History

Gangkou Village in Fengbin Township, Hualien County, has preserved much of Amis culture due to its remote location. However, with development, the loss of culture and language has accelerated. Preschool children learn their mother tongue at home but stop speaking it once they start school, leading to rapid language and cultural loss.

In 2015, Shu-Chao Lin (Nga’ayho, Nakaw), a non-Indigenous Amis daughter-in-law, founded the TAMORAK Amis Language Co-learning Center to create an immersive mother tongue learning environment. The center also trains young people in the community to promote mother tongue education, emphasizing its importance as the foundation of cultural heritage.

Initially supported by the Alliance Cultural Foundation and fundraising, the center later applied for the Tribal Language Revitalization Project. Despite achieving recognition, it faces financial difficulties due to the project's cessation. In 2019, the Alliance Cultural Foundation used the "Hualien and Taitung Sustainable Development Fund" to support the center's sustainable operation, aiming to preserve tribal culture and knowledge through language learning.

Goals 

  • Support the operation of the Taiwan TAMORAK Cultural and Educational Association's co-learning center, providing a full mother tongue learning environment for tribal children, and work towards establishing a tribal childcare center.
  • Connect tribal culture and daily life, rallying tribal members to prioritize mother tongue education.

  • Combine Waldorf education principles to promote teacher training programs and develop and accumulate mother tongue learning materials.