Any experience of Waldorf school in Taichung (leichuan)?

Has anyone had any experience of the Leichuan Waldorf School in Taichung?

I have been trying to contact them by email but no luck so far. I’m not in Taiwan at the moment but looking for a school in North or Central Taiwan for my 7 year old son who goes to a Waldorf school in Australia. I hope we can stay for 6 months or so.

[quote=“Taipei92”]Has anyone had any experience of the Leichuan Waldorf School in Taichung?
I have been trying to contact them by email but no luck so far. I’m not in Taiwan at the moment but looking for a school in North or Central Taiwan for my 7 year old son who goes to a Waldorf school in Australia. I hope we can stay for 6 months or so.[/quote]

Sorry to diverge a little on your question. What’s your feeling about Waldorf versus other types of schooling? There’s a Waldorf school close to where I live (I’m not in TW) but the mandatory German curriculum in all Waldorf schools kind of turned us off to the school.

Take care, just because it’s called a Waldorf school doesn’t mean it really is a Waldorf school (in Taiwan that is). Same goes for Montessori. My wife is a “certified” Montessorri teacher, and all it took was a month of Saturday mornings reading some photocopied articles given out by the teacher.

I know nothing about this school, and I’m not trying to discredit it, but I’ve learned that in Taiwan a name is not the same as the reality. Buyer beware!

Thanks for your replies. My feeling about Waldorf is that it is great. We are very happy with it for our son. He has been in Waldorf classrooms for 4 years now (playgroup, kindergarten, school). So far there has been an emphasis on music, storytelling, colour, and nature. There is a great respect for the nature of the child–letting that unfold without imposing too many of our adult concerns on the process. No anxious ‘getting ahead of the rest’ for the 6 year old full of wonder, or hours at a computer or desk for a 7 year old who needs to move their body and learn through experience rather than books. This may make it sound unstructured, but it is actually very structured, based on the rhythms of the day, periods of activity and quiet, group and individual work. I could go on and on…I think perhaps you have to see it in action.
Re: German curriculum, I’m not sure what you mean, Rudolf Steiner was Austrian. At my son’s school the children learn Vietnamese as their second language (it’s a community language where we live).
Re: Leichuan in Taichung, I briefly visited the school in March 2006 and I think it’s genuine. It felt and looked very familiar to me. At least some of the teachers there have been trained in New Zealand. I just haven’t met anyone who has had a child there or who has had more contact with the school, and was hoping someone on Forumosa has.

I don’t know too much about Waldorf except for the 10 minutes spent at a public event spent talking to a teacher behind the booth that represents the local Waldorf school. I did get the feeling that it was a rather laisser faire approach, although less so than Montessori, where the emphasis is not on hard skills. The concept, as I understood, is that those hard skills will come in time and they will be better retained than kids in traditional schools.

Her particular Waldorf school teaches German and French (French makes sense where I live) but she went on to say that other Waldorf school teaches, as foreign languages, German and something else in the community. In Vancouver, that would be German and Japanese. It appears that German is a common denominator and she attributes it to Steiner (Austrians speak German).

I thought I saw a discussion like this a while ago. For those interested…

I was looking through an old Montessori Life magazine and I noticed an article by Dee Joy Coulter about Montessori and Waldorf. I found it fascinating to see how connected we are, despite our obvious differences. Was refreshing to see an article that tries to show a common bond rather than split us apart. Here’s a link to the article (It wasn’t originally a Montessori Life article, but taken from somewhere else):

kindlingtouch.com/pdf/montandsteinerart.pdf

That’s the first article that I have seen that explains Waldorf and Montessori well enough that I see what Waldorf is about. (I know about Montessori).

I know this is quite a late addition to this thread, but there might still be an interest in it, so I figured I would post it.

[quote=“Redmenace”]Take care, just because it’s called a Waldorf school doesn’t mean it really is a Waldorf school (in Taiwan that is). Same goes for Montessori. My wife is a “certified” Montessorri teacher, and all it took was a month of Saturday mornings reading some photocopied articles given out by the teacher.
[/quote]

:astonished: :doh:

If you realize how hard the actual training is for a Montessori teacher, that statement would hurt.

I agree the training at Waldolf seems good. My friend works at one and teachers are continually trained and workshopped (with actually useful stuff) unlike many other kindys.

I know the goal of the system is to enable growth and development of learning all through life, with plenty of understanding of self and the world around us.
I know they don’t like too much stimulation too quickly for younger children and hence focus alot on storytelling and dance movement instead of reading, math, etc.
The goal is healthy happy people not falling ill from a stressful meaningless life at 35. Having a good understanding of themself and their importance in this life, ie. not commiting suicide at 17 because of no sense of self, purpose or whatever.

Althought the not reading to whenever etc part gets me a little, I feel this might be preferable to the burnout empty existance of I see many of my students in Taiwan living.

I don’t have to make this decision yet. I will follow the links and learn more. Thanks for the Waldolf links.

Do whats right for you. All the best for your decision.

