My Story

Hi, my name is Anna (Luan) Zhao, and I’m the creator of and the lead teacher at Banna Montessori School. My husband Ba (hence the name Banna) and I, and our son Jake live in Lake Stevens, WA, USA.

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I graduated from UBC (Vancouver BC, Canada) with a master’s degree in Adult Learning and Education in 2016. After working over 15 years in the field of adult education, I felt that I needed to embark on a different career path since it couldn’t inspire me anymore. In another word, I was looking for a way to make a more meaningful impact in the field of education.

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My son went to a Montessori school when he was 3 years old, and I was quite fascinated by the classroom and the method back then. After some soul searching, I decided to take the AMI (about AMI) Assistant to Infancy (Birth-3) Diploma course offered by Montessori Training Center of BC in 2019.

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After working at a few so-called Montessori schools, I got really frustrated because the lack of qualified Montessori teachers and properly prepared environment actually did a disservice to children’s development. It was very hard for me to see. Finally, the decision was made to open my own school, and Banna Montessori School was born in our lovely home in 2022, where I can practice the Montessori method and set up authentic Montessori environment for children from birth to 3 years of age, which is the most important 3 years of one’s life.

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I believe that taking the Montessori A to I course and working with children has helped me rediscover the joy of life and transformed who I was. It is a privilege to prepare the environment for children and walk with them on their journey to becoming wonderful human beings.