About Na’atik
Not just a language school
Na’atik comes from the Maya expression ‘To’on na’atik’ meaning ‘We’re understanding each other’. We are a nonprofit intercultural language school located in the historic heartland of the Maya Resistance in southern Mexico offering immersive and online language programs in Spanish, Maya and English. We believe that cross-cultural exchange is the key to true understanding.
Our Mission
To teach and learn Spanish, Maya and English through authentic intercultural experiences which promote and inspire global citizenship and contribute to the sustainable development of our local community.
What we offer
We offer an intercultural hub through our Spanish and Maya language programs and our local English language program. Our Spanish and Maya programs teach through authentic language and experiences, cross-cultural activities with our local English language students, and homestays. We help students achieve their language goals and introduce them to the real Zona Maya (it’s not just ruins!).
We offer local students hevaily subsidized English classes to help them access education and career opportunities that woudl otherwise be closed to them. This program is supported by immersion student fees, online classes and donations. We also operate a scholarship program to ensure that income is no barrier to opportunity.
History
Na’atik Language and Culture Institute was founded by Catherine Gray (now dual citizen US/Mexico) and her Mexican-Maya husband Pedro Esquivel Puc in 2010.
Catherine, a Virginia native and James Madison University graduate, desired to learn Spanish and learn more about Mexico, so she traveled to Felipe Carrillo Puerto in 1996 to volunteer for a local charity. It was then that she fell in love with local-born Pedro, a history buff and Social Studies teacher at the local high school, and also took her first step into teaching English at the town’s community center: La Casa de la Cultura. Catherine and Pedro worked in South Korea and traveled around Asia before returning to Mexico where they got married on the beautiful beach of Tulum.
After teaching at the local university for ten years, Catherine started giving private English classes where she rented a house, held classes in the living room and sublet the bedroom to a friend. Demand was so great that she had to co-opt both the bedroom and the porch for class space. A decision was made: she would resign from the university and found Na’atik.
Na’atik was growing, but Catherine and Pedro quickly saw how many young people wanted to study—or continue their studies—but simply couldn’t afford it. English language skills are necessary for well-paying jobs and for getting into competitive universities. Not willing to turn students away, they founded the Maya Youth Project (MY Project) which subsidizes the English language program and provides scholarships for over 40 local students in need.
Catherine and Pedro then decided that if they were going to bring English to Felipe Carrillo Puerto, they needed to be proactive about sharing the town’s rich culture with the rest of the world. And so the Spanish and Maya Language Immersion Program was born. Our immersion program provides international students with the opportunity to have a fully immersive experience learning Spanish and/or Yucatec Maya in the real Zona Maya.
