Pea Pod Village, a Reggio Emilia inspired Preschool and Kindergarten, is an intimate group of 3-5 year-olds located just three blocks behind the library in Ashland, Oregon. Its premise, "value of the child," ensures that emergent curriculum is guided by each child's evolving interests. The pursuit and sharing of these experiences ultimately foster more meaningful relationships between children, teachers, parents, and community. All Reggio programs recognize that learning is not a limited process, as children can learn to think and express themselves in over 100 languages.
The Hundred Languages
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 at 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 of the Reggio Emilia approach
(translated by Lella Gandini)
