Te tausoa. Model of a chiefly meeting house. In the southern Tuvaluan islands, the tausoa is also known as a fale kaupule. Kaupule refers to the council of chiefs, or those who make important decisions on behalf of the wider collective. In the northern Tuvaluan islands the tausoa can also be referred to as Ahiga o muna, or the house of expertise, knowledge or wisdom. Expert house builders are called the tufuga faifale.

This model tausoa is made with wooden components as well as finely made kolokolo (2-ply coconut sennit) and lau fala (pandanus leaves). The wooden base has been identified as fetau wood (Calophyllum inophyllum). It is rectangular in shape and roughly finished.

The tuafale (roof) of the tausoa is triangular in shape, made up of several structural components including oka (beams onto which the thatched pieces are secured), saga (the long lengthway beams of the roof), utupoto (the beams that run the width of the fale), kaso (smaller beams that run parallel to the oka beams) and kaukaui (shorter horizontal beams across the kaso). In life sized tuafale, the lau (thatching) atop the tuafale is made from sections of coconut frond which is cut, with the handle end stripped and folded over to be secured with tuaaniu (coconut midrib). The thatching is completed in upward layers starting with layers around the lowest sides of the tuafale and finishing at the apex. Along the length of the central apex fakatafiti (the final layer of thatching at the apex fo the fale running down the centre apex) is placed which is made of lau niu (coconut leaves), signifying the final layer and the completion of the taufale. Internally, a taualunga (the wooden beam placed at the centre of the roof that runs down the middle of its length) is the last structural component added to complete the taufale.

Eight wooden posts support the tuafale. These are the pouloto, where chiefly leaders sit according to rank. The outer posts are called the kautokotoko and are the designated areas for women, young men and children to sit. The outer fencing around the perimeter of the tausoa is termed the kauapapa.