Reading and Writing with Children in Second Languages
A Montessori perspective on literacy in Elementary
Children learning in a second language often reach a confusing point.
They understand the topic, speak with confidence, and may already read fluently in their first language, yet reading and writing in the second language feels slow, fragmented, or frustrating.
This is a common experience in Montessori Elementary classrooms, especially in bilingual or multilingual environments.
This episode is especially useful for Montessori Elementary (6–12) guides working in bilingual or multilingual environments.
In this podcast conversation, Mariann Manhertz, a Montessori Elementary guide in Prague, speaks with Aoife Ahern, an Irish linguist and university lecturer based in Madrid, about what helps children move from isolated skills to real comprehension and more confident writing in a second language.
A conversation on second-language literacy in Montessori
This podcast conversation explores why reading and writing in a second language often becomes difficult, and what helps children truly understand texts. It focuses on meaning, context, and the role of deep reading in Montessori Elementary classrooms.
Why reading and writing in a second language is challenging
Second-language literacy is often taught through isolated skills: vocabulary lists, phonics, grammar exercises, or short sentences taken out of context.
While these elements matter, they are not enough on their own.
Reading is not only decoding, and writing is not copying.
When children focus on individual words without understanding the meaning of the whole text, comprehension suffers, and writing quickly becomes mechanical or avoided altogether.
What is often missing is context, purpose, and meaning.
Language has purpose. Texts have structure.
Every text is written to do something.
A recipe gives instructions.
A scientific explanation shows cause and effect.
A narrative tells a story.
When children understand why a text is written and how it is organised, reading becomes easier and writing becomes possible. This idea lies at the heart of genre-based literacy, which links language learning to communicative purpose rather than isolated rules.
For children learning in a second language, this clarity is especially important.
Reading deeply before writing
Writing develops best when it grows out of reading.
When children work with a whole text, they can:
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understand the message,
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notice patterns in language,
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see how ideas are organised.
This process, often described as deep reading, goes beyond decoding to include understanding, inference, and interpretation. From this place, writing becomes meaningful rather than forced.
Experience before text: a Montessori foundation
In Montessori education, learning begins with experience, and literacy is no exception.
Before reading and writing in a second language, children benefit from:
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shared experiences,
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rich oral language,
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and vocabulary connected to real work.
When children live the content first, texts make sense.
This preparation also helps create a level playing field in multilingual classrooms, supporting children with different language backgrounds equally.
What this means for Montessori Elementary
Second-language literacy does not require a separate programme.
It can grow naturally out of:
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Cosmic Education,
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project work,
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science, geography, and cultural studies,
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and meaningful classroom experiences.
When oral language, reading, and writing are connected through purpose and context, literacy becomes part of the life of the classroom, not an isolated subject.
Learn more: practical classroom application
In the workshop, Mariann and Aoife take these ideas from the conversation and show how they look in practice, with a clear step-by-step sequence you can adapt for your Montessori Elementary classroom, including concrete text examples and writing outcomes. If you would like to explore the full session, you can find details here, including how to attend live or access the recording.
