 51

1) pupils behaviour I focused on pupils behaviour during the lessons when working with materials during Montessori lessons, and with textbooks, workbooks when conducting the lessons in the traditional way of learning/ teaching. 2) pupils engagement The aim was to observe the children s interest when working. I compared the situations when they used materials, their course books or did the exercises cooperatively. 3) responsibility level I was interested to what extent are the pupils responsible for their own learning. 4) pupils preparation I compared the pupils preparation for the lessons, and doing their homework. 5) pupils working pace The observation was focused on the pupils working pace during the lessons. 6) pupils learning styles I was interested in the pupils preferences of learning style, which techniques they prefer and use for their learning. I tried to find out what type of learners they are (visual ). 7) class arrangement I observed whether the pupils were working rather individually, in groups, or in pairs. 52

8) parents information I compared how often and to what extent the parents were given information by their children about their progress and activities during the lessons. It means whether the parents got any feedback from the children s lessons and studying. 9) teacher s preparation I measured and consider the time I used for preparation for the Montessori lessons and for the traditional lessons. 10) suitability for the group I analyzed whether the Montessori method or the traditional method is more suitable for that particular group I worked with. I was interested what preferences these students have. For a better review of the curriculum, I prepared a special syllabus in forms of small ovals containing the particular subject matter inside. In our classes these ovals are called ellipses. For better illustration, one part of this syllabus is enclosed as an Appendix 2 to this diploma thesis. It follows the syllabus of the Chit Chat 1 course book. Each unit is divided into smaller parts - ellipses. Each ellipse has its name and content. Some of them are focused on vocabulary of that unit, others on grammar. Pupils can choose which ellipse they want to work on. It is recommended to choose within the framework of one unit. Pupils choose the ellipse, take appropriate material, and work on it. Then they check their work according to the error check. If they feel prepared, they ask for final testing. Usually, it is in the form of a working sheet, or answering some teacher s questions. After passing this procedure successfully, the pupil can colour that ellipse as a proof of having it completed. 53

For the period of time when pupils worked according to the Montessori principles, the set of materials was made. There is usually one for each ellipse. The description of the materials consists of purpose/objectives of the activity, things needed for this material. There is information how to use this material and control of errors 1. No time limit for the presentation of the material, and no working time is given. It is very individual and depends on pupil s interest and needs. The follow-up activities and possible variations of usage of the materials are suggested at the end of each description. 1 Control of Error is the term used in Montessori method. It refers to a method of selfcorrection that is built into materials. It enables pupils to learn by correcting themselves. Sometimes the term Error Checking is used. 54

3.4. Material 1 - Nomenclature Cards 2 - Pets Materials: nomenclature material = working set of individual pictures and labels (appendix 3) a control of errors = control set of matching pictures with labels Direct aim: identifying and learning vocabulary of pets (dog, spider, cat, fish, mouse, rabbit, bird, pets) Indirect aim: build language skills: develop reading and understanding of written words acquire extensive vocabulary Control of errors: a control of errors = control set of matching pictures with labels Procedure + information: This material can be presented to an individual or to a small group of pupils. The real objects are better for internalizing vocabulary. However, if there are no items available, it is possible to use photos/pictures that isolate the presented objects. The three-period lesson 3 can be used for presentation of the vocabulary of animals listed above. If the pupils are able to be focused on the activity, the teacher can go through all the steps in one day. In case of difficulty with concentration or the amount of vocabulary, it is better to divide the presentation into more days. The 2 Nomenclature cards is the material used for building vocabulary. It is also known as three-part cards. It consists of pictures and labels. 3 The three-period lesson is a three-step presentation used for introducing new vocabulary. At first the teacher names the object, and then he/she asks the pupil to touch the object when it is named. Finally the teacher asks the pupil to name the object that the teacher is pointing. 55

most important part for learning vocabulary is the second step. Therefore this part should be stressed. The number of cards being presented depends on the pupils ability to concentrate and to absorb the vocabulary during the presentation. - As an introduction, the teacher can bring the objects/items of animals (little toys/figures). He/she presents them to children. - The teacher prepares a rug for presentation. - The first step: The teacher places the cards with pictures on the rug. He/she touches and names the first card. He/she says: This is a dog. He/she repeats it and does the same with other pictures. - The second step: The teacher moves hands away and asks one pupil: Please, show me the dog. If the pupil answers correctly, the teacher goes on with other cards. Whether the pupil cannot answer, or points the wrong card, teacher moves back to the first step. - The third step: The teacher points to a card and asks: What is this? If the child answers correctly, the teacher places another question. If the child has a problem with answering the question, the teacher moves back to the second step of the presentation. - After the presentation, pupils can take the material and work on it individually or in groups/pairs. They roll out a rug/mat. They place the cards on the mat and then they match the picture cards with the proper labels (a picture of a dog + a label with the word DOG). When they complete all the pictures, they check their work according to the control of errors. Variations of presentation: - Variation of the second step of the three-period lesson: For children who need to move, the teacher can change the presentation. He/she places the cards with pictures/ labels on the table on the opposite side of the room, or hangs them around the classroom, and instead of show me, he/she can ask the child to bring that particular picture of just presented card. The pupil gets up and brings the card. It is suitable for pupils who are kinaesthetic types of learners. 56

- The teacher rolls out a mat, lays the control set of pictures and labels, and says the terms. He/she distributes the individual pictures/cards among the pupils. He/she points to the first card on the mat and describes the picture: This is a dog. Does anyone have the picture of the dog? When one of the pupils answers, teacher verifies the card and shows the pupil how to match the card with the control card. He/she points to the picture dog and asks the pupil to repeat that vocabulary. After pairing all the pictures and terms, teacher distributes the labels among the pupils. He/she points to the label on one control set, says the term DOG aloud, and asks the pupils: Who has the label that shows the word DOG? The pupil answers, the teacher confirms that the label indeed matches and shows him/her how to place it directly below the picture card DOG. Follow up activities: - When pupils can match pictures with labels, they can copy the vocabulary and draw own pictures into their notebooks. - Pupils can make their own set of nomenclature cards, a small booklet, or a project about animals. - Pupils can take pictures and play a game. There is a pile of cards. The first pupil draws one card and names it. If he/she is right, he/she takes the card. If he/she cannot answer, he/she gives the card back. Then the second pupil goes on. - The teacher can write the words down, cut them and mix them. Pupils take a mat, cut these words into letters, pictures, and match them together to create the words. Example: DO + G, FI + SH, P + ET. Feedback: The pupils generally love topics such as animals and pets. It was easier to start with that topic. I conducted the three-period presentation just with the eight pictures. Most of the vocabulary was known to the children. They were cooperating. They liked the variation of the second step in the three-period lesson when they had to go and bring that particular picture. Pupils divided into pairs (usually according to their friendships) and worked together. They helped and tested each other. It was nice to observe when one in 57

