Help us Build the Little School of English and Maya!

Help us Build the Little School of English and Maya!

The Republic of Corn is a small-scale ecological agricultural project located in the Mayan community of El Naranjal, Quintana Roo. We work to preserve indigenous corn from extinction by planting and protecting indigenous seeds and sharing them with other farmers.

As our project grows and our relationship to the Mayan community of Naranjal deepens, it is clear there are more ways we can serve this community while we work to protect the ancient seeds.

The people of Naranjal are bilingual, learning Spanish from an early age in the local primary school while Mayan is spoken at home and used for most affairs of daily life.

It was brought to our attention that many families of the village desire for their children to learn English but within the community there are no resources to study this language. For children of Naranjal, learning to speak English has the potential to immensely increase their access to the world for purposes of work, education, travel, and open their future to more possibilities.

At the same time, there is a growing need to preserve and cultivate greater knowledge of the indigenous Mayan language. Though nearly everyone in the community speaks Mayan, most cannot write or read it. Increasing understanding of how to read, write, and speak Mayan can help protect this language from gradual extinction and cultivate more Mayan speakers, readers, and writers.

To address these needs, we are building a classroom on our land to offer English and Mayan studies to the children of Naranjal ages of 6-12 and youth ages 13-20. La Escuelita de Anglais y Maya will offer regular English and Mayan classes to children and youth in the community free of charge. English classes will begin with basics of the language and will increase in complexity as comprehension grows. Mayan classes will be taught by a qualified local Mayan woman and will function to increase reading and writing abilities of the language, as well as a tool to help preserve the Mayan language and culture.

The funds we are raising will be utilized as follows:

$2,000- Construction of a palapa classroom sufficient to hold up to 20 students, including the purchase of raw materials from the surrounding jungle, and fair salaries of local Mayan people to help us build it.

$500- Comprehensive training of two teachers to teach English as a foreign language, and the beginning salary for a local Mayan teacher (English classes will be taught on a volunteer basis).

$500- Basic school supplies to be provided to students free of charge, children’s books in both English and Maya to create a small library, and other materials necessary to create an effective learning space (chalkboard, tables, art supplies, etc.).

Any funds raised upwards of our goal will go towards sustaining the salary of our Mayan teacher and the provision of other unforeseen necesites for the little school.

For more on our work and to follow the progress of La Escuelita once funds are raised, follow our instagram @therepublicofcorn and visit www.therepublicofcorn.com.