“You may have tangible wealth untold:
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I or you can never be.
I had a mother who read to me.”
—Strickland Gillian
Cuddling up with my mother and being read to by her is probably one of my most favorite memories of my childhood; and well past the time when I could read myself, I always enjoyed being read to by her. She was quite the storyteller and spinner of words, and I was mesmerized into listening so intently as we traveled through different lands, met the most interesting people, and engaged in any number of emotions from sad, happy, fearful, and admiration. Later, when my children were born, the first words they heard from their grandmother were Shakespeare!
With that background, it surprises me no end why books, stories, and poems are given so little importance in the curriculum of many schools today. Literature is often just a ‘filler,’ tacked on when a few minutes are left for children to go home or go out to play. Yet, if we just paused a moment here and thought about it, we would realize that literature is probably the most important part of the curriculum of any school.
“Literature entices, motivates and instructs. It opens doors to discovery and provides endless hours of adventure and enjoyment.” (Norton, 2003, p. 2)
Literature is a child’s window onto a wider world: a world of imagination and emotions; a world of situations (some familiar, some new); a world of ideas and concepts. It can be argued that, for a small child, books provide him with insight into other cultures that are beyond what he has seen in his own little life.
Maria Montessori wrote: “Reading is the entrance by means of the written language to the field of culture.” (1989, p. 95).
Children’s books are important tools to create an enriched environment. When we use the best poems and stories, with their rich language and their exploration of human experiences, we are opening so many doors for our children and filling their lives with a richness and wealth that can come from nowhere else.
When I opened my own Montessori school in Denver, Colorado, it was natural that I would fill the bookshelves with good literature. As a young child and even when doing my Masters’ in English Literature, books had transported me to different realms and exposed me to customs that were so different from any that I knew. My imagination had been nourished in more ways than one, and I wanted to ensure that every child that came to our school would have the same experience. As Maria Montessori wrote:
“If then, the true basis of imagination is a reality, and its perception is related to the exactness of observation, it is necessary to prepare children to perceive the things in their environment, exactly, in order to secure for them the material required by the imagination.” (1991, p. 254)
If the basis of creativity is knowledge and experience, then there is great value in carefully choosing literature and exposing children to the richness of their inherited culture. Literature and the child’s direct sense experiences interact in order to strengthen his grasp of the external world.
Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear is an immediate favorite with the children of our school. They are able to identify with the bear because Paddington displays many childlike characteristics. He is frequently in trouble, and his ways to hide this from people who would disapprove provides the children with squeals of laughter. When we begin this unit of study, we ensure that it is in multiple areas of the classroom. For instance, the listening corner has a book and CD for the children to hear the story on their own; puppets of Paddington and his beloved Aunt Lucy are in the dramatic play area; there are pictures to color and puzzles to complete. Since we are a bilingual school, the children hear the story read to them in Mandarin as well as English. We take this opportunity to create a material with matching cards to teach them the words for a hat, coat, and boots in Mandarin.
Within culture, more magic happens! Since Paddington Bear began his journey in Peru and arrived in England, the children learn all about Peru and England. Towards the close of the unit, they are invited to bring their very own Paddington Bears (or any other if they don’t have one) for a tea party. In very proper British style, they enjoy a cup of tea and marmalade sandwiches!
Literature plays a very strong role in helping us understand and value not only our own culture but helps us develop positive attitudes towards the culture of others as well. It certainly makes the world a much smaller place and what better time to begin to realize similarities and differences than in early childhood before any forms of prejudice set in. Our kindergartners, for example, take the stories to a whole new level when they write their own tales. Paddington Bear gets to travel to India to see the Taj Mahal and taste Indian sweets; to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower and even comes to Colorado to ski with one of them! Literature plays such an important role in nurturing and expanding their imagination. It stimulates them to write their own stories based on their experiences and inspired by what they have read.
It is important to distinguish that becoming literate does not automatically denote an entrance into “the field of culture” (Montessori, 1989, p. 85). It merely means an ability to read with skills that come from reading books (primers) that have limited vocabulary and ideas that in no way represent literature. Children need the stimulus of good stories and poems that reflect the richness of language and human experience. In The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, Bruno Bettelheim (1976), provides strong rationale for using traditional tales with children. He claims that nothing is so enriching as conventional tales to allow children to learn about human progress and how to problem solve.