the pair was slower; the second one waited for him/her or explained the unknown things. Everyone in the class liked the follow-up activities. Almost all the pupils chose the activity to make their own nomenclature cards. Two pairs of children created more cards than it had been presented. They decided to prepare new animals, looked up the vocabulary in the dictionary and drew pictures. (They did really good job.) The atmosphere in the class was nice. Nobody was disrupting the lesson. The pairs changed the material. If the material was engaged by one pair, another pair was waiting or doing their follow- up activity calmly. The pupils were also very curious about their class-mates work. They went around, observed and consulted, sometimes evaluated other pairs work. The pupils practise writing vocabulary as homework. They could take one sheet of paper focused on this vocabulary. This sheet of paper was printed from the additional materials for the pupils textbook Chit Chat 1. They chose it usually alone. The next lesson, they wanted to be tested in this topic-in writing and knowing the vocabulary. 58

3.5. Material 2 Indefinite Articles Materials: heading, an, mounted on light blue paper heading a, mounted on light blue paper ten cards with nouns beginning with a consonant sound + a corresponding picture, mounted on white paper. Examples: tree, son, T-shirt, flower, lion. ten cards with nouns beginning with a vowel sound + a corresponding picture, mounted on white paper. Examples: apple, ostrich, egg, hour, airplane. (appendix 4) material for a follow up activity: -article a mounted on light blue paper, format A4 - article an mounted on light blue paper, format A4 (It is better to laminate the cards.) The light blue colour is used to match the colour of the Montessori grammar symbol for articles. There are nouns and pictures displayed on the cards. It is better for understanding the vocabulary. Whether the pupils do not understand the vocabulary, they can see the picture and do not have to translate it. Direct aim: be able to recognize the difference between a and an be able to understand the difference between a and an Indirect aim: build language skills reading the vocabulary acquire extensive vocabulary Control of errors: a control of errors 59

Procedure + information: For better sense of touch, the material is mounted to the special sheet of rubber/ gum. This material can be presented to an individual or to a small group of pupils. -The teacher announces pupils that today s presentation is about the difference between indefinite articles a and an. It is needed to explain what the term article means. There is a possibility to explain it in the Czech language for better understanding. Teacher says: Article is a word used together with a noun, for example A CAT. It limits nouns. (It is a friend with nouns.) It means one. In the Czech language, it is translated as nějaký, jeden. There is an indefinite article a and an. In Montessori grammar symbol for an article is a small light blue triangle. (Taken from the North American Montessori Center, NAMC. Language Arts. Canada: Dale Gausman 2009). -The teacher models how to pronounce these articles. - The pupils have just learnt consonants and vowels in the lesson of the Czech language. Therefore the teacher only repeats these terms with them. He/she can ask pupils to name some vowels and then consonants. - The teacher places the headings for article a and an on the mat, and reads the words aloud as he/she places the labels. - He/she takes one card with a noun (f.ex.: flower) reads it and places it beneath the heading a. Then he/she does the same with another card but this time with a noun that begins with a vowel sound (f.ex.: apple). He/she places it beneath the heading an. - Teacher asks pupils if anybody wants to try it. He/she encourages the pupils to take turns placing the noun words beneath the heading. If there is no volunteer, the teacher goes on alone. 60

- Teacher invites pupils to watch the cards carefully, asks them if they can discover the rule. He/she can help them when asking: What nouns do we use together with the article a? What do the words start with? -Teacher and students discuss the grammar rule together. They have discovered that a is used before a consonant sound and an is used before a vowel sound. - As a test that pupils really understand, teacher asks them where they would place other nouns. It can be done in a funny way. Teacher can pretend that he/she does not know how to manage this activity. Example: Please, where can we place the noun BOOK? And why? What about the word AMBULANCE? I would place it beneath the heading a. No? Really? Why is it wrong? - If pupils understand the difference between the articles and understand the rule, teacher can explain the situations when what looks like a vowel does not sound like a vowel (f.ex.: uniform), and when a consonant does not sound like a consonant (f.ex.: hour). In the case the pupils are just tired or they are not tuned to go on, it is better to postpone the presentation of these tricky words for the next lesson. Variations of presentation: -It is possible not to communicate with pupils during the presentation and conduct it in absolute silence. After placing all the cards beneath the headings, teacher asks pupils what the secret pattern is. - Teacher can place only the headings a and an on the carpet, distribute the cards with nouns among pupils and ask pupils to place the cards where they think the cards should be. When all the cards are placed, they look at them and together try to discover/ guess the basic rule. Follow- up activities: - After the presentation, pupils who are interested in this topic can take the material and do it on their own. When they finish the working on that material, they copy the article/noun combinations into their notebooks. They can make up their own combinations. It is also possible to draw the appropriate Montessori 61

symbols above each word. It is better for understanding and recognizing the articles and nouns. Pupils fix the positions- the first is an article, then the noun. - When the grammar rule is discovered, teacher and pupils can play a game. It is necessary to use another material (specified above under material ). Two cards, format A4, with the articles A and AND are placed somewhere on the floor in the class. Pupils walk around. Teacher tells the words. When the pupils hear the noun beginning with a vowel, they run towards the card with the mounted symbol A and jump on it. When they hear the noun beginning with a consonant, they do run and jump on the card with the symbol AN. - Pupils can work on a worksheet focused on differences between the indefinite articles. It is a list from the exercise book from Chit Chat 1, or a special sheet of paper prepared for this topic. Feedback: The presentation was conducted without any problems. Pupils were active, but calm. They participated and were interested. They liked being given a card and a chance to place it under the headings. They enjoyed fun when practising the pronunciation of indefinite articles. After presentation, some of the pupils worked on that material in pairs. There is one boy who is more experienced that the rest of the class. He helped and explained additionally this new grammar rule to the pupils who did not understand. We played the game described in the follow-up activities. It was noisier, but fun. The practice of the new grammar rule combined with the movement was suitable for pupils who need movement and are not able to sit calmly all the lesson time. Most of the pupils took the worksheet as homework. The topic Indefinite articles was somewhat challenging for some pupils. They did not understand it. It might be due to the fact that a and an are not in their mother tongue, and it is demanding to imagine these articles existing in foreign languages. 62

