So Nice To Meet You!
I am Maria, a Montessori play-based learning and education expert, homeschooler and a busy expat-mom of 3 tri-lingual children.
I support families around the globe to raise their child in more than one language and to build the competencies of their nanny/ au pair to engage children in meaningful and educative play.
With Montessori play-based learning methods. Simple, fun and effective.
You would like your children to naturally become fluent in more than one language – either because you speak several languages in your family, you live abroad, or your child goes to a bilingual school? Do you have a great nanny/ au pair and would like her to engage your child in more meaningful play?
As a mom of 3 multilingual children between the age of 0 and 9 years old, and living since more than ten years in different African and Asian countries, I know exactly how challenging it can be to raise your child in more than one language and to access quality educational activities.
Let me take you on our play-based learning and language journey. With a lot of play, some perseverance and lots of funny memories, my kids are by now fluent in English, French and German and learned Vietnamese with our Nanny.
You thought it would be easy to raise creative little global citizens.
You thought your nanny would naturally know how to engage your child in meaningful play.
But now you are feeling a bit overwhelmed and unclear how to best raise your child with multiple languages and cultures?
You would like your child to be able to speak, read and write in your (home) language(s), but you are not sure how to do that without putting additional pressure on your child.
Would you like your child to learn with fun and ease? To be motivated and not pressured and to spend more quality time as a family?
I am here to guide, support and inspire you.
Learning does not have to be a struggle.
Children naturally learn when it is interesting and relevant.
Imagine your child wanting to learn with curiosity and enthusiasm.
Imagine your child playing with focus and creativity on his own without asking for a screen.
Imagine, being able to support your child´s language development as you wish despite your doubts, your busy schedule and with limited resources.
How do I know how it can work? Because I was exactly where you are – being a busy parent living in Africa and Asia and wanting my children to grow up with different languages and without screens, and to spend quality time together without getting stuck in power struggles and spending a fortune on private lessons and activities.
As we started our journey of Montessori homeschooling with Covid19 lockdowns, I developed a Montessori-based curriculum for my children that allows them to play and learn in 3 languages using simple home-made Montessori activities, arts and crafts and music.
With three children and very limited time to prepare, I only use what we have around our house, mostly recycled and natural materials.
I truly believe that learning and play are mutually reinforcing each other.
Let me show you how you can make learning in more than one language easy and fun – without lots of materials and time.
There is not one learning strategy that works for everyone.
When my first son was born, we used to live in Benin and I was asking myself how we could manage French and German at home. I read several books and still felt unsecure. 10 months later we moved to Ethiopia, and suddenly we had four languages. Things got much more complex.
Today, French is still our family language, my husband speaks French to the kids and I speak German. English is their ‘school’- language and now Vietnamese is the community language.
At the same time, our children had multiple nannies as we moved from one country to another. To get them onboard with our educational style and homeschooling is an ongoing journey.
There is not one strategy that works for everyone. But there are play-based learning methods that you can adapt to your context and situation.
Growing up with different cultures and languages
is such a gift. But let’s be honest – it can be a very bumpy road.
We had to think and rethink over and over again how we best transmit our languages and how to manage life between different cultures. There were moments when we felt one of the languages was getting left behind. There are moments when my husband feels left out when we are having discussions in German. There are moments when learning to write in French feels like an impossible endeavor. There are moments when we are deeply frustrated with our nannies.
But then, there are the moments, when your toddler starts speaking in one language to you, then turns the head to his dead and continues in the other language; when the children are creating birthday invitation cards to their friends in three different languages; when you see your nanny coming up with an amazing new activity you did not expect.
My mission is to support you to best support your child’s development, to see them naturally growing up with several languages and to become confident, creative and happy global citizens.
This is what we can achieve together
You learn how to
easily bring play and creativity into your home with limited time and resources and without your child asking for screen-time.
We develop your language approach
so you can support your child through play to naturally speak, read and write in more than one language with confidence and without stress and pressure.
You discover
how you can get your nanny on board to engage your child in meaningful play and to use positive education methods.
I show you
how you and your nanny can create simple and powerful Montessori play-based activities that foster creativity, language development and school readiness, but most importantly fill children with a love for learning.
We work together to
make learning fun and interesting, as part of a child´s natural development process and not something abstract and constraining.
I am happy to share my proven strategies, tips and Montessori play-based activities so that your child becomes a happy multilingual learner and curious global citizens.
We’ll take it step-by-step wherever you currently are.
The best time to start with play-based learning is at birth.
The second-best time is now.
Let´s hop on a 30min free orientation call
and see how I can best support you
But there is more to Abracadabra Creative Learning ….
The idea for Abracadabra Creative Learning was born when we stayed in a small village near Lalibela in Northern Ethiopia. My vision is for children to have access to play-based learning opportunities independently of their background, to make learning more fun and effective and to prepare them for a better future in an ever more complex world.
This is why my team and myself offer pro-bono teacher trainings in various developing and emerging countries, such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, etc. .
10 Fun Facts about me
- I love being in nature and walking in the forest is one of the things I miss most since living abroad.
- As a child I used to learn Russian `just out of fun´ before leaving for school.
- Our kids have never seen snow, although they lived in and travelled to more than 15 different countries.
- I love the idea of simple life and to make things by myself rather than buying them. There always is a big box with recycled materials in our kitchen.
- Music is an important part of my life and I have been singing in different choirs in each of our different locations.
- People would probably say I am very structured and will always find ways to make things more efficient.
- We are a no-screen family and my kids spend a lot of time playing with leaves, sticks and stones. A big exception is the `Sendung mit der Maus´, a German educative TV show, I already watched as a child and still enjoy watching with the kids today.
- Meditation is one of the things that help me to keep my focus and sanity in all our daily chaos.
- I love learning languages and have learnt (or tried at least to learn) besides English and French, also Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Amharic and Vietnamese.
- My dream has always been to travel the world – now we are five and still enjoying very much to discover different cultures, ways of thinking, ways of eating, and ways of playing.
