An instructor who went to the tribes to teach, and fell in love with the language, and now, she’s made it her goal, to keep educating the students in their, native language, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
The Dawang Middle School’s Chinese instructor, Chen in Taidong, two years ago, passed her mid-expert level certification for the Paiwan Native Language, what’s more was that she isn’t a native of the tribe, nor is she, a native, born in Penghu, raised in Kaohsiung, because of her love for the cultures of the natives, she got into learning the natives’ languages. “White Wave” is used to refer to Asians in the Paiwan Tribal tongue, as she passed her certification, she’d also, encouraged her students to challenge themselves in the more advanced level of certification of their own native tongue.
Three years ago, Chen left Kaohsiung, and started teaching at the Paiwan tribe in Taidong, it’d, filled her life with freshness then. She said, in middle school, her instructor gave her a book by a native, “Practicing Medicine in Lanyu”, it’d mentioned how the doctors of the Bunon Tribe gave themselves selflessly to treat the patients, and the Dawu tribes’ fighting hard to defend their own culture, it’d, touched her deeply. After she’d arrived at the Paiwan tribe, it’d, helped her find motivations to learn the tribal tongue.
Using the Concepts of Teaching English Grammar, Helping Her to Quickly Start to Learn the Native’s Tongues
a photo of the instructor who’s dedicating her life to teach the students their native tongues, courtesy of UDN.com
To learn the tribe’s language, she’d gotten into the coeducating group in the school, not only did she use her lunch break to learn, the tribe also became an active learning classroom for her, whether if be going out to get her breakfasts in the morning, or holding conversations with her students, she’d, utilized these opportunities to practice the tribal language. After three months of continual learning, and six months after she used the “Tribal Language Fun to Learn” platform, she’d passed the mid-level language skills certification with one try, and following, she’d attended the courses held by the Native Language Center’s native language courses in Taidong, and, passed the mid and higher level certifications.
On the Paiwan tribe’s languages, Chen said, at first she was confused with the pronunciation, and the grammars when she began learning, but because she’d learned the phonetic spellings in her university career, and had the basics in English grammar, she was able to, quickly, immerse herself in this brand new language.
Hoped the Students to “Take the Native’s Tongues Home from School”
She also signed up for the twenty-credit tribal language instructor certification course in the Taidong Native Language Center, and met many passionate instructors who also wanted to help the tribal tongues to get passed down to the generations, and she and her fellow instructors became each other’s supports in teaching the native tongues.
Knowing the difficulties in pushing forth the education of the native tongues, Chen not only designed the rewards systems of learning, to allow the students to speak in the native tongues, she’d also encouraged the students to go home and interact with their own families in the tongue, hoping that the students can “take the tribal tongue home”, to “pick up the roots of their own culture” once more.
Chen said, that the Dawang Middle School was primarily made up of the Paiwan tribe, and there were the Amei, Lukai, Bunon, Asians, and children from migrated people as students, that although the school is distant, but it has a good environment, to teach the students to become, more tolerant of other cultures, and understand, and respect one another’s, differences too.
And so, this, is how this, woman who’s not a part of the native community, falling in love with the tribe’s language, and, made it her goal, to keep the tribal tongues alive, and she’s, preserving a part of this, important subculture that will keep this island, diverse.
Life, the Obstacle Course 