Special teaching method

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 10

Special teaching method

A method of teaching which allows children to develop at their own speed and makes learning a pleasure has become almost a way of life for Miss Elizabeth Hainstock, an advocate of the Montessori method of education. “It is a method in which the children learn by doing, (teaching themselves,” said Miss Hainstock, of the United: i States, who is visiting Chnst- ) church. Young children yvere eager Ito learn and the Montessori ! method took advantage of this. The learning yvas gradual, from an early age. alloyv!ing the child to develop as an (individual. I The method was named (after Dr Maria Montessori, jyy'ho yvorked yvith intellecjtually handicapped and illiterlate children more than 65 (years ago. Her method of education was so successful that it yvas adopted world wide, and is used for al! tvpes of children, regardless of culture. ability, or social background,

It emphasises the potential of the young child, and develops that potential by using trained teachers and special teaching materials. The child’s natural curiosity is channelled into a learning experience that he enjoys, and he is taught to respect his : fellows and the material he yvorks with. I Miss Hainstock said the (method yvas flexible to suit the children, and applied in the home as well as in the classroom. The commonsense approach gave the children a sense of order and discipline, yvhich they needed. The teacher was a guide and a director rather than a teacher. Rapport yvas built up benveen the child and the parents. In later years yvhen the child was hat'ing difficulties, he was able to talk to his parents and share his problems through the link established years earlier. ‘HORRIFIED’ Miss Hainstock has been involved with the Montessori method of education for 15 ‘years. When she left univer-

sitv to become a teacher, she yvas “horrified” with the usual system of education, and. after reading about the revival of the Montessori method in the United States, got caught up in it. She is the author of the. book “Montessori in the Home—the Pre-School Years and the School Years,” and has taught in Montessori schools and helped with programmes for culturally deprived children. She now lectures to parents and teachers iin and around Palo Alto, California, yvhere she lives with her husband, an airline pilot, and their three daughters aged 13, 11, and nine. Miss Hainstock and her husband yvere brought to New Zealand by a group of New Plymouth parents interested in starting a Montessori school. They have been "amazed and delighted” at the enthusiastic response from the crowds yvhich ha\» attended 'he lectures in several cities Miss Hainstock will speak in the Knox Church Lounge, Bealev Aye« i cue, tonight at S pm.