McClurkin Trains 45 Trainers in China

By Sharlet J. McClurkin

In January, Montessori Teacher Preparation of Washington provided its first full Montessori training course in China.

The course in Beijing was sponsored by the Montessori Institute of America (MIA).

Having been away from Beijing for 10 years, I was amazed at the wide thoroughfares, street lights, skyscrapers and modern look of the city. Even more surprising were the English-speaking taxi drivers and packed supermarkets. Are all of these people “techies?” Where do they get their money to buy such a variety of fruits and vegetables and anything else a person might want in a modern city? They certainly are not teachers.

Our five-week course was held in the ballet classroom, across the courtyard from eight “first-stage” Montessori classrooms on the grounds of the Agricultural and Scientific Academy Kindergarten of China. It was sponsored by the Beijing Montessori Education Technology Center (BMETC), directed by Madame Anhua Lv and Shuquan Lu.

Mr. Lu is the publisher of a Montessori magazine in China. Madame Lv and Mr. Lu provide three levels of non-accredited Montessori training to more than 1,000 teachers each year: Course I, Introductory; Course II, Intermediate; and Course III, Advanced.

By taking Course I, an individual may become certified by BMETC as an assistant Montessori teacher. Through Course II teachers receive certification as a lead Montessori teacher.

We provided Course III as a full course, approved and sponsored by MIA and leading to a full certificate for the level, 2-to-6 years from the Montessori Institute of America.

Forty-five teachers, professors and preschool directors arrived in Beijing from all over China for the course.

Some stayed in dorms on the university campus, others with friends or family. Many had borrowed money or quit their jobs in order to attend. A retired teacher from south China rode trains for 35 hours. A student was required by her kindergarten to pay a security deposit to assure she would return to her teaching position.

Most of the teachers had participated in a short, non-accredited training course that provided them a basic understanding of Montessori education. I could see the excitement in their eyes and their gratefulness to us for coming to China with the full MIA course.

Many of them told our interpreters, “We are happy to finally have someone fully explain the Montessori materials to us.”

To our surprise, nearly all 45 teachers came early to the optional “spiritual storytelling” lessons from 8 to 8:30 a.m. each morning. When I asked the class later, “What was your favorite part of the training?” many of the said, “The spiritual stories.”

We proceeded through the MIA curriculum from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 or 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with “bowl” testing, original projects, philosophy discussions and music and movement, through which the teachers showed their quickness to learn and creativity. Without the assistance of our interpreter and MIA graduate, John Guangli Zhang, of Richmond, B.C., Canada, and Wenru Sun, MIA graduate and trainer, from Sanya, Hainan Island, we would not have been able to accomplish setting up all of the shelves of materials, testing for the students and preparations for the next day.

We had packed four large suitcases and two carry-ons full of materials, without which we could not have conducted the course. As we were checking into the airport to fly to China, the man behind us asked, “Are you moving to China?”

Necessity was the “mother of invention” as we set up beautiful shelves of sequenced materials from a basic set of wooden materials, just delivered from a factory. Several nights we visited Wal-Mart, across the street from Microsoft, or other “supermarkets” to find art supplies and practical life materials.

The students especially loved the simple and clear math presentations of my husband, Donald, and asked for more, but we had to pack our bags and return to Seattle after two of the most inspiring, but tiring, weeks of our lives.

Jane Suchen Wang, MIA trainer from Taiwan, completed the course with large water activities, math, Chinese language, the cultural materials, and the more difficult Montessori philosophy.

The challenge now is for these students to find established Montessori classrooms or to set up classrooms for an approved internship. Mr. Lu plans to set up five to ten MIA internship schools this year within 20 kindergartens that are currently operating.

With advanced technology today, such as digital cameras, DVDs and email, the students hope to track their internship individually or in pairs and receive sufficient supervision so that they may receive their MIA certificate in a year. This class will produce the first indigenous MIA graduates in China.

On the first day of class I told the students of my dream that began in 1981 to provide a full Montessori training course in China. Since that year we have worked, and waited, to begin the course in China. We have provided training in Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, but the low salaries of teachers hindered our travel to China. Although we kept “knocking” many times in China, the door did not open until this year, 2007. Why did I have to wait so long?

According to Mr. Lu, 2007 is the year many doors are open:

• Freedom of speech is greater than ever before
• Montessori schools are blossoming across China, taught by teachers with only a minimum of training, sometimes no more than a week
• Mixed age classes are now allowed by the Chinese government
• The wages of teachers have risen to make it possible for them to take an economical course
• The affluent parents of the “one-child” policy want to invest in their child’s education.

Many of our students are now seeking a way that they can practice their English, get a student visa through our program, take the full summer course, and intern in the U.S. They have hope to provide to Chinese children a full Montessori early education.

My husband, Donald, and I have been changed and inspired by these teachers, and we will never forget them. We still see their faces. We will be back!