培养高文化素质的孩子：小树苗和小状元蒙特梭利双语幼儿园

蒙特梭利是最好的培养儿童独立思考，注重内心发展和社会认识的教育方法再加上双语教育，帮助孩子认识一个不同的文化，了解一个不同的语言，这样的孩子长大了就会成为国际公民。他们的知识和活动范围是没有国界的。...

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培养高文化素质的孩子：

小树苗和小状元蒙特梭利双语幼儿园

Raising the culturally competent children:

Little Tree Montessori and Growing Tree Learning Center

小树苗和小状元蒙特梭利双语幼儿园是2004年建校的。现有校舍6所，800名学生。

从多年的教学实践中，他们发现蒙特梭利是最好的培养儿童独立思考，注重内心发展和社会认识的教育方法再加上双语教育，帮助孩子认识一个不同的文化，了解一个不同的语言，这样的孩子长大了就会成为国际公民。他们的知识和活动范围是没有国界的。

蒙特梭利教育方法注重孩子的自身个性和爱好，提倡孩子开发自己内心世界。蒙特梭利教育方法有一下几个注重点：

日常生活训练，培养孩子在幼年照顾自己和周围环境的能力。
感官训练：对于物体的形状，形态，手感，大小等能用语言表达出来已教育表达自己对周围环境的感觉。
语言：提供发音，认字，看图识字，写字等训练。提供语言丰富的故事。
数学：结合很多学习工具，让孩子自己使用算数工具，对算数，几何等有具体实物的认识。
自然：蒙特梭利教育方法注重对大自然的学习：这些学习包括接触和认识植物，动物，了解其生活规律。
五大洲：了解各个洲的地理，人文，动植物，食品，风俗，服装，音乐，节日等。
音乐：节假日的歌曲，民族歌曲等。

小树苗，小状元的第二语言为中文：每月必有的一首唐诗，认字，造句，看图识字，苗红等很多中文教育的项目。

小树苗和小状元又提供很多活动项目：每年三次的舞台演出：母亲节，圣诞节，和中国新年的演出，有着丰富的民族和传统色彩。每年庆祝中国节日，美国节日，和墨西哥节日，让孩子们了解并参与很多节日的起源和庆祝活动。

小树苗和小状元蒙特梭利双语幼儿园是湾区家长的首选。每年到11月份就额满。家长必须耐心等待。给孩子们入学最好的时间是6月份到10月份。

Established in 2004, Little Tree Bilingual Montessori Preschool and Growing Tree Learning Center have graduated about 700 students. In 2013, the Little Tree Montessori International School is established seeking to develop its focus in adding more languages and internationally geared curriculums. Today, all the Little Tree and Growing Tree schools have about 800 students. The teaching philosophy will continue to be bilingual and Montessori based.

The school has found the combination of Montessori and bilingual is the best way for early childhood education.

“We have discovered after many years of education experiences that Montessori education system is the most complete, most humane, and most able to inspire children’s curiosity and desire for learning. We hope to promote this type of education and let more and more children experience its benefits.” School founder Jerry Chen said.

Montessori education respects the children’s inner drive and curiosity. It builds skills for children to learn through exploration. In a Montessori classroom, there are rich teaching materials to explore the areas of practical life, sensorial, math, language, natural science, music, geography and culture giving the children a chance to be exposed to the many aspects of international cultures.

In the Montessori classroom, the teacher is a guide, the students are the active participants of its learning experiences. Learning in a Montessori classroom is calm, unrushed and quiet. Children can pick their own interested learning areas and explore without interruption.

Another element to best introduce in early childhood education is bilingual education which can expand the cultural aspect of early childhood learning. Many research papers and educators have discovered that exposing children to another language at a young age promotes the development of the out-of-the-box thinking. Children learn to communicate in more than language have the tendency to try to use more than one mode of communication to express themselves.

Erika Levy, Ph.D, assistant professor of speech and language pathology of Columbia University Teachers College propose that the best age for kids to learn another language is 2 or 3 years old."Kids this age are developing language skills rapidly, and they quickly absorb whatever they hear, they can learn to understand new words in two different languages at an incredibly fast rate." The ability to hear different phonetic pronunciations is sharpest before age 3, and we lose the capacity to hear and produce certain sounds if we aren't exposed to them early on, according to Francois Thibaut, director of the Language Workshop for Children, in New York City.

Growing Tree Learning Center and Little Tree Montessori International Schools celebrates many cultural holidays with the children. Students learn about history and celebrations of Chinese New Years, Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos, the Dragon Boat Festival, Moon Festival, Dawali, Thanksgiving, Christmas and many cultural holidays from different countries. Music, stories, foods, as well as arts and crafts related to these cultural events are incorporated in the curriculum so they children can experience the joy of these festivals.

Having the best combination of Montessori and bilingual educational experiences with a large base of students, Growing Tree Learning Center and Little Tree Montessori International School will have a wide reach of graduating students who will be culturally competent citizens. However, bilingual education needs to extend beyond the preschool ages. Having the Little Tree and Growing Tree experiences is a great start.