The more experienced pupils, who did their work quickly, went on the presentation of the differences between the definite and indefinite article. The next lessons they dealt with the situations when no article is used because the nouns were uncountable or in a plural form of nouns. 63

3.6. Material 3 Giving orders Materials: thirty-eight cards with the messages and pictures, example: Stand up! Drink water! Look at the door! Bring me a pencil! (appendix 5) Direct aim: build language skills- further practice of reading Indirect aim: be able to react and carry out the task practise listening and decode the message be able to read first connections of words with comprehension to develop reading fluency acquire new vocabulary connected with orders and verbs Control of errors: the picture on the card Procedure + information: - The teacher introduces pupils to the material. -The teacher shows the cards and encourages the pupils to go through the cards and decode the unfamiliar words for them. - The teacher reads the cards and pupils repeat the words after him/her. - The teacher chooses one card, reads it and asks one pupil to manage the order/ the task. Example: Please, Tom, bring me a pencil! Veronica, open your book! 64

Variations of presentation: - The teacher can start the presentation at first with giving the orders instead of the introducing and reading the cards. He/she chooses the phrases children are familiar with from the lessons (f.ex.: Sit down! Listen to the CD! Open your book!) - The teacher can use fewer cards. It depends on the pupils ability to absorb the new vocabulary. Follow- up activities: - When the pupils are familiar with the phrases on the cards, the teacher can combine more orders together. Example: Stand up and sing! Sit down and close your book! - Pupils can work in pairs or groups and give messages to each other. - Pupils can create their own phrases and prepare new cards. - Fill in a special worksheet. There are pictures of activities and pupils write down the commands. - Game 1: Pupils sit in the circle. Cards are mixed and placed in the middle of the circle. One pupil takes one card, does not show it to anybody, reads it and asks somebody in the circle to conduct the task. - Game 2: Pupils sit in the circle. Cards are mixed and placed in the middle of the circle. One pupil takes one card, does not show it to anybody, and pantomimes it. The others guess what the message could be. - Game 3: Pupils can play the game Simon says. It is suitable to play when the children are outside. - It is possible to use these orders as fillers when going from one classroom to another one in the school building. 65

Feedback: - It was the noisiest presentation we had done until that time. Pupils loved giving orders to their classmates. When they mastered the simple phrases, they started to combine more of them. They created funny connections. - When the presentation was finished, pupils created groups and practised this activity on their own. - They were offered to try this activity at home with parents. I got feedback from some parents that the whole family were doing the task. - At the beginning, some pupils had difficulties reading the phrases. However, after some games and practice, they managed it well. 66

3.7 Material 4- Reading sentences Materials: strips of cards with pictures and corresponding sentences (appendix 6) a control of errors = a booklet with pictures and corresponding sentences Direct aim: practise reading sentences with comprehension Indirect aim: to develop reading fluency practise combining the words and creating sentences realize what the term sentence means learn that sentences begin with the capital letter and finish with the full stop acquire new vocabulary Control of errors: a control of errors Procedure + information: - The teacher introduces pupils to the material. - Pupils just know the structure of simple sentence. They together go through these rules. They mention that the sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full-stop. - The teacher uses the strips with sentences and pictures attached. He/she encourages pupil to read the sentences and decode any words he/she does not know. The picture may be used as a piece of information of the pupil s comprehension of the sentence. - Pupils go through all the sentences. They can read them for themselves, or aloud together. 67

- When the pupils are able to read the sentences with pictures attached, the teacher presents strips with sentences and separated pictures. - The teacher asks pupils to place the pictures vertically on the mat. One pupil chooses a strip; he/she reads it and matches with the appropriate picture card. Then the next pupil goes on. It proofs if the pupil understands the sentence without the help of the picture. Variations of presentation: - Teacher can place the strips with sentences on the mat and the pictures on a separate table. A pupil chooses one card, reads it and brings the appropriate picture. - When the pupils match the pictures with the strips, teacher can ask questions as a positive interactive way of working with sentence strips. Example: Sentence on the strip: The dog is brown. Question: Is the dog brown? Is the dog black? Follow- up activities: - Pupils can work individually or in pairs/little groups on that material. - Pupils copy some of the sentences into their notebooks. -Pupils can make up their own sentences and draw the appropriate pictures. - The teacher can prepare a set of the sentence strips that are related. Pupils put them in order to make a story. Then they can create their own short story and draw the appropriate pictures. - Pupils can be given pictures and try to make their own short sentences. - Pupils can be given strips with short sentences and draw appropriate pictures. - The teacher hides the sentences around the class (hides them) and places the pictures on the mat. Pupils task is to look at the pictures, go around the class and 68

find suitable sentences. Next day, teacher can hide pictures; children read sentences and seek for pictures. -The teacher can write the sentences on normal sheet of paper. One sentence is written on one strip. He/she cuts the strips into two pieces. He/she mixes all the parts together. Pupils find the parts and match them together to create a meaningful sentence. They can work individually or in groups. - In the case the children are competent to make up and write down correct sentences, another game is played. Pupils form four groups. Each group is given several strips of paper. Each group writes down sentences, cut them and send to the next group on the right side. The next group should put the cut sentences together. The work is checked by the group that created the sentences. When the task is done, the group passes the sentences to the next group on the right side. Feedback: - Conducting the presentation was smooth. It was nice to observe pupils interest in reading and listen to the silent when everybody was reading for him-/herself. One lesson we did the presentation only with reading the sentences and matching them with pictures. Next lesson, I placed the pictures on a separate table. Pupils had to read the sentences on the mat and bring appropriate pictures. It proved beneficial for them to connect new information with movement, which corresponds with TPR method recommended for young learners. - Some of the follow-up activities were done at the beginning of the next lessons as a practise and warm-up activity. Pupils loved looking for the pictures around the class and matching them with sentences together. It was another bodilykinaesthetic activity. - Three lessons after the presentation, we played the last game stated in the follow-up activities. Pupils were divided into four teams. Each group created sentences, cut them and passes to the next group. It was a slightly noisy activity. However, it was a kind of feedback for me. I learnt who can create the sentences. It was pleasant to get to know that almost all the pupils were successful. 69

