From December 1-16, 2009, Lee Havis, IMS executive director, conducted a series of workshops and seminars in Malaysia to present the basic skills and technology of true natural Montessori teaching. Sponsored in conjunction with SuccessMarks (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), this recent series of learning events follows up Lee’s prior visit to Malaysia in May, 2009, where he participated in the International Montessori Convention held at that time.

The latest visit featured two two-day workshops, December 5-6 and December 12-13, to present the unique IMS technology of Montessori teaching. The second workshop focused especially on the application of this technology with special needs children.

The workshop presentations featured special “objective observation” exercises to help participants clarify the basic distinction between “being” and “adult personality”. Lee stated, “This distinction of being is critical to effectively controlling the adult personality, which is always the core psychological problem in any misbehavior situation with children. It is vital for creating the right context that allows the technology to work as intended.”

Workshop participants showed particular concern about the issue of giving moral instruction to children. On this subject, Lee emphasized, “Children learn ‘right from wrong’ by what they see in our behavior, rather than what we say. True natural Montessori teaching, applying such techniques as distraction and clear direction, allows children to ultimately express the perfect goodness of their own inner guidance of nature. Deviating from this path, however, such as by giving conventional moral instruction, imposes a significant detrimental influence of the adult personality, making children dependent on external authority, rather than on their normal self-directed way of being.”

Besides the workshops, Lee conducted several seminars to describe the basic elements of Montessori technology to professional educators. One seminar was conducted for a group of government preschool teachers and trainers at the Regency Hotel in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Another one was held in conjunction with the Department of Education at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) . This university plays a major role in training teachers for schools throughout the entire country.

Lee also visited several schools and centers for young children in Malaysia to discuss Montessori teaching and answer questions from parents and teachers. At times, he also actively demonstrated the use of IMS technology with children in various real-life practical situations.

IMS hopes to team up again with SuccessMarks to conduct another major International Montessori convention in Malaysia in 2010. Lee indicated his particular satisfaction with the continuing support of so many educators in Malaysia who are developing a deeper awareness of true natural Montessori teaching through these various learning events.