Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards
Yoko Y. Avramov
InterCultura Foreign Language Immersion Montessori School
Oak Park
Yoko Avramov's three- to six-year-old students quietly file in and bow in greeting as they enter their preschool classroom at the InterCultura Foreign Language Immersion Montessori School in Oak Park. Avramov only speaks Japanese in class, but her students come from a rich variety of backgrounds. Only four of the 26 students are of Japanese decent, while the other children are Latin American, European American, and African American.
Why a Japanese immersion program for primarily English speaking preschoolers? "The most important message to convey to young children is respect for one another," explains Avramov. "Teaching them a foreign language is one way to impress upon them that we are all different - we have different languages and customs. Through language immersion they begin to understand that our differences enrich us and that there is never a reason to discriminate."
Avramov firmly believes in the Montessori philosophy, which is at the core of the program. "Children are like seeds. To grow one must plant them in the fall, let them incubate in the winter, and then their spirit will bloom in the spring. One must simply make sure that they are nourished and protected and then they grow," explains Avramov.
Visitors observe that her style of teaching and positive impact on children is almost "magical". Avramov's faith in the ability of each child is boundless. Four- and five-year-olds learning four-place value addition and multiplication using concrete materials and through hands-on experience? No Problem. Observing these young children eagerly moving back and forth across the room carrying blocks that represent thousands, hundreds, and single digits, one is reminded of Dr. Maria Montessori's goal: "Our aim is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his inmost core."