- When doing the task of creating pupils own sentences with pictures, I was very surprised. They mostly created correct sentences, enjoyed the work and drew very nice pictures. Their work was really successful. 70

3.8. Material 5- Building up sentences Materials: (appendix 7) strips with sentences little cards with isolated words (identical with words in the sentences stated above) pictures There are the variations of design of the cards. The cards can be coloured or the words can be written in colours, or there is a grammar symbol above each word. The words are colour-coded in compliance with the Montessori system of grammar symbols. Instead of the cards, the words can be written on small pebbles. It is better for manipulating them and pupils like it. The Montessori Grammar symbols: noun- a large black triangle article a small, light blue triangle adjective- a medium-size dark blue triangle verb- a large red circle preposition- a green crescent adverb- a small orange circle pronoun- a tall purple triangle conjunction- a small pink bar interjection- a gold triangle placed on top of a gold circle Direct aim: to construct sentences (practise combining the words and creating sentences) 71

Indirect aim: to repeat what the term sentence means, that sentences begin with the capital letter and finish with the full stop to understand the function of parts of speech to develop reading fluency acquire new vocabulary connected with the parts of speech build language skills Control of errors: the strips with the sentences Procedure + information: - The teacher introduces the material. - He/she prepares a mat, places there a box with the strips with sentences, box with isolated words. - Pupils are just familiar with the sentence structure from the Czech language. They together repeat very quickly what the sentence is, that it begins with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop. Usually, it makes sense. -He/she chooses one sentence. He places this sentence on the mat. -He/she takes the box with isolated words and constructs the chosen sentences from these isolated words on cards. He/she places these cards under the prepared sentence. -He/she reads the sentence aloud. -He/she asks pupils to do the same with the other sentences and cards. Variations of presentation: - When the sentence is constructed, teacher/pupil can change some words to see how it is possible to change the meaning of the sentence. Example: The cat is brown. The dog is brown. 72

- If the teacher sees that children understand the topic, he can add the pictures corresponding to the sentences. Pupils read the sentence, construct the sentence and find the appropriate picture. The aim of this activity is to read the sentences with comprehension. - Repeating of the known facts about the sentence structure can be done in a funny way. Teacher can ask questions or give pupils a short quiz. Example: Does the sentence start with a small letter, with a nice picture, or a capital letter? What is at the end of the sentence? Is there a surprise? A spot? A full- stop? Why? Follow- up activities: - Pupils take the material and work with it individually or in pairs, small groups. When they finish, they choose sentences they like and copy them into their notebooks. -Pupils can make up their own sentences and draw the appropriate pictures. - Build-up the sentences: The next lesson, teacher prepares four envelopes. He/she writes down three/four sentences, cuts them into isolated words and gives them into one envelope. He/she does the same with other envelopes. He/she can write down the same sentences or vary them. Pupils are in groups (nests). Each group is given an envelope. The task is to use the isolated words from the envelope and construct the sentences. When they are finished, teacher checks the final product. He/she can ask some questions to get to know if pupils understand the meaning of the sentences. Another type of checking is to draw appropriate pictures for these sentences. - Searching the words: This activity is a variation of the activity stated above. The aim is to repeat the structure of the sentences and connected with the movement. Movement in combination with thinking helps some pupils to memorize things and new facts. Teacher prepares twelve sentences for four groups. He/she writes them down in different colours. Three sentences are red, three blue, three yellow, and the last three are green. He/she cuts the sentences into several parts and hides 73

them around the class. Pupils create four teams and choose one colour. They are looking for the cards with words with their colour-code. When picking-up all the cards, they try to make construct sentences from these words (written on cards). - The Flintstone s sentences: Pupils are in groups. They have about fifteen/twenty little pebbles. They use the special colours for writing on the stones/ceramics and write down the words on the pebbles, one word on one pebble. They combine the pebbles into sentences. Example: It is a dino. It is possible to draw pictures of these sentences on the paper. When they are ready, they send the packet of these stones (with pictures) to another group. That group tries to build up the sentences. - Worksheets: Pupils can fill in the worksheet. There are ten sentences. Some words are left in the sentences. The task is to write down the missing words. In the first exercise, they can choose from the offer, in the second exercise, they make up their own suitable word to fill in the blank space. - Crazy dictation: Teacher dictates simple sentences. Children write them down with their second hand (the hand they are not used to writing). - Picture dictation: Teacher dictates the sentences. Pupils do not write them down, but they draw them. - Running dictation: Pupils are in groups. Each group has a pencil. One paper per group is placed at the end of the classroom. Teacher reads a simple sentence. The first pupil of the team runs to the paper, writes down the sentence and returns back. It goes on in the same way. - Change your voice: This activity is focused on reading fluency. Teacher prepares sentences. One sentence is written on one strip of paper. There is also written the name of one person/occupation behind the sentence, in brackets. He/she puts sentences into the pile. Pupils take one card and read the sentence as a person stated in the brackets. 74

