11 Ajaw 3 Sotz: Drawing by Jorge Pérez de Lara

Students show their work at the Ignacio Zaragoza
primary school in the community of
Macario Gómez, Tulum, Quintana Roo

11 Ajaw 3 Sotz’ (June 1, 2024)

The Children of Tulum Learn the Maya Script

The Summer is upon us, and we find ourselves in the season of graduations and the end of the teaching year. It has been a busy semester for many of us, including our Maya colleagues, who have been hard at work teaching the Maya script to their students.

This month, we hear back from Gloria Nayeli Tun Tuz who worked with 20 grade school students, ages 8-10, from the Ignacio Zaragoza Primary School in the community of Macario Gómez, located in between the ancient sites of Tulum and Cobá in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Enjoy these photos and have a wonderful summer!

Yum b’o’otik,

Michael Grofe, President
MAM

MAM Glyph Workshop Report:

Report of the hieroglyph workshop with children from the Ignacio Zaragoza primary school, in the community of Macario Gómez, Tulum Quintana Roo.

In this workshop that was taught in the aforementioned community, it was interesting to see the participation of the second grade primary school children. Despite their young age, it became easier for them to understand how the hieroglyphs are made up, and how they are used. Thanks to the support of a projector that we lent to the campus facilities, I was able to project the images so that everyone could see them at the same time what was being explained to them and they all were able to visualize them at the same time. That way it was easier to understand.

In this image we can see that the students are already identifying the syllables.

In this image we can see that the students are already
going to try to create their text with
the hieroglyph drawings.

In this image we can see that the student is
already starting to build words.

Here we can see the students’ sentences already completed. And they loved the activities we did
at first, looking for some consonants that are not
in the syllabary, and above all surprised,
because they were able to write with drawings.

Here we can see that the student already has the idea of ​​how to construct the sentences with the syllabary.

Here we can see that the student is now explaining
how the syllabary works.