So I see a lot of hate on here towards various bilingual schools, has anyone ever actually encountered a good one? What is considered the best? If you know fees for those schools, feel free to share them too.
They’re all considered good schools. The big ones are probably Fu-Hsing, Kang-chiao, Lih-Jen, and Kuei-Shan. They get hate because they have an iffy reputation among English teachers and they attract wealthy parents. I had a kid that did bilingual school for a while if you want to pm me. I think they cost around 8-10,000US, but I may be misremembering. My kid did well in the English curriculum but also got ignored a lot and the Chinese is basically full-speed with not much help.
The private schools get a lot of hate because the people running them have absolutely no right or qualifications to be involved in education. The principal and founder of a “dual-immersion” school in Taipei that I spoke to didn’t know there was a difference between ESL, EFL, bilingual, and dual immersion education and didn’t understand why it mattered. As someone with a background in linguistics and teaching certification in TESOL, I found this to be, frankly, embarrassing. If you’re going to run a day school making such bold claims, you should at least read the wikipedia page on the topic first. I can’t believe how stupid/gullible every parent in that school is. I would never send my child to a school where the principal can’t bother to pretend to know the absolute basics of second language instruction.
The private schools are after wealthy family money and nothing more. The public schools are after the pride and bragging rights and nothing more. Not one “bilingual” school I have set foot in has appropriate training for the teachers. Some don’t let the foreigners ever speak Chinese and some have foreigners who use their super basic level Chinese more than English. And it’s basically sink or swim for the kids (but that’s like everything else in this country, so I guess that doesn’t mean much). Reality: the kids who go to these “bilingual” schools, if they are bilingual in the end, will be bilingual because of the pressure their parents put on them and the outside classes they take, not because of the quality of the school.
If you’re looking to send someone you know to a “bilingual” school, spend a morning with one class (çŹ) and see what “bilingual” is to that school. FYI: Supposedly ALL Taipei public schools are bilingual now. The MOE definition of “bilingual” appears to be “uses some English in art and PE classes and sometimes has a white person in the room”.
You think I’m exaggerating. Call up schools, tell them you’re interested, and ask if you can spend at least and hour and a half with the same group of children. Decide for yourself if what they’re doing is OK with you. For me, nothing short of a 50-50 split between Chinese and English instruction should be called bilingual. But clearly Taipei parents and Taiwanese Governemnt officials don’t agree with me.
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Spot on. Private bilingual schools are a joke. They’re bilingual for the Taiwanese kids, English for the western kids and you have to pay extra for Chinese lessons. It’s all about the money.
My team and I decided to open our own bilingual school, called Sunrise School. If you are interested, please check out our website (www.sunriseschool.org) for more information and Open House dates. You can also private message me for a chat about our school! 
Not very obvious from your site.
What is this? Elementary school? Cram school?
Good question! It’s an elementary school. Added that info to our homepage. Appreciate the helpful feedback! 
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I started working the bilingual program at my school in 2021. I’m the first English teacher my school ever had. I’ve been working hard to try to establish a truly bilingual program here and my school has been incredibly accommodating and open to new ideas. I’m still a newer teacher (on my second year in Taiwan and only 1 year in the us) so I’m sure there’s some mistakes and blunders I’ve made. But I think we’re making big progress. I think there really is a wind of change towards bilingual programs in taiwan (or at least in Taipei).
We are even doing full immersion for some classes (starting with students who come from English speaking backgrounds but who are still taiwanese). For example, I am teaching history and geography as well as language arts all in English. I’m also working on bilingual implementation for the other students with decent results I’d say.
Maybe change “Arouse” to Awaken or Activate or something else entirely.
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Please note, I am not trying to offend. I am honestly curious. Are you qualified to teach those subjects? What (kind of) school do you teach at?
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I have my masters in psychology and political science and I’m currently a PhD student in Asian Pacific studies. I’m certified as a language arts teacher. I never took the certification exam for social sciences in Wisconsin but only because I didn’t get around to it before I left. I have experience teaching courses in psychology and political science as an RA (which included some lectures).
I’m a little weak in geography but I spent the summer studying pedagogy as well as the content. I’m sure I’m not as good as veteran teachers, but I’m doing my best.
I teach public high school
By the way, I think it’s a fair question to ask.
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I want to ask which one, but I understand if you are not able to share.
I have two sons that go to public high school in Taiwan. I am sure they would be lucky to study at a school with teachers like yourself. Keep up the good work!
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Thanks! I’m trying my best here. I’d offer to send a pm, but unfortunately I will be leaving my position next year so that I can focus on finishing my PhD so I won’t be a teacher at the school next year.
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