Cram schools might have some use if the kids are really weak in certain areas or the teacher sucks.
1. Is speaking to the kids in English at home enough to give them a solid English foundation versus all the Chinese theyāll be exposed to at school and play?
We think so but certainly their reading and writing skills are behind equivalent grade children in Canada. Thatās not a concern for us and we donāt spend extra time with them working on it. We feel it can be improved later.
2. There seems to be much more focus on testing versus fostering creativity and discovery. Is this a concern as they grow up?
A big concern for us. Iām very much against the rote learning, testing culture prevalent in many schools. For this reason we send them to a local private elementary school which takes a much different approach to learning. As we have 2 children this costs a great deal of money but in the end itās worth it.
3. Do they require having to go to cram schools on evenings and weekends to keep up with their fellow classmates?
Definitely not. They go to additional classes but these are things that are of interest to them not covered during the day (swimming, badminton, āblock classā, and Japanese).
Are there any parents here who have put their children in one of the international schools? Is it worth the much higher price?
We arenāt tied to Taiwan in the same way you might be, if we thought international schools were the best option in our area we would leave. We stay purposely for our childrenās education, an education which at least at the elementary level is not available in Canada.
Can you tell me more about this option? What is the different approach they take, and if you donāt mind - what is the tuition cost? I assume itās less than the international school prices quoted earlier.
I visited this one a few years ago and was impressed. It was a thriving school with lots of dedicated, involved, and highly educated parents. jwps.ilc.edu.tw/
Some data look a bit strange to me. I am not saying itās wrong, just sounds ādodgyā.
At least one sentence is wrong: Ci-Xing Waldorf (is NOT) in Taichung County.
If you want to know about Waldorf, you can contact me.
It is in Yilan. Not sure if it can help the OP.
True. Although it might be possible to commute to Toucheng from Taipei depending on where you live in Taipei.
There is also the Senlin (Forest) School in Xizhi. hef.yam.org.tw/forestschool/forestschool.php It looks like NT$300,000 per year.
The Humanistic Education Foundation might also have some alternative suggestions.
hef.yam.org.tw/index_english.htm
Just trying to let the OP know that Taiwanese parents face some of the same problems and there are alternatives out there to the regular public schools. One problem is that most of the options are for elementary schools and most people think that the Taiwanese elementary schools are pretty good.
This is a list of the other regular International schools that Iām aware of.
The top-2 in Taipei are unaffordable unless you are on a funded ex-pat package, or rather wealthy.
Costs elsewhere are less, although still high.
Can you or anyone else let me know more about this school? Thanks.
We send our two kids to Natural Way éē¦¾åƦé©åøę ” (http://www.natural-way.com.tw/ļ¼Iām not sure of the exact cost but it starts at 145,000NT$ per child per semester. There are additional costs on top for equipment and uniforms. There is a school in Hsinchu and Taichung.
My apologies, Iām not sure if you can read this paper but it discusses some of their ideas: study.naer.edu.tw/UploadFilePath ā¦ _03_07.pdf
Very simply put, the school has allowed our child time to think and express themselves, the opportunity to explore and learn about the natural environment, and largely avoid the rote learning test driven philosophy so desired by many parents we know. They teach math differently and approach science differently from when I was a child. They try to make learning enjoyable and continuously counsel us on removing pressure and allow our kids to self-initiate study. Their are also a number of classes they must take outside the core curriculum which have largely been brushed aside elsewhere, eg. calligraphy, tea making, kendo and music. There are some negatives of course, itās far from ideal, online reviews of the school certainly include strongly worded criticisms, but we are largely pleased thus far.
Thereās a detailed Wikipedia page about it in Chinese: zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A3%AE% ā¦ F%E5%AD%B8
It was founded in 1990 and at least at first was modeled on the Summerhill school in England. Itās a boarding school Monday to Friday. The fees are about NT$300,000 per year.
They have meetings for prospective students in May and June and they also have short-term study opportunities in the winter and summer.
There is also the Holistic Jr. High School and High School in Miaoli. holistic.so-buy.com/front/bin/pt ā¦ ory=395505
Thank you for that. Ideally, we can wait until Jr. High School before making any switch because that works better for us financially. But there are times when I get fed up with all the work at her school and I feel like making the move right away! Itās nice to look into the options now in case my wife and I do decide that our daughter needs to change during elementary school.
Do you have any information on tuition for this school? My Chinese reading is okay but Iām not the greatest when scanning for some information.
I saw some newspaper reports saying it is about NT$300,000 a year. Itās worth noting that the school is popular with members of Taiwanās elite who donāt like the Taiwanese education systemāa fair number of professors, returnees from the Silicon valley etc send their kids here.
Also, I understand that Quanren prefers to accept kids who are starting junior high or high schools. They are wary of accepting kids who have dropped out or had problems at regular schools. This is also an issue at some of the alternative elementary schools are less so. So if you think your child is having trouble or getting turned off by school, it might be better not to wait until any problems come to a head because then they might not be accepted. Obviously these schools donāt want to be a ādumping groundā for kids who have serious problems. The elementary schools are more liberal about this.
Our daughter did well in first and second grades, then had a little trouble in third grade. But that was more because we had another kid and my wife couldnāt devote the time that she could in the past to helping out our daughter with her schoolwork and test preparation. In third grade, she did well in Chinese and ānature,ā but not so great in math and āsociety.ā Weāve got her in an after school program where Iāve made clear our plans to eventually switch her out of the Taiwan school system as well as have her attending college in the US. Sheās definitely not a problem child or anything like that. I just donāt like all the homework. As a foreigner accompanied by his elementary school daughter told me in a swimming pool sauna in Hualien (I know, a strange place to meet someone), āhomework makes you stupid.ā
Sorry, I certainly didnāt mean to suggest that your child was having any trouble in school. I just wanted to give people reading this a heads up because Taiwanese friends of mine were very disappointed when their kids (adolescents who did have some problems with following the draconian rules at the Taiwanese schools) were not accepted.
In those cases, the school (Quanren) made it clear that they would have accepted the kids had they been applying to the first year of Jr. high or the first year of high school.
I know. I just wanted to make my situation clear in case others were having the same issues and I could get information from them as well. I do appreciate your letting me know about the school in Miaoli. This is really very much along the lines of what Iām looking for! And thereās plenty of time to go and check things out before making any decision.
Quanren (or ChuenJen) still exists
They are planning to open an elementary school
Quite a tough challenge though