Montessori Summer Art/Language Program

from Teresa Chocano

Students enjoying the Dual Language Summer School at Montessori

For the past 16 summers, the Montessori classroom gets transformed into an environment where Spanish songs and basic Spanish vocabulary fill the air, where children 4-8 years old spend time exploring a variety of art materials, cooking and enjoying the bounty of the garden.

Their love of the Spanish language having been kindled during this experience as young children, students from the original class graduate from high school and come back to visit and help. The founders of the program wanted to expand the experiences of young children on Orcas Island to include exposure to another culture. Responding to the changing needs of the community, the program has changed to become a Spanish/English dual language experience for the past 5 years.

Sponsored by grants over the years from the Community Foundation and the United Way, the dual language summer program provides scholarships and serves English language learners and their families during a critical stage of their educational development. Many of these families are challenged by their lack of English literacy. By helping these children develop their skills in English and literacy, we help prepare and support the entire family in their elementary school experience.

The program offers benefits to English speakers as well. In addition to being introduced to the basics of the Spanish language, we provide an opportunity for these students to experience and develop respect for what it is like to learn another language (something that their ELL classmates are doing) and learn about other classmates’ culture through songs, stories, art and cooking.