Example: I eat hamburger. (a hungry grandmother) I am hungry and thirsty. (a plump opera singer) The pupils are nice! (an angry school-caretaker) - Fact or Fiction??? The aim of this activity is to create own sentences and listen to the sentences with comprehension. One pupil prepares sentence/sentences and tells it/them to his/her classmates aloud. He/she can make up the sentence, or it can be from reality. The pupils guess if it is fact or fiction. - Pantomime the sentence! - The teacher prepares strips with simple sentences. One pupil chooses on card, does not show it to the others, does not read it, but pantomimes it. The rest of the class guesses the sentence. Then the sentence is written on the board. Feedback: - The realization of presentation was pleasant. Pupils were interested and paid attention to constructing sentences. They were keen on trying it on their own. - Generally, pupils managed building-up easy structures of sentences almost without any problems. Sometimes, a few of them forgot to use the articles, or they placed the adjective behind the noun. - We varied the presentation and changed some words in sentences to get another meaning. Pupils created their own cards and changed the sentence during the presentation. They created funny examples. However, it helped very much because all of them understood the changes in the meanings and how to conduct them. - During that lesson and the next lesson, all pupils wanted to work with that material. Most of them enjoyed creating their own sentences and drawing the pictures. However, some of them did not want to copy the sentences into their notebooks. - Two lessons after the presentation, we played the game with the envelopes. It was a rather noisy activity. Children manage the building-up sentences well, but 75

they had difficulties to create teams and to organize their work in these teams. Finally, they managed the work on their own. - One boy, who managed to do all the tasks very well and quickly, prepared the words on the stones. It was really appreciated by his classmates, who could use them for further practice - We went through all the games listed as follow-up activities. Usually, pupils enjoyed most of them. The best activity for them was Fact or Fiction and Searching for the colour-coded card. About fifty percent of the pupils were able to create their own sentences without any mistakes. The second half needed help. However, they managed to cooperate and helped their classmates to create sentences, or their corrected them. - Finally, I have to say that we enjoyed the activities. However, it was necessary to calm the pupils down very often. When they were really keen on the activity, they started to speak very loudly. 76

3.9. Material 6 Plural form (adding s) Materials: (appendix 8) ten little black cards with singular forms of the words written on them ten little black cards with plural forms of nouns (corresponding to those stated above) two neutral cards as headlines: singular, plural the control of errors (two little cards with the correct answers) pictures or objects relating to the word cards (only optional) There are other sets of singular/plural cards. Each set is focused on another rule for making the plural form. The second set deals with the rule when the words finish with the consonants s, x, z, sh, ch, ss. The third set is focused on the words finishing with f, fe, fl. The other sets are about the changes when the words finish with y, o, or create plural forms with adding suffix en, or changing the vowel in the word. The last two sets demonstrate the words that have the same form for singular and plural form, and the foreign words. Direct aim: to introduce singular and plural forms of nouns to present one of the rules for making plurals Indirect aim: to develop reading fluency acquire an extensive vocabulary build language skills Control of errors: the control of errors 77

Procedure + information: - The teacher introduces the material. - He/she prepares a mat, places there a box with the cards on the mat. He/she removes two sets of cards from the box. - Teacher takes the card with headline singular, reads it and explains that singular means only one. He/she places the header at the top of the mat on the left side. Then he/she takes the card with plural, reads it and explains that plural means more than one. He/she places it to the right of the card with the headline singular. - Teacher asks one pupil to take one singular card, reads it and to places it under the headline singular. Example: cat. Then he/she asks pupil to find the word similar to cat. When the pupil finds cats, teacher asks him/her to place the card under the headline plural. - The other pupils do the same with other cards until all the exercise is completed. - The teacher asks pupils to look at the cards and find what the rule of making plural forms is. They together formulate the rule that -s is added to the singular forms of nouns. Variations of presentation: - It is possible to complete the cards with nouns together with pictures or little objects. Example: When placing the card with the word cat under the header singular, pupil finds an appropriate object that matches that card-it means a toy cat in this case. When placing the card cats, find the picture with more cats on it, or more toy cats. - The next lesson after the presentation, teacher places only the headers singular and plural on the mat. He/she distributes the cards to pupils. Their task is to place the cards on the proper places. It is good to use the cards with different nouns than those ones used for the first presentation. Follow- up activities: - Pupils can take the material and work on it individually, in pairs, or in groups. 78

- If pupils master the cards with this first rule, they can take and work with next set of words focused on another rule of making the plural forms. - Find the PLURAL! Teacher prepares the cards with words in plural forms written on them. He/she distributes them to children. He/she reads aloud a noun in the singular form. The pupil who has the plural form of that noun answers very quickly, and reads it aloud, too. -Running for the PLURAL - Teacher prepares cards with singular and plural forms of nouns (i.e. cat, cats, pencil, pencils) written on cards/ slips of papers. Pupils create teams. Each team is given a set of different cards with the singular forms of nouns. Teacher places the cards with corresponding plural forms of nouns randomly on the stairs. The task for the teams is to read their cards and run for the plural forms that match their cards with singular forms. Each time only one person can run. There are two conditions: It should be done in silence. The time limit is two minutes for picking up the cards. After this time, teams are given special time for completing the singular and plural cards. - Worksheet Pupils can choose working on the worksheet where they match and fill in the singular and plural forms of nouns. - Pupils can create their own examples of plurals and write them down in their notebooks. If they want, they can complete the examples with pictures. - Teacher prepares a short text, or it can be one page from the fairy-tale, story, comics. Pupils take two crayons. One colour is for singular form, the second colour is for the plural form of nouns. The task is to find and colour the singular/plural forms within the text. - Teacher finds the comics where plural and singular forms of nouns appear, prints the comics (i.e. strips with Garfield, Snoopy, Asterix), and deletes the nouns in the bubbles, and writes them down under the strips. Pupils fill in the missing words from the offer. It is an exercise focused on the reading with the comprehension. Pupils should think about the use of singular/plural form of nouns according to the pictures. It means realizing the proper form on the basis of the analysis of those strips. 79

Feedback: - Just for the first time, I did the presentation only with the objects. Later, we completed the objects with the cards with names of the objects written on them. Pupils were active. They especially loved bringing the objects from the class and placing them on the mat. - This first rule of making the plural form of nouns by adding the suffix -s was managed by all the pupils. The next lesson after the presentation, I tried to ask them to guess what the plural form of the words like man and sheep are. They used this learnt rule and created forms like mans and sheeps. It was a good sign that they had understood the first rule. I explained them that these words have their own special rules. However, not all the pupils understood it. I stopped explaining it. It is sufficient to know only the first rule according to the curriculum for the third class at elementary school. - Some pupils who mastered this first rule asked me to go on to materials with different principles of making plural forms. They managed to do all the materials for plurals. - Generally, pupils did not like completing the worksheets. In discussion after the presentation, the pupils told me that they preferred games and doing comics. 80

