The Hundred Languages Of Children

No way. The hundred is there. The child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking. a hundred, always a hundred ways of listening of marveling, of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream. The child has a hundred languages (and a hundred hundred hundred more) but they steal ninety-nine. The school and the culture separate the head from the body. They tell the child to think without hands to do without head to listen and not to speak to understand without joy to love and to marvel only at Easter and Christmas. They tell the child to discover the world already there and of the hundred they steal ninety-nine. They tell the child that work and play reality and fantasy science and imagination sky and earth reason and dream are things that do not belong together. And thus they tell the child that the hundred is not there. The child says “No way- The hundred is there.”

Loris Malaguzzi Founder

Why do we study the Reggio Emila approach?

• In today’s world, we believe in the importance of nding innovation in education.

• An education that evolves and offers quality for children, teachers and parents, where children are recognized as individuals and as constructors of their own knowledge.

• We believe in the importance of investing in professional development as a school.

• Creating a dialogue with the community and other educators from the United States and the world, is essential to the goals of our school and to the research of quality in early childhood education.

“Reggio Emilia is a small city in northern Italy that shines with a bright light for what it has accomplished and what it stands for in the eld of education. For the past 30 years, educators, working together with parents and citizens, have built a public system of child care and education long recognized as a center of innovation in Europe, and now increasingly recognized as a point of reference and a resource and inspiration to educators in the United States and throughout the world.” 1 ( .... )

ReggioEmilia

“The city-run educational system for young children originated here in schools started by parents; literally groups of parents built them with their own hands at the end of World War II. The rst school was built with proceeds from the sale of a tank, some trucks and a few horses left behind by the retreating German army. Such participation by parents has along remained an essential part of the way of working on education in the city. Right from the start Loris Malaguzzi, then a young teacher, guided and directed the energies of those parents, later preparing teachers and becoming an educational leader not just in his hometown but also on the national scene. “ 2

“Young children are encouraged to explore their environment and express themselves through all of their available “expressive, communicative, and cognitive languages,” whether they be words, movement, drawing, painting, building, sculpture, shadow play, collage, dramatic play, or music, to name a few.” 3

“ ... the schools of Reggio Emilia themselves: schools in which the minds, bodies, and spirits of young children are treated with outmost seriousness and respect. At the same time these young persons experience pleasure, fun, beauty, and extensive learning.” 4