“The Three Little Pigs teaches the nursery-age child in a most enjoyable and dramatic form that we must not be lazy and take things easy, for if we do, we may perish. Intelligent planning and foresight combined with hard labor will make us victorious over even our most ferocious enemy—the wolf!” (1976, pgs. 41-42)
In The Three Little Pigs, the wolf threatens, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in,” and the pig replies, “Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin.” The repetitive language appeals to children who get carried into the story, repeating the refrain. So, too, in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, where the repetition is in the chairs, bowls of porridge, beds, and the question that is asked repeatedly: Who is sitting in my chair…eating my porridge…sleeping in my bed. So the love for literature and a good story begins, and we are hopeful that this will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
At Montessori Casa International, the children enjoy stories from all over the world. They read stories on China as we celebrate Chinese New Year and learn the rituals the Chinese perform at this time of the year. Hence, it is of little surprise when they put their experiences together and make comments such as these overheard during lunch:
“I want to go to China.”
And another will add:
“To see the Great Wall. I really want to see that.”
It gets more interesting as another adds:
“I would like to go during Chinese New Year and eat some dumplings!”
It really is hard to imagine at most times that the children we are talking about are only four or five years old. Their intellectual curiosity has been awakened, and the world is already such a small place as their imagination takes them places.
We use every opportunity to expose them to different cultures often tying up the units with art history lessons. So, when studying the work of Edgar Degas, we introduce the children to a book from France, Babar the Elephant. Of literature’s most beloved elephant, author Maurice Sendak writes:
“Like an extravagant piece of poetry, the interplay between few words and many pictures, commonly called the picture book, is a difficult, exquisite, and most easily collapsible form that few have mastered…Jean de Brunhoff was a master of this form. Between 1931 and 1937 he completed a body of work that forever changed the face of the illustrated book.” (1981, p.7)
As we look at the art of Alphonse Mucha, we bring in The Little Mole, a cartoon mole created by the Czech animator Zdenek Miller. His universally appealing cuteness makes him quite a favorite in our classroom too and gives the children an opportunity to practice color recognition in Mandarin.
The choice of books available to children today has never been so varied or of such high quality in terms of text, illustration, and production. Children’s books are marvelous as a medium for carrying simple messages about the world we live in and the foibles of human character. The Tale of Peter Rabbit begins with the well-known line, “Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were—Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter.” The children identify with Peter Rabbit wanting to go into the garden so badly and sympathize with his fright as he tries unsuccessfully to flee from Mr. McGregor. Beatrix Potter’s illustrations complement the story, adding another dimension that draws the children in and develops a close relationship with Peter Rabbit.
Animal characters, such as Miffy, created by Dick Bruna, are written about things that children can understand, and situations they will face, such as going to the hospital and going to school. What appeals to the children (other than the happy endings) is the instantly recognizable Miffy with her bright colors.
Books have the ability to transport us to unknown worlds and envision people and places. Imagination takes flight as we turn the pages of a book, enabling the children to enter the inner worlds of others and, in doing so, drawing them out of their purely egocentric world. Their emotions are engaged, and as they explore and identify with a range of feelings, they gain insights into new roles and situations. Every aspect of a child’s development can be supported by the literature. It is the answer in some ways to Montessori’s constant emphasis on the need for a holistic education:
“The essential thing is for the task to arouse such interest that it engages the child’s whole personality.” (1988, p. 206) ′
References
Bettelheim, B. (1976), The Uses of Enchantment, The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Thames and Hudson, London
Montessori, M. (1988). The Absorbent Mind. Clio Press Ltd., Oxford England
Montessori, M. (1989). Education for a new world. Clio Press Ltd., Oxford, England
Montessori, M. (1991). Spontaneous Activity in Education, Clio Press Ltd., Oxford, England
Norton, D.E. (2003). Through the eyes of a child. Merrill Prentice Hall, Columbus, Ohio
Sendak, Maurice (1981). “Homage to Babar on his 50th Birthday.” introduction to Jean de Brunhoff & Laurent de Brunhoff’s Babar’s Anniversary Album. Random House
Punum Bhatia, Ph.D. was inspired by Dr. Maria Montessori’s philosophy to dedicate her life to Montessori education as a parent, teacher, and teacher educator for nearly thirty years. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature; earned Masters’ degrees in English Literature and Education from the University of Calcutta; and completed a certificate diploma in Montessori Pedagogy. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Colorado Denver in 2012 for her work on the Self-Efficacy of Montessori teachers. In her efforts to understand children and the environments necessary for them to grow and flourish, Punum focuses on Montessori’s original philosophy and techniques. After teaching the Montessori method to cohorts all around the world, she is now the proud owner of her very own bilingual preschool.
(www.mcidenver.edu/www.punumbhatia.com)
Montessori Leadership/ April 2018 / Pg 18
