SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – With a lack of tactile resources available in her area, Cherokee Nation citizen Taylor McDonald created tangible learning tools for all ages to learn the Cherokee language through her small business – Cherokee Corner.
As an at-large citizen living in the northwest Unites States, McDonald said resources to learn the language are scarce. She started her small business to help fill in the language gaps.
Cherokee Nation citizen Taylor McDonald, of Springfield, Oregon, owns and operates Cherokee Corner. It is an online store that sells Cherokee language products created by McDonald herself to combat the lack of language resources in her area.
Her flagship product is a Cherokee syllabary wooden puzzle board made to look like a syllabary chart. Each syllable is a laser cut piece that fits into a certain space on the board, like a puzzle.
McDonald said she found out she is a distant relative of Cherokee syllabary creator Sequoyah, whom she named her daughter after, so it was fitting that she started creating learning tools for Cherokee.
Two-year-old Sequoyah McDonald uses the tracing board to trace the Cherokee syllabary. Her mother, Taylor McDonald, created the tracing board as part of her online business to promote the Cherokee language.
“I was just kind of looking around and was like, wow, we have so many great learning materials for English for kids, but I really struggled to find something tactile for kids to learn Cherokee,” McDonald said.
After searching the internet for someone who could bring her ideas to fruition, she decided to take on the project herself.
A two-syllable Cherokee animal puzzle board will help language learners how to say and match the syllabary to the correct photo. For example, a-wi is Cherokee for deer.
“I bought a machine that’s a laser cutter, and I just started messing around with it and started making some puzzles,” she said. “I think something that’s kind of missing in Cherokee education is that more physical learning. We have so many puzzles for English or other games for learning English. I feel like the best way to learn a language is to get your hands on it.”
In addition to the syllabary puzzle, McDonald has other board puzzles in her online shop. She has a two-syllable animal puzzle and a three-syllable animal puzzle, both in Cherokee. She also creates home good items that reflect Cherokee culture and history including coasters, bookmarks, syllabary cutouts, a tracing board and garden markers.
McDonald had a special request from a teacher to make syllabary stamps, which she plans to add to her store in the future. She said she has a whole list of ideas to help promote the Cherokee language through her creation of tactile products.
“The more places we see the language, the better. So, I made some garden markers and that kind of started because I was given some heirloom seeds, and I’m like, hey I need to be out here in my garden saying the right names for these,” she said.
Other products in the works are more puzzle boards for names of foods and colors as well as a Cherokee version of the game Scrabble. She recently completed a special request for syllabary stamps, which she plans to add to the store as well.
“I’ve been working really hard on that, and it’s turning out pretty good, so I’m excited about it,” she said.
McDonald is president of an at-large Cherokee group called Willamette Tsa-La-Gi, and it’s how she stays connected to her Cherokee heritage and learning the language.
Garden markers using the Cherokee words for plants and vegatables are also available on cherokeecorner.com.
“I’ve been with that group for about four years and that’s been really helpful. We do meetings every month, and we bring guest speakers from Cherokee Nation,” she said. “We even started a summer language group, so that has been really helpful making my products too.”
Her hope is to create partnerships to get her products into areas so people can have more access to them than just on an online shop.
“My dream is someday to partner with the (Cherokee Nation) gift shop (in Tahlequah) and have it available more in the Cherokee Nation,” she said. “I guess my two-part dream (is) I would love to get connected with some schools in the Cherokee Nation. I’ve had a few people reach out on Facebook, so I’m definitely moving in that direction. The more hands on these items are the better, especially for the kids.”
For more information or how to order, visit cherokeecorner.com.
