THE PEDAGOGY OF MARIA MONTESSORI

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Maria Montessori (1870-1952), Italian educator, took a degree in medicine and worked in a clinic for retarded children before going on to teach at the University of Rome. In 1907 she opened her first children’s school, and for the next 40 years she travelled throughout Europe, India, and the U.S., lecturing, writing, and setting up Montessori schools. Today there are hundreds of such schools in the U.S. and Canada alone.

The Montessori system is based on belief in the child’s creative potential, his drive to learn, and his right to be treated as an individual. To make decisions and take action without waiting for someone to tell you what to do characterized the Montessori philosophy, and self-education was the keynote of it. The teacher should remain in the background, leaving the child to handle it for himself. In the Montessori system biological growth and mental growth are linked. The teacher should know when a child’s interest and mental capacity are best suited to the acquisition of certain specialized knowledge. Montessori scorned conventional classrooms, where “children, like butterflies mounted on pins, are fastened each to his place.” She sought, instead, to teach children by supplying concrete materials and organizing situations conductive to learning with these materials.

Montessori education is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits and respect for a child’s natural psychological development. These elements are essential in Montessori education:

· Mixed age classrooms, with classrooms for children aged 2 or 3 to 6 years old

· Student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options

· Uninterrupted blocks of work time

· A "discovery" model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction

· Specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators

From the beginning, Montessori based her work on her observations of children and experimentation with the environment, materials, and lessons available to them. She frequently referred to her work as "scientific pedagogy".

Montessori's education method called for free activity within a "prepared environment", meaning an educational environment tailored to basic human characteristics, to the specific characteristics of children at different ages, and to the individual personalities of each child. The function of the environment is to allow the child to develop independence in all areas according to his or her inner psychological directives. In addition to offering access to the Montessori materials appropriate to the age of the children, the environment should exhibit the following characteristics:

· Construction in proportion to the child and his/her needs

· Beauty and harmony, cleanliness of environment

· Order

· An arrangement that facilitates movement and activity

· Limitation of materials, so that only material that supports the child's development is included.

Montessori’s methods are set forth in such books as The Montessori Method (1912), The Advanced Montessori Method (1917-18), The Secret of Childhood (1936), and Education for a New World (1946).

ГРАММАТИЧЕСКИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ

THE NOUN

Group these nouns into countable and uncountable.

Piano, computer, cheese, car, music, love, information, lady, idea, education, progress, doctor, milk, fact, butter, tomato, table, airport, money, bread, cat, camel, instrument, gold, spaghetti, coffee, bank, student, petrol, meat.

Give the plurals of the following nouns.

Hat, box, day desk, clock, bus, list, toy, address, brush, face, family, book, wife, knife, tomato, tree, zoo, shop, man, women, child, tooth, foot, goose, ox, sheep, deer, church, schoolboy, postman, hotel-keeper, step-daughter, housewife, Englishman, man-servant, fingertip, woman-doctor.

Use the proper word from the brackets and complete these sentences.

1. There are many (class, classes) in a big school. 2. London and New York are (city, cities). 3. There are a lot of (policemen, policemen) in London. 4. How many (toast, toasts) do you want? 5. Lots of (people, person) are unhappy about it. 6. Several (child, children) are in the yard. 7. She’s a rich (lady, ladies). 8. Our (computer, computers) are very expensive. 9. The (book, books) is very interesting. 10. Many small (village, villages) are very nice. 11. Let me give you some (advice, advices). 12. There`s a lot of (furniture, furnitures) in the room. 13. The (woman, women) has two (son, sons). 14. (Fruit, fruits) is useful for our health. 15. He`s fond of lots of interesting (information, informations).

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Ее волосы совсем темные. Они очень красивые. 2. Эти новости очень интересные.

3. Ваши деньги на столе. Возьмите их. 4. Она делает успехи в английском языке.

5. Ваши брюки слишком длинные. 6. В этом году фрукты очень дешевые. 7. У нее достаточно знаний, чтобы выполнить эту работу. 8. Ваши советы очень полезные.

Open the brackets using the Possessive Case.

1. Have you see (Henry) new bicycle? 2. Let`s join in the (children) games. 3. We heard the (men) shouts in the distance. 4. Mary sings in the (ladies) choir. 5. That building is (Jack and Marry) house. 6. What`s (the Wilsons) number.7. You can buy this mixture at the (chemist). 8. Ellen is a (lady) servant.

THE NUMERAL

Read the following figures.

1).  Cardinal numerals 1,10,11,2,12,20,3,13,30,4,14,40.44,5,15,50,55,6,16,60,66,7,17,70,77,8,18,80,88,9,19,90,99, 34,48,79,125,263,386,415,676,732,828,1234,1565,1981,2325,21327,45787,63121,77834.

2). Ordinal numerals

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,22,31,45,64,89,92.

3). Years

1871;1565;1927;1990;2000;1945;1317;1030;2001;1985;1797;2013.

4). Dates

May,11; January,1; March,8; December,31; February,28; June,22; September,15; August,25; April,3; November,6; October,12; July,15;

5). Telephone numbers

34-49-32; 55-49-84; 27-64-72; 20-44-37.

Answer the following questions.

1. When were you born? 2. What is your telephone number? 3. What is your address?

4. When do we celebrate New Year`s Day? 5. When does a new academic year begin?

6. How many days are there in a year? 7. What date is it today?

THE ARTICLE

Insert a, an or the if necessary.

In ___ Central Square of ___London there is ___ tall column with ___ monument on its top. It is ___ monument that is famous all over ___ world. ___ Admiral Nelson was born on ___ 29^th of ___ September in 1758. During his life he took part in ___ lot of sea battles and as ___ luck was usually on his side, he won. He was ____ real genius. He fought in ___ Atlantic Ocean and in ___ Pacific Ocean and never lost ___ single battle. Not once did he save ___ pride of ___ United King­dom. But it is not only this that he is famous for. ____ world knows him for such ___ romantic love story, that ____films were made about it, and ___ books were written. They say ___ gods envy ___ people when they have such ___ heavenly love, so in 1805 ___ En­gland was at war against ___ France and of course Nelson led ___ fleet. In ___ battle at Trafalgar ___ admiral won ___ last victory of his life, but he himself got ___ deadly wound. Of course there was no chance of taking Nelson to ___ hospital, but before he died ____ heroic admiral had made ___ last act of bravery: he was carried up on a deck so that ____ sailors of ____ ship knew that he was with them. __ square in ___centre of London is now called _____Trafalgar Square and it ____ heart of ___city.

THE PRONOUN