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Navigating Multilingualism: Practical Insights for Parents and Educators

Margarita Diaz

Description

Join us for an enlightening session with Margarita Diaz, a seasoned bilingual Montessori educator, as she delves into the transformative world of multilingual education. In this comprehensive talk, Margarita shares her personal journey and professional insights into the benefits of raising bilingual and multilingual children. With a focus on practical strategies for parents and educators, she explores how Montessori can foster a deep love for languages, enhance cultural empathy, and build cognitive skills. This session is a must-watch for anyone looking to support their child’s linguistic development, filled with actionable advice, engaging Q&A from our community, and a curated list of resources to empower your journey towards multilingualism.

In this video

A child who mixes languages, or answers you in the other one. Margarita Diaz talks with parents raising bilingual and multilingual children, and with teachers in bilingual classrooms, about each parent's own language at home and how she grew up learning in French and Spanish. The Q&A includes keeping a home language strong when daycare speaks another, three or more languages at home, a slow start in the school language and which language to learn to read in first.

Chapters

  1. 0:00 How Margarita Diaz grew up learning in French and Spanish
  2. 7:19 Each parent's own language, songs and reading aloud at home
  3. 13:53 Why young kids soak up languages and what it does for them
  4. 18:43 Reading in one language first, cognates and no translating
  5. 23:04 Cursive vs print and how the 90/10 school program worked
  6. 28:02 Fun ways to live the language and learning one at any age
  7. 36:17 Keeping a home language strong when daycare speaks another
  8. 41:32 When kids mix languages or reply in the other one, rephrase
  9. 47:04 One parent, one language and help for monolingual families
  10. 50:54 Three or more languages at home don't confuse children
  11. 56:33 Starting late or slow in the school language is not a delay
  12. 1:03:53 Right-to-left scripts and parents who share a third language
  13. 1:06:54 Switching languages to calm a child and making French fun
  14. 1:11:07 Which language to learn to read in first, and dyslexia

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Featuring

Margarita_Diaz

Margarita Diaz is an experienced, certified bilingual Montessori educator with a demonstrated history of working in Montessori education for more than 19 years. Margarita’s passion is to motivate educators and parents about the importance of bilingual education and the Montessori philosophy.  She is a teacher trainer at the Institute for Advanced Montessori Studies, a speaker at American Montessori Society (AMS) conferences, co-founder of AMS en Español Affinity Group, and a Montessori consultant and tutor. She is a Montessori certified Elementary I, II and Montessori coach certified from the National Center Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS).

Margarita was the first Spanish elementary teacher at a bilingual Montessori public charter school in Washington, DC, where she developed the entire 1st-5th grade dual language curriculum. Later, she assumed the role of Montessori Coach, Assistant Principal, and Director of the Elementary program.

She regularly gives conferences nationally and internationally in English and Spanish about Montessori education, with an emphasis on Dual Language Education, Peace Education, Cosmic Education, and Public Education.

Margarita speaks, reads, and writes with fluency in Spanish, French, and English, and also speaks basic Portuguese. She is a mother of two daughters and lives in Washington, DC with her husband. She enjoys running, cooking, coloring, dancing, reading, and writing.

Lucie-Tamasova-SQ2-461x461

Lucie Brixi Tamášová is first and foremost a mother of three children (and two wonderful bonus children). For more than 17 years, she has been searching for kind, practical, and research-based answers to the everyday challenges of parenting and helping make them accessible to families around the world.

She is the founder of international projects including Childhood Potential Club, Montessori Parenting, and the Childhood Potential Conference, through which she connects parents, educators, and leading child development experts from across the globe. Through her work, she promotes a respectful and conscious approach to children while helping parents navigate everyday life with greater calm, understanding, and confidence.

Alongside her international work, Lucie also leads educational projects in Kenya and Guinea through the NGO Centrum Dialog, helping provide access to quality education for children with limited opportunities. She deeply believes that conscious support of children has the power to positively shape the future of society as a whole.

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