Montessori Society AMI (UK)
The Annual General Meeting of the Montessori Society AMI (UK)
will take place on Thursday 23rd November 2023, online at 7.30pm
followed by
'Language for Humanity'
We are delighted to announce AMI trainer in training, Siobhán Shields as our speaker this year. Siobhán is a Montessori parent, teacher, lecturer and AMI examiner with over 30 years of experience in Montessori education. Initially, Siobhan taught elementary children before moving to work in the early years sector. She opened her own Children's House in Ireland, which she successfully ran for twelve years before returning to London to start the AMI Training of Trainers programme. Siobhán has served as a trainer and examiner for adults, has worked as a mentor and assessor for ME(UK) and was a board member of the Irish Montessori education board (IMEB).
In The 1946 London Lectures, Dr. Montessori reminds us that language is a phenomenon created by humans to traverse society. She says:
“Because language does not exist in nature; it is a product of man…… created by humanity through a long period of civilization. The language of the environment, say London, into which a child is born, is a very complicated one; it includes ‘bombs’, ‘reconstruction’, ‘town planning’, etc., all very new ideas and special to his particular surroundings.”
We can recognise post-war London from Montessori’s description and wonder what new and special ideas form the basis of language for children in the UK today?
Siobhán will refresh and guide us on the immense power of stories, poems and songs to help children navigate the changing world and be agents for civilisation.
© Montessori Society AMI (UK)