4. Analysis of findings The following conclusions can be drawn from the observations and based on the categories stated earlier in the chapter Experiment. We arrived at the following conclusion: 1) The first category I was interested in was the pupils behaviour during their work in Montessori system and in the traditional system. I compared how the children worked and were involved in activities under these different educational approaches. I conducted the research by observing them in the lessons. At the beginning of the first period, when the lessons were planned and delivered in compliance with the traditional style of learning/ teaching, the vast majority of pupils were satisfied and enjoyed working. They loved working with the course book because it is colourful. There are nice illustrations and the section with the cartoon comics. However, when the children used the books, they were not concentrated very often on the particular exercises that should have been done because they were more interested in the comics. It disrupted the pace of the lesson. When the whole class worked together, there was mostly a rush and noise. Children spoke loudly, argued. Usually, at the beginning of the classes they forgot to prepare all the things needed for that lesson. Then they disturbed the class by going and looking for these things such as course books, things for writing, notebooks, etc. I tried to implement language games into the lessons with the purpose to vary the time and activate pupils' attention. I found that the vast majority of pupils were involved in activities and enjoyed the time. The only exception was one boy who was not able to concentrate so long and became bored after a short time. I may have not found the right way how to satisfy his needs. However, the rush increased during the lesson. Children did not feel any obstacles and had a tendency inclined to speak loudly. They considered games as a kind of competition. They argued very often due to the feeling of unfairness of the games. 81

When they kept the rules of fair-play and behaved in a calm way, I personally loved the lessons. I enjoyed playing games with children. They were active, learnt the new grammar and vocabulary through enjoyable activities. The lessons were dynamic. The second period of the time for this experiment was done by implementing/engaging the Montessori method. Unlike the traditional style, the pupils did not use any course books. They worked with materials and filled in the worksheets. In contrast to the first period, the class did not work as a group. We all met only at the beginning and at the end of the lessons. Then the children worked on their own. During their activities they were surprisingly calm and silent. When they needed anything, they came and asked me or their classmates in a peaceful way. They co-operated, respected the others' work and learnt from them. Nobody inclined to competition. It might have been because everybody was involved in his/her activity and did not compare the results with others. They were focused on their own activity. Therefore, the atmosphere was more peaceful and friendly. Pupils kept one of the Montessori principles to respect the other people when working and be silent. They whispered and communicated in a suitable way. The rush mostly began some time before the end of the classes. The pupils got tired and were not able to concentrate on their work anymore. Personally, I liked the lessons because the children were calmer and silent. On the other hand I missed that kind of powerful group dynamics. 2) The second category was focused on the pupils' engagement during the lessons. The aim was to observe the children's interest in work. I compared the situations when pupils worked with the materials designed according to the Montessori principles and when they used course books, exercise books or did the exercises together as a whole class during the lessons conducted in the traditional way. At the beginning of the classes respecting the Montessori system, all the pupils met in the communicative circle and spoke about their mood and day in English 82

language. Majority of pupils were keen to speak about themselves. However, I realized that if this time spent together is a little bit longer than usual, the pupils start to be nervous and not concentrated. When the conversation was finished, pupils chose the work they wanted to do during the lesson, took appropriate materials and started working. They were very interested in their chosen activity and therefore were not paying attention to their surroundings. It was clear that they would be disrupted if I had asked them about their progress. Therefore the teacher s role was to observe and be prepared for potential help. At the end of the lesson, I reminded them it was high time to finish their work. Some of the pupils found it difficult and it took them longer to finish their activity and to start to do anything else. Sometimes I experienced that the pupils were not satisfied with their chosen activity. This led to misbehaviour and noisy atmosphere during the time for working. It was necessary to offer these pupils a new type of activity they would be interested in. When the suitable task and material was found, they became calm and worked hard again. Like the Montessori lessons, the traditional lessons started in the communicative circle with speaking about the every day s experiences. Similarly to the first period, if the speaking activity was too long, children stopped paying attention and started to chatter. It was necessary to finish this activity in the proper time. Then the class worked with the course books. During the reading the texts and listening to the recordings children were really interested and focused on that proper task. However, after some time, they started to communicate with their classmates, to be interested in other comics and pictures in the course book. To attract their attention, a language game was played. At the beginning they were very keen to play, but they had problems to concentrate on explanation of the rules of the game. The dividing into teams took also a long time, and they were arguing about the members of those teams. Finally, during the activity some of the children asked me whether they could work on another activity and worked on another task. 83

3) As the third category in the chart shows, I looked at the pupils level of responsibility for their own learning and studying. Generally, students do not want to learn if somebody does not force them to do it. They do not follow their inner needs and the results are very poor. I compared the responsibility pupils took when working with ellipses/material and when working according to the traditional style. The results were surprising. Using the course books, doing the same work as classmates did, following the teacher s orders and instructions took the pupils the chance to be responsible for their studying process. Almost no opportunity for a free choice was given/ offered them. Everything was directed and prepared in advance by the teacher. Therefore the learners were passive rather than active. There was no effort to take over the responsibility. They did just what the teacher told them to do and did not think about the process very much. In contrast, in the Montessori system, one of the principles is a free choice of work. It is closely connected with the responsibility for that choice and for pupils work. There is a completely different level of learner s autonomy. When the children were working with the materials and fulfilled the ellipses, they surprisingly took great responsibility for their activities. They planned their work, measured time needed for that work, and thought if they could manage the tasks within the lesson. Almost all of them were able to work without the teacher s help. They chose the work alone, took the material and started working. From the evidence I conclude that the pupils are able to take high degree of responsibility for their learning process when they are given the opportunity. 4) The pupils preparation for the lessons is very closely related to the category stated above, to the pupils responsibility. In both approaches, pupils were given the homework focused on practising the things done during the lessons. However, the traditional approach is slightly different. 84

