Montessori December Activities

Newly completed Montessori Room at Hsa Mu Htaw School, Mae Sot, Thailand

Happy New Year!

On an early crisp morning in late December, we made another trip to Mae Sot. After long months of preparation, our goal of starting a pilot Montessori pilot project for Burmese migrant students in Mae Sot finally came to fruition.

We spent the last week of 2011 conducting a Montessori Basic Training at Hsa Mu Htaw School (HMT). Together with the school's teachers, we discussed and practiced the Montessori Method and philosophy (To see YouTube footage from the training, click here ). The participants shared their great enthusiasm by asking a lot of questions and exploring their new understanding of Montessori education.

We greeted the new year of 2012 with our scissors and glue as we began a material making workshop at HMT (for photos click here). All of the participants worked diligently; hence, we completed producing the planned teaching materials pieces in just three days! This gave the participants an ample opportunity to practice with the newly-made materials in all curriculum areas. Our new Burmese sandpaper letters are one such example.

The amazing part came when we had to name all the Montessori materials in Burmese language. The Pink Tower was referred to as ‘Pam-yaung-mial-sen’….. . We quickly realized language would not hinder the Burmese children and community from learning the Montessori method, for we totally believe Dr. Maria Montessori 's texts can be represented by any style and tone of voice to reflect her original version. It was such a fulfilling moment and now we are excited to start our “real” work with the children in this new environment!

Another View of the HMT Montessori Room

Ooops! …we forgot to mention: the food at Hsa Mu Htaw was DELICIOUS!  :-)