At the Centro Tecnológico Bilingüe (CTB) in Tucurú, Guatemala, Q’eqchi’ students and teachers worked with us to try the new Q’eqchi’ keyboards and interactive story workbooks. Students wrote poems, fables, and short stories in Q’eqchi’, added drawings, and used the keyboards to type the full orthography, including characters that standard keyboards ignore.

Teachers told us that this:

• increased students’ motivation and imagination
• helped children value Q’eqchi’ and improve spelling in both Q’eqchi’ and Spanish
• It is important because we are able to support our community families in school to foster the value of our students’ native Q’eqchi’ language.

Students said the project helped them “find their voice” and see Q’eqchi’ as a language for books, to learn about animals and science, and to tell stories, not only for use at home with family.

You will be able to read more about this collaboration in the “Our Languages, Our Voices, Our Future”