When working with the textbooks, all pupils were given the same homework. Usually, it was chosen from the exercise book. They did the homework, but they usually did not do any further practice of the grammar or vocabulary. They just fulfilled what the teacher had instructed them to do. On the other hand, using the materials, working on the activities they had freely chosen, led them to take responsibility not only for the study process during the lessons, but also for the preparation for lessons at home. Pupils alone decided about their homework. They mostly asked for the working sheets focused on the topics they were dealing with, or they told me that they would practise with parents at home. And they really did. It was fantastic how they became seriously involved in their own study process in contrast to the first period when everything was directed by the teacher. 5) I examined pupils working pace and involvement during the lessons. I compared the pupils working time when manipulating with material, working according to their choice with the time when they worked as a whole class. During the Montessori lessons, pupils may have worked at their own pace. They could use as much time as they needed to complete and finish the tasks they had chosen before. When they finished one activity, they were allowed to go on, choose another material or undergo a little test if they had managed the work successfully. I observed that majority of the pupils really used that time and learnt during the lesson. They chose what they were interested in and they wanted to go through the material. I realized the working pace is very individual. Slow learners needed more time for work. Some pupils who were very interested in their material wanted to show it to others, or repeat the activity several times. I have to admit that during these lessons I was afraid that the pupils with slow pace of work will not manage all the tasks required for the whole year. Finally, I had to limit their work and we had to prepare a plan together what should be done every lesson. On the other hand, during the traditional classes, the pace was directed by the teacher. The class worked together. The fast learners waited for the slower ones. 85

Sometimes the additional activities were provided for them not to be bored when waiting. However, I felt that if the topic of the lesson was given by the teacher, the children were not as active and fast as when they could individually choose their work. 6) I was interested whether the pupils preferences of learning style vary according to the learning/ teaching approach. From the data collected during the observation, it can be stated that the learning style and preferences of learning style are almost the same in both learning/ teaching methods. What pupils preferred when working on materials was also used by them when working as a whole class together. They had tendencies to maintain their styles. Kinaesthetic types of learners always needed to implement movement into studying process. The pupils, who were more visual oriented, were looking for texts, pictures to help them to memorize. The observation shows that each method is suitable for another learning style. The Montessori system differs from the traditional approach in that it incorporates all the senses and it mostly satisfies all types of learners. 7) This category deals with the observation focused on the class management. I was interested in the organisational forms during the lessons. In both learning/ teaching approaches similar organisational forms were used. There was only slight difference. In Montessori approach, pupils could choose which organizational form they would use, while in traditional approach, the form was given and instructed by the teacher. When working on materials, pupils preferred the pair-work. Only one or two boys were more satisfied when they were alone. Some girls created the mini groups of three members. Doing the tasks as a whole class, I tried to change the activities and also the organizational forms of the class. Pupils worked in pairs, individually, in teams and also all together. However, I realized that they were not used to working together as a whole group. It usually caused problems in communication. The work within smaller groups or pairs was without any difficulties. 86

8) In this category, the research was focused on the parent s information. I examined how often and in which way the pupils parents were given information by their children about their study progress and activities they had done during the classes. It means if the parents were given the feedback from the children how the work at school was going on. While working in the traditional way, almost no parents contacted me. It seemed they were satisfied that children had textbooks, exercise books, and they regularly got homework. The change became when the pupils were given the syllabus with ellipses and started working with materials. From that time I was contacted by the parents quite often. They were interested if the pupils can manage all the topics until the end of school year, where they can get further practice and what they can use for studying at home. I interpret this fact that when children started to work on their own, took the responsibility for studying, they needed somebody to co-operate with them at home, or to show their parents how they had been working, and everything they were able to manage on their own. 9) During the time of this experiment I measured and analyzed the teacher s preparation for the lessons. Both approaches demanded some time for preparation and planning the classes. The difference was in the length, used materials, time and the style. The preparation for the traditional classes was interesting. I tried to implement more learning/ teaching methods to meet the pupils needs. I found, prepared and used many language games because I believe that through the games and fun activities pupils learn better than when using the course books. It took some time but in comparison to the preparation for Montessori classes it was still less. I combined these activities with using the course books. In this way the preparation was easier because there was a given plan and syllabus created by the authors of the course book. I did not have to make it up. I only follow just prepared way. 87

On the other hand, the preparation for Montessori lessons was at the beginning quite difficult and time consuming. I had to plan everything beforehand. All the materials had to be prepared in advance and completed with the working sheets. I thought about the next activities that should follow the previous one. It should go in a logical sequence. When the pupils started working on the materials, we wrote the activities and progress they did on the special sheet of paper. After every lesson it was necessary to go through these notes and plan the next lesson. I had to do it for each pupil individually because most of them worked on different materials and needed different approach and care. In fact, planning one or two weeks ahead was practically impossible. There is a syllabus, but it is only a framework. Teacher should follow the present pupils needs and prepare a special plan for each lesson for the pupils. 10) The purpose of this category was to compare two different educational approaches, the Montessori method and the traditional style of learning and teaching language according to the suitability for the pupils in the group I worked with. The reason for this was to decide what kind of approach is most likely to attract pupils attention and help them fulfil and satisfy their needs. Both methods are very interesting and valuable. It is not possible to say which approach is better or worse. Despite many differences described above, there are a number of marked similarities. They focus on effective learning and teaching pupils. A different approach for each individual is suitable. Some pupils have tendencies to work rather in the Montessori system. They love being given a free choice of work, keeping their own pace of activities, taking responsibility, etc. On the other hand, there are still some types of learners who preferred to be directed by the teacher. They are usually afraid of such a big deal of responsibility. They fell safe when anybody else decides for them and are rather teacher dependent. According to the chart of stated categories I can interpret it that for that particular group of pupils I did the experiment with the Montessori method when learning/ teaching English language is far more suitable. It may be caused by the fact that 88

they are more used to working in this system, not only in English classes but also in other subjects, rather than in the traditional way of learning/ teaching. However, after observing the classes with different approaches, I think that the best combination would be to combine the lessons conducted under the Montessori principles with the lessons focused on language games and conversation in compliance with communicative language teaching. 89

