Listing of AMI 'Communications' 

Contents

First Assembly of Educateurs sans Frontières
July-August, 1999
A Concise Overview

The Century of the Child

70 Years of AMI

A Birthday Celebration in Denmark
Renilde Montessori

The Child's Environment
Maria Montessori

Changes to the Board

Question and Answer

Announcements

Membership Fees

 Listing of AMI 'Communications' 

Highlights from Communications 1999/4

From '70 Years of AMI' - (article giving historical background information on the 'birth' of AMI in 1929)

"By 1929 Dr. Montessori had gained so much international fame that she had to travel incognito to Denmark and the interest in her findings had called for a separate Montessori course within the structure of the Conference of the New Education Fellowship. While the list of speakers was formidable and featured many names of well-known experts in the fields of education, philosophy and psychology from all corners of the world, three names were given extra prominence in the programme. One of these was Dr. Montessori's, together with those of Tagore, Indian poet, philosopher, musician, writer, educator, Nobel laureate (1861-1941) and children's art innovator Professor Franz Cizek from Austria, who had rallied a great following in the Anglo-Saxon world. Other speakers included Dr. Ferrière, Dr. Elisabeth Rotten and Professor Jean Piaget.

Dr. Montessori gave no less than five public lectures. They were: 'The Adult and the Child', 'The Teacher's Task', 'The Child's Environment', 'Geometry' and 'Psychological Principles in Education'.

Other lectures on the Montessori Method were given by Mr. Claude Claremont, Mrs. R. Joosten-Chotzen, Mrs. M. Marstrand, Miss L. Roubiczek and Miss C.W. Tromp."

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'The Child's Environment' lecture delivered by Maria Montessori in 1929 at the Vth International Conference of the New Education Fellowship in 1929 - the time and place when the Association Montessori Internationale was conceived.

"In a modern city one might exclaim: "But where are the children?" The schools are larger than the houses. They are like hospitals or prisons."

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From 'A Birthday Celebration In Denmark': Renilde Montessori reporting on a special function organised by the Danish Montessori Institute, dedicated its annual workshop held in Elsinore to the commemoration of the foundation of AMI ,70 years ago.

"On Sunday October 31, a tour of Kronborg Castle and a 'Danish Lunch' rounded off the historic event. In 1929, Kronborg Castle was home to the Fifth International Conference of the New Education Fellowship and the first International Montessori Congress. It was moving to stand in the immense ballroom (62 x 11m) and realise that Maria Montessori spoke there on the eve of the foundation of AMI, the organisation that was to carry on her work."

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From 'Impressions Educateurs sans Frontières'

"When Montessori principles are applied in the wider context of society, their possibilities are vast and all-encompassing. They can be of incalculable help to parents, social workers, child-care workers, family counsellors, in short, to any person involved with the developing human being; they can be and have been applied with children undergoing lengthy hospitalisation, maladjusted children, physically impaired children, children victims of violence, children abandoned, and children at risk."
Renilde Montessori, 1998

This issue of Communications features a special section dedicated to Educateurs sans Frontières. The contents are as follows:

• Educateurs sans Frontières 1999, Renilde Montessori
• A Pictorial Focus on AMI's Historical Links with the Villa Montesca
• Official Opening
• The Programme
• Spotlight on the Speakers
• Reflections on the First Assembly, Muriel W. Adcock
• Impressions
• The Participants
• Educateurs sans Frontières 'at work'
• Chief Seattle's 1854 Speech
• Educateurs sans Frontières 'at play'
• Pictures from the Farewell Evening
• Farewell Evening

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From 'Question and Answer'

"It is a question that arises again and again: Why do we give the children the cursive alphabet rather than printed letters?

Maria Montessori very deliberately presented the children in San Lorenzo with the cursive alphabet. Experience over many decades, in many countries and societies, has shown that the cursive letters are preferable for several reasons.

Perhaps the most striking of these is that children who, from the beginning, learned to write with the cursive alphabet were able to spontaneously read any type of script."