K

Have you had any luck finding info on the Leichuan Waldorf School in Taichung?
My family are considering moving to Taiwan and we hope for our daughter to continue in a Steiner/Waldorf education.

I’d like to know how the Waldorf Schools in Taiwan are

My niece is a Waldorf kid, and her mother (my sister) swears by the curriculum. I recently asked my sister for her thoughts about Amy Chua’s Tiger Mom book: she’s not a fan. Here is part of what she wrote about Waldorf

If the Steiner/Waldorf schools can claim anything like this, then I certainly would like to know more about them – especially in Taipei

Sorry to diverge a little on your question. What’s your feeling about Waldorf versus other types of schooling?

I often get asked about Waldorf since I am thought of as the person you know who does alternative education. (They tend to lump us all together).

I am not making judgements when I say this, but the basic thing to keep in mind with Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio, or even a traditional education is how much you agree with the philosophy.

I love Waldorf and am impressed with it, but it wouldn’t be right for me if I had a child. (Again, not saying it offensively). I think children are naturally inquisitive and want to learn and work, so the whole “putting off” learning until later strikes me the wrong way if I had to make the choice. There are other people that disagree with me on that point.

Still, it is great to hear there are options that look authentic here for Waldorf. Anyone want to fund an authentic Montessori school in my neck of the woods? :slight_smile:

[quote=“Puppet”]
I am not making judgements when I say this, but the basic thing to keep in mind with Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio, or even a traditional education is how much you agree with the philosophy. [/quote]

Puppet hit the nail on the head with this one. Though seems logical (well, it IS logical), it is important to understand the philosophy behind the original set up (from the developers’/founders’ perspectives) and then the philosophy at the individual school you’re looking at, and how it may be different from that of the founders’.

And then there is always the muddy bit of trying to discern the difference between the school’s philosophy and what they actually practice~~~

I know something about Waldorf and I like the general idea but I have seen how it works in practice and I’m not so convinced, while there is no pressure it feels like there is also limited opportunity for curious minds.

What’s the deal with Montessori? Are there any schools in Taichung I could check out?

Currently trying to find somewhere to send my 3 1/2 year old over the next few years, I have not really been impressed by any of the kindies or schools I have seen.

Hey I am new on this board but have been living in Taichung for the last 3 years and send my kids to the Waldorf kindergarten in Taichung (in Da-Dun 4th Street, Beautiful Garden).

Waldorf works for me, I really appreciate there teaching style espescially at this age. With all of the over-achieving kindergartens out there, this is a place where you can let your kids just be kids.

The Waldorf school system in Taichung has a number of kindergartens, and a couple elementary school and junior high school (Leichuan, Hai-Sheng, and Feng-Lo) . The principle of our kids’ school is planning to start another elementary school next year. There is a problem because there is a demand isssue. (too many applicants as the city government puts a cap on the size of the school). You will probably not get a chance to get into Leichuan because of the length of the waiting list. If you child is younger you can try and get a place at one of the kindergartens as they get priority placement to the elementary school.

The teachers take the Waldorf system here very seriously and they seem to have excellent staff retention, I don’t see that many new faces. There is definitely a difference between schools and how fundamental they can get with the Waldorf philosophy but the schools in Taichung are a little bit more pragmatic about it. But definitely don’t just take my word for it. They offer tours and can answer specific questions you might have.

Here is a link to a page that has all the Waldorf schools in Taiwan. sites.google.com/site/walorfpad … iao-fen-bu

I am not going to go into the Waldorf philosophy as there’s a ton of online resources for that.

[quote]What’s the deal with Montessori? Are there any schools in Taichung I could check out?

Currently trying to find somewhere to send my 3 1/2 year old over the next few years, I have not really been impressed by any of the kindies or schools I have seen.[/quote]

My 3 1/2 year old boy goes to a Montessori kindy in Taichung in the Nan Tun street area. Before deciding to bring him there, all I did was talk to the teacher and principle (without knowing too much about Montessori), so I am not sure if this is a waterproof Montessori environment.
He is happy there. The place is not too big, not too many students and the fee is not higher than some other places we checked.
A possible turn off (not for me) - not much English is taught, no English native-speaker hired as a teacher.

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I checked out a Montessori kindy near the Taichung science museum, I really liked the staff and ideology but most of the play areas and grounds were dirty and unkempt. Also basic stuff like toilets were not really clean. My wife asked straight up if they hired a cleaner and the embarrassed headmistress said that they have a ‘外用’ cleaner… in other words their domestic help is cleaning the whole school in her free time :no-no:

If they are cheap like that when they are asking relatively high fees it really puts me off and I doubt they are paying the teachers well.

Still hunting…

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Keep us posted as my might move to another part of the city and kindergartens are a big deal.

Be aware that the Waldorf Education Movement has grown bigger and bigger since 2007.

Not only Leichuan, but also FongLe, ShanMeiZhen, and HaiSiann carry the Waldorf spirit in Central Taiwan.

We have started one in Hualien, though still very early days. It is on a farm outside the city and we are keeping it very low key. Always looking for like minded parents if anyone is interested in getting involved in Hualien!

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