Hello all! My husband and I have been thinking about moving (he was born and spent the first 10 years of his life) in Kaohsiung.
We’re wondering if anyone can speak to the quality of education of international bilingual schools in Kaohsiung. Around how much do tuition and other fees cost per semester?
I’ve read some old info about Morrison, Kaohsiung American School and I-Shou. I’m also curious about Dah Yung. How do the prices vs quality compare?
Thank you so much for all your input.
All schools in Taiwan are bilingual. English and Chinese are both required subjects in both local and international schools. The difference is local schools place more emphasis on Chinese, and international schools place more emphasis on English.
If you want your children to speak Chinese well, then send them to a local school. If you want them to speak English well, then send them to an international school. If you want them to speak both languages well, then I’m afraid you’re out of luck. There aren’t many TRUE bilingual schools that I know of.
By the way, I know some teachers at KAS and they all say the school is less academic rigorous than comparable American schools in larger cities around the world. Then again, it may just be because this is Kaohsiung and you can’t set your expectations too high.
i believe this is far from the truth, or maybe we understand the word bilingual differently.
local schools teach English as a second language, and the kids do not graduate bilingual.
same goes for international schools.
There is a facebook group dedicated for international schools in Taiwan. most parents there are Taiwanese and can provide mayne more information about the KS options.
Right. I meant “bilingual” in the sense that both languages are mandatory, and are taught daily from a young age. I didn’t say they were EFFECTIVE bilingual schools. I don’t know of any TRUE bilingual schools in Kaohsiung (i.e. students exposed to both languages equally and trained to native-level fluency). Even the ones I know of that claim to be “bilingual” are really just international schools with slightly better Chinese programs.
Thank you for sharing the link!
Gotcha! Would you say that other cities will have better quality schools than the ones in Kaohsiung?
That’s completely untrue.
Yes. Taipei definitely has the best schools in Taiwan. It’s just a more “world-class” city in general.
Sorry for the confusion. I already explained what I meant by “bilingual” in a previous post.
I meant both languages are mandatory, and taught daily from a young age. But of course, if you are talking about a TRUE bilingual school where students are equally exposed to both languages, and are trained to native-level fluency in both languages, then most schools in Taiwan are definitely not like that.
English isn’t taught daily at public schools. Three 50 min classes a week for my grade four kid.
That is surprising. And what about Chinese? Is that taught daily?
Yes. English at public school is a joke to be honest. They were learning abcs for two years.
Thanks for the clarification. I went to public school in Hong Kong where English and Chinese were both taught daily starting from kindergarten. In fact, all of our textbooks were in English (except Chinese and Chinese History) even though most teachers felt more comfortable lecturing in Chinese. But I suppose one cannot compare Taiwan to an ex-British colony.
Oh yikes! I did not know that. Would you consider transferring your child to an international school?
I can say KH Morrison students come out as good people and go to good schools mostly in the USA but some to Japan and my hometown in Japan. It is not as big and more American than international but students that I know who went there are good.
That’s great to hear! I was looking at Morrison too. Do you know/have an idea how much the fees are per semester? My husband and I will have to plan for it financially too.
Thank you for your comment!
All the fees are laid out on their website.
Ah yes silly me! Thank you!
website or call/email. (Make sure you choose the correct campus)