環(huán)球英語 — 460：Teaching in a New Way
Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Ryan Geertsma.
Voice 2
And I’m Ruby Jones. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
The little girl was three years old. She was using all her effort to concentrate. She sat in front of a few containers. Each container had a different size opening. She held a few round tubes in her hands. The size of each tube was the same size as the opening of one of the containers. She was concentrating on placing the right tube in the right container.
Voice 2
The little girl’s teacher decided to test the girl’s concentration. Would the girl stop if she moved the girl? The teacher lifted the girl and the chair she sat in. Then she placed her on a small table. The little girl did not look up. She moved the containers to her knees. She continued to work.
Voice 1
The little girl’s teacher was Maria Montessori. She was a teacher who influenced change in teaching methods. Today, her influence can be seen in classes all over the world.
Voice 2
Maria was not always a teacher. She was born in Chiaravalle, Italy in 1870. When Maria was twelve years old, her family moved to Rome. There, she received a good education. Her parents wanted her to become a teacher. But she wanted to be a doctor. In 1890 she went to the University of Rome to study medicine. And she became the first female doctor in Italy. As a doctor, she worked mostly with children.
Voice 1
Some of these children did not perform well in school. People considered them stupid. School authorities claimed they had mental problems. So, families and teachers sent these children away to medical centres. But Maria saw they still had a natural desire to learn. She did not believe the children had medical problems. Instead, she said the problem was in the school and teaching methods. She did not think they served a child’s way of learning. She explained her ideas this way.
Voice 3
“Suppose I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, and no–one studied. And yet the people – doing nothing but living and walking about – came to know all things, to carry in their mind the whole of learning: would you think I was imagining? Well, this, which seems so imaginary, is a reality. It is the child’s way of learning. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it.”
Voice 2
Montessori wanted to see all children learn and succeed. She was also very interested in social reform. She wanted to see schools and teaching methods change. She wanted education to support how children learned most naturally.
Voice 1
By 1899, Montessori was doing very little work as a doctor. Instead, she spent most of her time studying education. She read about the ideas of other people who wanted to reform education too. And she spent lots of time watching and observing children learn.
Voice 2
Maria observed that when children wanted to learn, they did. If a child has an interest in something, he will search for ways to learn about it until he is satisfied. She also noticed that often children did this learning with their hands. Just like the little girl in the beginning of our program with her containers and tubes.
Voice 1
Maria formed a theory from her observations of the children. She believed that a child would work or play with something until the child has satisfied her desire to learn about it. So Maria developed a method of education based on her theory. And she developed special materials from watching children learn naturally. She designed each material to develop a particular skill.
Voice 2
In Montessori classes, the room appears very structured. Many of her special materials are present for the students to use. There is space for children to explore any subject they wish. Students can choose which materials they want to use. And they can use them for as long as they wish. However, it is important that they use the materials correctly.
Voice 1
Maria believed that a teacher’s purpose should be to create an environment for learning. Then, in that environment, a teacher should permit students to satisfy their own desire to learn. So, one student may use one set of materials for many hours. But another student may do many things in that same amount of time. In her book Discovery of the Child, Maria explains:
Voice 3
“A teacher becomes a director of the child’s own natural, unplanned work.”
Voice 2
Maria also believed that using this method would help a child develop in many areas. So, she supported using a great variety of materials in her classrooms. Children could study subjects like mathematics, science, and history. And they could study music, art, and skills for life. Montessori’s method helped children learn independently.
Voice 1
Students reacted well to Montessori’s method of teaching. Children learned to read and write at an early age. Some were even as young as three or four. Maria shared this story from one of her classes.
Voice 3
“One beautiful December day...I went up to the top of the building with the children. I said to a little five–year–old boy who sat next me, ‘Make me a picture.’ He obeyed and made a picture. When he finished, the child looked at me. He smiled and remained still. It seemed as if he was about to burst into some act of joy. And then he cried out, ‘I can write! I can write!’ He wrote on the ground in front of him “m–a–n–o”, the Italian word for hand. His cries of joy brought the other children. Two or three of them excitedly said to me, ‘Give me the chalk. I can write too!’ And they too began to write many kinds of words.”
Voice 2
Maria Montessori began to change the way many people thought about education. When she was alive, many people considered her methods strange. They thought children were too free in her classes. And they thought there was a lack of discipline – of order and control.
Voice 1
But today, her ideas are part of almost all kinds of teaching. For example, many classrooms include activities or projects in which the children can use their hands as well as their ears and eyes. Her work influenced other teachers and scientists to research more about how people learn. Now there are theories about multiple intelligences and different learning styles. Sometimes it takes an idea that is completely strange and new to change an established system for the better.
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