Any current or recent experiences with Xinsheng Elementary or Lih Jen Elementary Schools?

We are planning to spend the upcoming school year in Taipei with our main goals being: 1) for kids to learn Mandarin (they can understand / speak a little but are not strong) and 2) cultural exposure.

My kids would be in 2nd and 4th grade, and we’re considering Xinsheng and Lih-jen due to their support for students who study Chinese as a Second Language.

Anybody with recent experiences with either school? Or other bilingual schools in Taipei? Would welcome any recommendations or advice. I’m planning to visit in April for a week to scout out schools and would love an opportunity to meet with anybody that might have kids at these types of schools.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Nellie, we have a 3rd grader at Lih-Jen. We’d also looked into Xinsheng, but I don’t know how straightforward registration is. Lih-Jen has been good for us and I know there are other international kids coming. I’ll post a section too on public school enrollment, because we’d been interested in that (but probably won’t pursue it). If you come through soon, let me know and we’d be glad to meet.

Hi teach! I’m interested in enrolling my kids in a bilingual school like Lih Jen. I couldn’t find tuition information on the website…can you let me know the annual tuition and fees? Also, did you apply to the school while you were in Taiwan or did you apply from abroad? We live in the US and wonder how difficult the application process is since we’re not in Taipei yet. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

It’s possible to enroll from abroad. I talked to a parent who enrolled for next year. It did take a while to get admissions to write them back. The current admissions person, Christy, is great but it seems to be a position that changes every year and is high stress. My recollection is it is about $4000/semester and another thousand for CSL. That is pricey but still less than 2/3rd of European School, etc. One reason we did admission at Lih-Jen was that it is possible to enroll without the lottery, etc. I would write to their admissions person first and then try the English director if that doesn’t work.

It is still a very “Taiwanese” school. Chinese class is fairly large, there are good activities during the school day but no after-school sports, there’s a fair amount of homework. The pluses are that they have a fair amount of time in English compared to other schools (and taught by native speakers), the school day activities are good (Wednesday afternoon elective, some art and computers and the like), and it’s a nice size (school itself is not huge and goes through junior high rather than high school).There is high teacher turnover (very common) but the teachers have been good.

If you want to look at other bilinguals, equivalents are probably Kang-chiao, Fu-Hsing, Kuei-Shan, and so on.

Thanks for the info! This was extremely helpful. I did email the admissions rep at Lih Jen but haven’t heard back. I’m assuming there are 2 semesters per year, so it would amount to about $8,000/year + $2,000/year for CSL?

That’s right. Recently someone told me if you do public school, the after school study is roughly $300+ a month. Private school is pricier. There’s also an activity fee that’s usually $100-200 a semester (Sam did kung fu, which he didn’t love and now does a science activity, but they also have things like magic, swimming, etc.). I think the first time you enroll there’s a $500 enrollment fee that I think includes uniform. The uniforms, again, are more expensive than public school but a lot less than the international schools.

Thank you for the info! I don’t think our kids would survive in a Taiwan
public school since we’re not fluent in Mandarin and we don’t want to fork
out $20K USD a year for an international school, so a private bilingual
school seems like the best option.

Hi Jonathan, thanks so much for your response! Sorry for my late reply as we’ve been on Spring Break. I’ll be in Taipei next week. Would you possibly have time to meet on 4/19 (wed) afternoon or 4/20 (thurs) anytime? Thanks again!

Nellie

I’ll send you a message

Thanks, Jonathan. Wed at Mos Burger sounds good. Can I see it from Lih-Jen?

What time is best for you? Would you like to grab lunch there? My treat, of course.

Also, I just installed LINE recently. If that’s a good way to communicate, can you send me your ID (or way for me to connect with you)? I won’t have a cell with voice plan while I’m there, but I plan to rent a wifi machine so I at least have data. I can use my mom’s cell when needed though.

Thanks again!
Nellie

P.S. We visit Xinsheng (Peng Laoshi) on Tuesday. I saw your post about meeting with her. We called Lih-Jen to set up a meeting as well, and the head of the international school (Zhuang Laoshi) said she was busy the entire 1.5 weeks we are in Taipei due to some big programs / activities at school during that time, unfortunately.

Hi, resurrecting this thread… Does anyone know if the bilingual schools in Taipei require students to have an ARC in order to enroll or is a foreign passport sufficient? Thank you!

need ARC.

Is this in NTD/USD?

USD… Lih-Jen is one of the more expensive private schools in Taipei so you should be budgeting over NT300k per year.

(need help) is there any information about English - Chinese teaching proportion?

Of which school?

If public school, a few (maybe 2-3) classes in English among 22(1st) - 33(6th) total classes.

If Lih-Jen, 14 classes in English & 26 classes in Chinese.

http://www.ljjhps.tp.edu.tw/home?cid=287