The Tranan Qwasan Biru Experimental Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) is offering a new immersion language program to promote indigenous-language education, the city government said on Wednesday.
The school was founded in September 2020 to preserve Atayal culture, initially employing Atayal elders as teaching staff, New Taipei City Indigenous Peoples Department Commissioner Lo Mei-ching (羅美菁) said in an interview.
The school teaches the Atayal language through traditional activities, seeking that students build fluency naturally, she said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Education Department via CNA
Lo said the dress she wore to the interview was created by students in an arts and crafts class focused on traditional weaving and the symbolic meaning of traditional patterns.
The school’s concept seeks to achieve fluency in language and culture, she said.
The dress’ pattern, featuring X and O-shaped elements symbolizing solidarity, is traditional to Wulai’s Taiyaru community, she said.
Other Atayal communities’ traditional patterns prominently feature stripes, rhombuses and rectangles, she said.
Taiwan is home to 16 officially recognized indigenous ethnicities speaking 42 languages, she said.
Preserving the diversity of Taiwan’s indigenous heritage requires that policies are tailored to local conditions, she said.
Her department is working toward that goal and has created an indigenous-languages committee to oversee language education, she said.
New Taipei City Education Department Commissioner Chang Ming-wen (張明文) said that his department is working with the indigenous peoples department to implement a language and culture education program.
The project is developing teaching materials, improving the quality of lessons and rewriting school rules to facilitate the integration of indigenous cultures, he said,
New Taipei City schools have begun treating indigenous festivals as official holidays for children of indigenous descent, Chang added.
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