top of page
Teacher Helping Student

About Bilingual Montessori

Building Strong
Bilingual Montessori Programs

About
The Team

Project Background

The Bilingual Montessori Project was born out of a necessity to build a community of Montessori educators educating in more than one language in their schools. Co-Founders, Marikay McCabe and Mirka Vlčková, saw the need for a virtual home where practical advice, sound knowledge and training opportunities could be shared. Currently, we are an international group of experts, led by Marikay McCabe, who have forged bilingual school programs that respect student autonomy in different parts of Europe over the last 15 years. We are fortunate to rely on the expertise of two school founders, Lucy Welsted and Maria Smirnova, a second language acquisition specialist Lucie Urbančíková, as well as a university professor Dr. Aoife Ahern who specialises in EAL instruction in multilingual settings. Project Manager Amy Tobias and our Erasmus expert Plamena Kovela have provided critical support with technical aspects moving our work forward. While many of our insights come from our experience in Montessori education we believe that they are applicable to professionals involved in a wide range of kindred educational programs.

Meet the Team

Miroslava Vlčková
Miroslava Vlčková

Founding Partner

Miroslava Vlčková is the founder of Montessori Schools Andílek, a Czech Montessori program for children from 15 months to 15 years, currently undergoing a transition to bilingual instruction. Miroslava also founded Montessori Institute Prague, an AMI training centre in the Czech Republic.
Aoife Ahern
Aoife Ahern

Collaborator

Aoife Ahern is a Professor of Languages Education at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. She is a bilingual education expert and teacher educator in the area of second language learning. Aoife Ahern has published a range of research studies, articles and books related to pragmatics, language acquisition, second language teaching and learning, and bilingual literacy instruction.
Lucy Welsted
Lucy Welsted

Project Partner

Lucy Welsted is the founder and Director of Montessori Cordoba International School and The Education for Life Group. She founded her first Montessori programme in 2013 and The Education for Life Group in 2017. She led the creation of the Montessori Cordoba school's bilingual programme from the Infant Community to the Elementary environments. She is a qualified international elementary school teacher, has undertaken school leadership training with the Whole School Leadership Institute and is a representative of NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) on their international school accreditation visits. She has also taken AMI training for elementary and adolescents.
Marikay McCabe
Marikay McCabe

Founding Partner

Marikay McCabe founded Madrid Montessori School in 2006 and was its Director until 2017. In 2018 she established Learning Ecologies to continue supporting educators as a school consultant and as seminar faciliator. In 2020 she co-founded the Bilingual Montessori initiative in order to offer a virtual home for educators working in bi/multilingual schools and is now excited to give this work more attention with the support of the Erasmus + grant. ​ ​
Amy Tobias
Amy Tobias

Project Manager

Amy Tobias has worked in Montessori education since 1989 in various roles with comprehensive experience as an elementary classroom guide and most recently as an Elementary Coordinator for a bilingual program in Europe. Her experience as a coordinator was focused on building a strong bilingual program in a Montessori setting. She is currently the project manager for the Bilingual Montessori Erasmus+ project.
Laura Cassidy
Laura Cassidy

Collaborator

Laura Cassidy, currently the Curriculum Coordinator and Upper Elementary Guide at Montessori Cordoba International School in Spain, discovered her passion for autonomous learning through Montessori education. Originating from Scotland, she began her career as an English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher in Spain, later contributing to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) training and resources at Edinburgh Council. She has joined the project to contribute to the writing of our Field Guide.
Lucie Urbančíková
Lucie Urbančíková

Collaborator

Lucie Urbančíková has been involved in teaching English as a foreign language since 2003. Throughout her teaching career, she has explored many aspects of language teaching and learning. She has been involved in Montessori since 2010. She has been an English teacher and foreign language coordinator at Montessori School Andílek in Prague, Czech Republic, since 2018.
Maria Smirnova
Maria Smirnova

Project Partner

Maria has worked in Montessori education for more than a decade. She has been a founder and director of three bilingual Montessori schools near Paris and is a 3-6 and 6-12 AMI trained guide. Maria also graduated from the Whole School Leadership Institute, USA.
Plamena Koleva
Plamena Koleva

Erasmus+ Advisor

Plamena Koleva is part of the Montessori Institute Prague team as a Course Administrator and actively involved in the Grant Writing team. She has extensive experience in coordinating projects. She is passionate about bilingual programs, however she works simultaneously on creating guidelines on building key competencies in Montessori elementary classrooms with colleagues from Lithuania and Slovakia. Plamena is an educational enthusiast and in love with Montessori education since 2015. She supports Bilingual Montessori as an Erasmus advisor.
bottom of page