Conclusion The aim of this thesis was to analyse the study materials used in Montessori teaching and learning languages, and raise awareness of the teachers who would like to get inspired by this alternative method. It was focused mainly on teaching and learning English language in the Montessori system. I hope the results of my work could be as an inspiration for parents, teachers and children for practising the English language. The actual process and feedback on each material is described in the practical part. The materials and photos of the materials are enclosed in the Appendices. At the beginning, there is a short note about Maria Montessori. Her system of education, research and situation of bilingual programmes, the Cosmic education, especially the Five Great Stories, and materials are described. The materials were designed for teaching and learning the English language in the first three grades in primary school. The experiment was conducted and based on the observation of the pupils behaviour during the English lessons when learning in a traditional way and when using the materials described in this thesis. I compared the period of time when the children were learning in a classical way with textbooks with the periods of time when they used materials designed for those lessons in compliance with the Montessori principles. The first part was focused on learning in a traditional way, the second one on using the materials for an alternative way. The behaviour, interest in working, the level of responsibility, preparation for lessons, working pace, working settings, and time needed for preparation were compared in the chapter Analysis of findings. When working with the textbooks and all children together, the pupils were less concentrated on learning. They were not able to be focused on the tasks all the time. They had a tendency to chat. It was necessary to combine the work with the textbook with language games. However, pupils argued very often when playing 90

because of the results of the game. On the other hand, everybody enjoyed working with the materials. They most worked in pairs. It was interesting to observe the class. Most boys were working in pairs. The only exception was one boy who prefers to be alone. He was doing the tasks in silence with a great interest. I was surprised, because this boy is usually very noisy and not concentrated on work during the lessons. Four girls created one group and usually worked around the table. They were noisier than boys and they spent more time doing the tasks. The rest of the class created pairs and fulfilled the tasks. When pupils needed help, they silently come and ask. One of the boys who masters the English grammar of the third class very well was something like my assistant. If anybody did not know what to do or how to work with material, he helped him/her, made things clear and tested him/her at the end of using the material. Giving the role of assistant to Šimon was a new experience for me and for him, too. He is very skilful and clever. He has higher level of English language knowledge than his classmates. I think he has to be bored during the lessons when keeping pace with the others. Maybe, it is the reason why he is from time to time noisy and disturbs the lessons. As assistant, he was calmer and more serious. He really helped and was personally proud of it. In general, pupils were calm, co-operating much more than during the first period when learning under the traditional methods. Comparing the interest in the work, pupils were more devoted to manipulating with materials rather than doing the same tasks together as a whole class. Pupils working with materials overtook responsibility for their own studying. When working together, they let the responsibility on the teacher and were mostly passive. After finishing the work with material, they individually chose their homework. Nobody forced them to do it. It was done spontaneously. It was their choice. On the other hand, when they worked as a whole class they waited for the homework from the teacher. 91

What really surprised me was that when working together, it was easier to fulfil and catch the plan for the lesson. It might be because the pace was not directed by them but it came from the teacher. On the other hand, not all the children get the point of the lesson. The preparation for the traditional lessons was easier and less time consuming than preparation for the Montessori lessons. I prepared one plan for the whole class. Pupils worked under the same pace and finished the same task every lesson. When working on materials, I had to prepare everything according to pupils individual plans. All the materials were needed to be prepared before. It was necessary to think about the further activity of pupils, and about the direction of their progress. To conclude this thesis, when comparing the two different approaches of learning and teaching language, it was more suitable for the researched group of learners to work in the set system, the Montessori approach, as in their other school subjects. In my opinion, to place these children into non-montessori classes could cause little difficulties. These pupils are used to working on their own in their own pace. Doing the tasks together, hurrying with the quicker pupils and waiting for the slower ones would slow disturb their attitude to work. They could lose the sense of responsibility because of the teacher s authoritative planning and position in the educational process. They might lose the interest in studying and discovering new information and things. 92

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Rýdl, Karel. Metoda Montessori pro naše dítě. Inspirace pro rodiče a zájemce. Univerzita Pardubice, 2007. Rýdl, Karel. Vzdělávací program Základní škola II. stupně Montessori. Praha, MŠMT ČR, 2000. Print. Standing, E. M. Maria Montessori-Her Life and Work. London: Plume, 1998. Print. Electronic Sources: Jnanamudra. Language. [Online]. Available from: <www.jnanamudramontessorimaterials.com >. The Four Planes of Development. [Online]. Available from: < http://www.montessori-namta.org/ >. Pictures. [Online]. Available from: <http://www.google.cz>. Planes of Development. [Online]. Available from: <http:// tothelesson.blogspot.cz/2011/07/planes-of-development.html >. The Five Great Lessons. [Online]. Available from: < http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/ >. 94

List of Appendices Appendix 1- Example of Material for writing-pink series Appendix 2: Sample of syllabus Appendix 3: Material 1 - Nomenclature Cards - Pets Appendix 4: Material 2 - Indefinite Articles Appendix 5: Material 3 Giving orders Appendix 6: Material 4 Reading sentences Appendix 7: Material 5 Building up sentences Appendix 8: Material 6 Plural form (adding s) 95

Appendices Appendix 1- Example of Material for writing-pink series Insets for design Sandpaper letters with cursive capitals Sandpaper letters with 96

Sandpaper letters with print letters Moveable alphabet Pink box 1 Pink sentence strips 97

Appendix 2- Sample of syllabus Starter unit Introducing (My name is ) Numbers 1-12 Greetings (Hello, bye) Unit 1- Classroom Vocabulary What is this?- questions Orders (sit down, sing ) Plural of nouns Unit 2- the TV Show Vocabulary room Questions Numbers 12-20 Unit 3-Super pets Vocabulary pets negativeit is not Articlesa/an Conversationmeeting people Adjectivesbig, small Review 98

Appendix 3 -Material 1 - Nomenclature Cards Pets-Sample dog dog 99

Appendix 4 Material 2 - Indefinite Articles 100

Appendix 5 Material 3 Giving orders Stand up! Come here! Sit down! Point to the window! 101

Appendix 6 Material 4 Reading sentences The cat is small. The children are happy. The dog is black. It is a girl. It is a small dog. The elephant is big. 102

Appendix 7 Material 5 Building up sentences Picture of grammar symbols in Montessori system 103

The teacher is angry. It is a big dog. The cat is hungry. The baby is happy. It is a little girl. The man is thirsty. The tiger is tired. The boy is scared. 104

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Appendix 8 Material 6 Plural form (adding s) pen pens pencil books book pencils eraser erasers crayon crayons bag bags cup sharpeners sharpener 107

cups ruler ruler chairs chair singular plural Instructions: Place the cards under the headers. Complete the pairs: sg. + pl. Example: cat-cats Write them down into your notebook. Nouns- Singular and Plural Box 1 108

The control of errors: pen-pens pencil-pencils book-books eraser-erasers bag-bags chair-chairs cup-cups crayon-crayons ruler-rulers sharpener-sharpeners The rule: add -s to the singular forms of the nouns. 109