Is it really enough to learn your mother tongue at home? Ma Yuebihao runs the all-Ami Kindergarten, reading aloud from picture books to growing vegetables, and teaching the whole language.

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"I waited a long time for the child to speak a native language." Ma Yuebihao, a former director of aboriginal television station, independently opened an all-Ami Kindergarten (Pinanaman) in Hualien, using Ami throughout the process from reading aloud to growing vegetables. In just a few months, four children have learned simple language. Even if it is only a simple vocabulary, the family is moved beyond description.

Not even Ami citizens can learn Ami. Ami singer Arlo teaches everyone to say, "I love you."

The mini-kindergarten is suitable for both movement and news, and the children's family will come together.

The South Island Luma Society is a non-profit organization established this year, and Pinanaman Kindergarten currently has four students, a teacher and a cook, making it the most mini in Taiwan. All Ami language teaching is conducted, with static courses such as reading picture books and singing nursery rhymes in the morning, dynamic courses such as painting and handwork in the afternoon, and outdoor classes at least one day a week.

Outdoor courses are arranged flexibly, including learning about vegetables, growing vegetables, cooking, tracing streams, and participating in tribal rice harvesting activities. The courses combine life, aboriginal culture and customs, and grasp the golden age of children's learning. In addition to the students, parents also participate in various activities of the kindergarten. Through the mouth of the children, the Luma Society of the South Island strives to preserve the aboriginal language and connect the tribes bit by bit.

Ami English Kindergarten Pinanaman Outdoor Teaching Day (photo courtesy of Ma Yue Bei Hao) Ma Yue Bi Hao: "when praying to the ancestors in Chinese, can the ancestors understand?"

Ma Yuebihe, a veteran aboriginal cultural worker and chief executive of the Luma Society on the South Island, was born in the spring tribe of Hualien Yuli. He has made a number of aboriginal documentaries and won many awards. "many aborigines speak Taiwanese more fluently than their native speakers." Ma Yuebihao studied Chinese and English when he was growing up, but he never learned the native language. "in the past, everyone would say, 'just go home and learn the native language,'" he recalls. But as a result, people speak less and less native language, especially people of my age, who don't know how to say it. "

Ma Yuebihao cited the translation of the conference as an example: representatives of various countries are encouraged to speak their mother tongue at international conferences, so they are equipped with interpreters and translation machines. when working in the Tainan City Council, most people speak Taiwanese, but no one feels the need for translation. "people don't think that there are people present who don't understand, and they don't encourage the guest committee to speak Hakka or native language."

Although Ma Yuebihao is 50 years old, he thinks his mother tongue is only 3 years old, and it is very difficult for him to speak in his mother tongue in public. "I can only memorize it." He said with a smile, but he still saw his determination to speak his mother tongue even if he memorized it.

Ma Yuebihe (Photography _ Lin Yijun) there are only a few hours of mother tongue lessons every week, but Grandpa and Grandma are running out of time.

At present, the government has promoted Hokkienese and Hakka in primary schools all over the country, and even joined ethnic language courses in Huadong, so why should mother tongue kindergartens be set up specially? Ma Yue-bi-ho believes that although mother-tongue teaching is currently promoted as a compulsory course, the number of hours is too small, adding up to more than 20 hours throughout the semester, and children will not seriously talk about it when they return home.

"from the past to the present, the school has taught us to be others, and only when we get extra points in the exam will we go back to learn the native language." Ma Yuebihao points out that many ethnic people began to learn their own language when they grew up, but they have missed the golden age of language learning, and different language logic has made it painful for their people to learn.

"if you don't speak the native language, no one will ever speak it again." Ma Yuebihao has seen more and more young people returning to their hometown in recent years, but they generally do not speak the native language. Feeling that there is a gap in aboriginal language and culture, and watching the tribal elders grow old and die, he believes that mother-tongue education can no longer wait, so he starts a kindergarten.