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This post provides a complete guide to the Montessori language development process. Whether you are trying to understand the Montessori approach, supplement your child’s language development at home, or are searching for Montessori language activities for babies, toddlers or preschoolers, you have come to the right place.

Language Development

Maria Montessori observed that as long as children are exposed to some language early on in life, they will almost always learn to speak. They are born with everything they need to pick up the language(s) spoken in their environment. By preparing the environment and exposing them to rich vocabulary, we can enrich their learning, but it is ultimately something they pick up independently.

Language acquisition embodies the idea of the absorbent mind, which is a term coined by Maria Montessori to describe the unconscious learning that takes place in children during the first three years of life. To read more about the absorbent mind and other fundamental Montessori principles, click here.

The written form of language, on the other hand, is not picked up naturally. Reading and writing need to be taught to children with some instruction and require some effort from the child. Several steps must be taken, with each building upon the previous. The steps are:

1. Acquisition of the Spoken Language

2. Phonemic Awareness

3. Word Formation and Writing Skills

4. Reading Ability

1. Acquisition of the Spoken Language

   Adults can facilitate the acquisition of verbal language in several ways but cannot directly teach it. We can prepare the environment by offering rich oral language experiences. While this language-specific preparation is important, there are many other aspects of preparing the environment that are arguably more significant. These include respect for the child, rhythms and routines to build order in their environment, independence and a sense of safety (freedom within limits). Read about the 10 fundamental Montessori principles to find out more.

   We can offer spoken language lessons, which are informal lessons we give by modelling rich language. For example, we can intentionally use words like delicious instead of yummy or immaculate instead of clean. Having natural conversations such as exchanging experiences from the day, or ordering food at a restaurant, are effective ways to model the practical use of language.

   A child needs to have a rich internal dictionary, a bank of words that he can use at command. Many of these words will be absorbed effortlessly, but there are some simple things we can do to assist children in this area:

   • Enunciate words clearly and speak slowly

   • Repeat new words upon introduction (e.g. this is a book, a book)

   • Allow the child to sense your breath as you speak
     (the child’s face or hands should be close enough to your mouth that they can observe the movements you make and feel how much air leaves your mouth for different sounds)

   • Use the three-period lesson to teach specific terms or groups of terms

   • Sing songs and read poems to them

   
   
   
   

2. Phonemic Awareness

Once a child has a grasp of language, he is introduced to phonics through a series of pre-reading games and activities.

Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language. Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters.

50% of our language is phonetic and follows predictable rules, which children love. They are drawn to finding logic and order within our world. By following systematic rules, they can crack the English language code (or half of it, at least).

We begin by teaching children these rules. They learn each letter's sounds and the key phonograms (e.g. sh, ch, ee). They learn to build phonetic words and then, when they are ready, to read phonetic words. Once the child has confidence in writing and reading the phonetic half of English, we then introduce the non-phonetic half, which doesn’t follow any rules.

Phonemic awareness begins with a knowledge of sounds in words. We can help children hear these individual sounds by:

• Encouraging them to speak and pronounce words

• Articulating slowly and purposefully

• Repeating new words over and over

• Exposing them to lyrical language in songs, books and poetry

• Playing sound games

For a detailed step-by-step guide on pre-reading activities and sound games, please read my post here.

Once children have a good grasp of sound games and can hear at least the initial sounds of words, they can be introduced to sandpaper letters. Sandpaper letters are among the best-known Montessori materials. They are essentially cards with tactile alphabets that allow children to physically trace each letter's shape as they say its sound. This creates an association and neural connection of the letter sound and the physical tracing of its symbol. Please read my blog post about the Montessori sandpaper letters for more information.

Pre-writing activities can also be carried out at this stage, such as painting, metal insets and pin punching.

3. Word Formation and Writing Skills

When we think of writing, the first thing that comes to mind is a pen (or pencil) and paper. However, there is much more to writing than this. Writing with the hand on to paper is just one part of the process. Children need to be able to form words in their head before writing the words down. Word formation is the intellectual part of the writing process and can often occur even before a child’s hand is ready to hold a pencil.

There are two primary materials used to teach children letter sounds and how to put them together to form words: sandpaper letters and the moveable alphabet.

When children are familiar with listening for beginning and ending sounds in words, they can be introduced to the corresponding letter symbols using the Montessori sandpaper letters. This is where children realise that the spoken language is directly linked to written language. Click here for a full guide on how to introduce sandpaper letters to your child.

After being introduced to sandpaper letters, children are then presented with a sand tray, where they mimic the tracing of sandpaper letters in the sand. This allows the child to ‘write’ letters without needing to hold a pencil. Watch the video below to see this in action.

Letter formation using the sand tray can be easily replicated at home using any regular tray with some salt. This is what we used at home, and it had the same effect.

Even when a child understands the sounds and symbols of his language, he may not be ready to form words yet. The following criteria need to be observed in a child, indicating a desire to write:

• Knowledge of sounds

• Ability to identify sounds in words (beginning, middle and end)

• Ability to associate sounds with their corresponding letter symbols

• Ability to link letter sounds together to form words

When the above criteria have been met, the Montessori moveable alphabet can be introduced. The moveable alphabet is a set of wooden alphabets with red consonants and blue vowels, which a child uses to form words. This material gives a child the ability to express himself in written words without being able to hold and write with a pencil.

Word formation using the moveable alphabet is done in stages, beginning with CVC words, consonant blends and then phrases and sentences. More information about this progression and where to get the moveable alphabet can be found here.

4. Reading Ability

By this stage, a child has already mastered writing out words and phrases using the moveable alphabet. Somewhere along the way, a magical event occurs - your child reads his first word. This is not something that we can make happen, just as we cannot make a child take his first steps. We can prepare the child to make the discovery in all the ways listed above and continue to find exciting ways to engage them in language work while we wait. The discovery happens in its own time, but when it does, the child begins to read spontaneously. This could be as young as age three or as late as age eight, but whatever time it happens, it is the perfect time for the child. For most children who have been through the preparation listed above, reading begins between four and six.

Once a child reads his first word, he probably won’t want to stop reading. We can slowly introduce them to more and more phonetic words, usually beginning with CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, followed by consonant blends, phonemes and lastly, non-phonetic words that don’t follow any rules. Traditionally, the Pink, Blue and Green series of words are used in progression in Montessori classrooms; this is a great post explaining them in further detail.

Another great reading program, which we use at home, is the Waseca reading program. The program provides a systematic and sequential presentation of the phonetic elements used in the English language. It comprises nine levels, each with seven sub-sections introducing a different phonetic element. Each element requires the child to go through the following four steps:

• spell out word depicted on the picture card with the moveable alphabet

• match label cards to words spelt by decoding phonetic information
  (self-correction of their own spelling often happens here too)

• read words that follow the same phonetic principle in a booklet

• trace and write words

We have found this program very easy to follow, and it has really helped Ryaan gain confidence with his reading. Click here for $15 off your purchase of the Waseca Reading Program.

Once they begin reading a few words, the Oxford reading series books are great as they progress in difficulty with the child. It gives great confidence to a child to be able to read an entire book on his own. We have loved this series in our home too.

I’d love to hear which of these has been the most useful for you in introducing language to your child the Montessori way. If this article has been helpful, do share it so it benefits more people!