Situated in a Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) village in Miaoli County, only five percent of Jhunan Elementary School’s students have parents who are both ethnically Hakka, yet for the past three years the school has won first place in the Hakka singing contest for the lower grade elementary school division of the National Hakka Art and Culture Competition for Elementary and Junior High School Students, effectively belittling many schools in the county where a majority of students are Hakka.
The school’s principal Liao Chin-wen says that the school, in order to protect the rights of minority Hakka students, applied for a NT$100,000 grant from the Hakka Affairs Council to help promote diversified cultural education. In its curriculum for native languages, the school teaches Hoklo and Hakka, and all students are included in the program starting from the second grade, keeping the Hakka language from disappearing in this predominately Hoklo community and giving Hoklo students a chance to better understand Hakka culture.
Learning correct pronunciation is the most difficult thing, Liao says, adding that teachers spend two to three months on pronunciation alone in order to give students a firm foundation. Then a dozen Hakka songs are selected as teaching materials, allowing students to learn through singing songs and get used to the tones of Hakka in song form.
The school then selects students with better pronunciation to take part in the contest. When they first gave it a shot three years ago, the students won first place in the Hakka singing contest for the lower grade elementary school division, and last year and this year they won first place again, making it three years in a row. Students from the school also won second place in the oratory contest for the entire nation’s middle grade elementary school division.
Among the students who participated in the contest this year, Liao says there were 15 second graders and four fourth graders, with only one student whose parents are both Hakka and seven with one Hakka parent.
The students have an avid willingness to learn. Teachers patiently take a gradual approach when teaching students correct pronunciation, and the school has set up a Hakka education platform on its Web site, which has links to the council and other Hakka educational sites, providing students with diverse learning tools.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
位於苗栗縣閩南庄的竹南國小，僅有百分之五學童雙親都是客家人，卻連續三年拿下全國中小學客家藝文競賽客語歌唱表演類國小低年級組冠軍，傲視縣內許多客家子弟為主的學校。
竹南國小校長廖金文表示，校方為維護少數客家子弟的權益，前年向客委會申請十萬元推動多元文化學習，在鄉土語言教學課程中教授閩、客語，並將二年級學生全部納入學習，讓客語不至於在閩南庄消失，也讓閩南子弟藉此了解客家文化。
廖金文說，學客語正音最難，為幫學生打下好的基礎，光是「正音」就教了兩、三個月，接著再挑十多首客家歌謠做教材，讓學生從唱歌中學習，習慣客語在歌謠中的音調。
校方再從學生中挑選發音較好的學生參賽，三年前初試啼聲，就拿下客語歌唱表演類國小低年級組全國第一名，去年再度掄元，今年完成三連霸；另在國小中年級組的口說藝術比賽，也拿下全國第二名。
廖金文指出，今年參賽學生，二年級有十五人、四年級有四人，他們當中只有一人雙親都是客家人、七人雙親之一是客家人。
孩子們的學習意願都很高，老師耐心地逐一正音指導，學校也在校園網站設置客語學習專區，連結至客委會等客語學習網站，提供學生多元學習管道。
（自由時報記者彭健禮）
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