Flash cards

Learning Tsalagi continues to be an awesome journey. We're over halfway through summer classes with Ed Fields, and our in-person weekend with Woy' ale Ahid' was great! 

A couple of the gals and I formed a study group, and have met virtually several times. 

In the go-ge-yi (spring), I made Syllabary flash cards for the 85 characters. This writing system was crafted by Sequoyah, with a character for each syllable plus the 6 vowels and s (which indicates the sound 'ss' - or a question when at the end of a word: tsa-du-li / you want it /tsa-du-lis / do you want it?)

 

Tsalagi values

Following a recent group call, I reorganized the cards into sets following the order used in the 'Let's Learn Cherokee Syllabary' chapters. This little book was written by a speaker who learned to read and write Japanese, using a similar book to learn the kanji. Though Marc could speak Tsalagi, he couldn't read or write (i-go-li-yes-gv ale go-we-lo-di) the language, and realized how helpful a book using word association could be for those  learning Syllabary!

 

Each chapter introduces 10 of the syllables, with a little story for each. I played with laying out the first chapter review words. I'd been trying to think of an osda (good) way to use the cards, and this is cool way to practice reading and recognizing the glyphs! 

I'll store each chapter's 'set' in a small envelope or pocket. I've made lots of paper pockets in our Art/ craft circles for visual planning / organizing, so have plenty to choose from! This is a great use for old envelopes from cards or junk mail.

Chapter 1 envelope and cards 

I tucked the first Sgo-hi (10) into a pocket on my fridge, and hung 'lo' seperately with another fridge magnet. I'll watch for words that include lo, and add them to the list on the card back and in my notes. Cards can be arranged into words using the chapter reviews and class  notes or dictionaries.

'Lo'

Sue (su)'s friends invited her to a country house with a spiral Staircase. Sue needs to go low down the stairs to get to a party. 

Every time you see this picture, remember 'stairs go low.' 

(Page 10, Let's Learn Cherokee Syllabary)

I'll likely leave the first pocket on the side of the fridge when I start the second set - and may make some smaller cards for fridge magnet arrangements. (And cut up old magnetic business cards for the backings!) 

These are the tsalagi values posted above:

• Ga du gi - working together for the good of all
• Be stingy with one another, 
• hold on and don’t let go
• liken yourself to each other 
• treat each other as sacred

Do you use flash cards or other learning tools?