So here is the situation. I was born in taiwan and lived there untill the 3rd grade. I moved to the US and have been living here for 8 years now. Recently i been really home sick. I miss Taiwan, and my family that lives there. I hate it here in the US. I’m 16 now and i’m in the 11th grade junior year. I know english better then most americans which is sad, and i can speak mandarin fluently but i have trouble writting. My dad lives in taiwan most of the time, and i live with my mom here. Does anyone have any advice on what do to? 
If you are rich and well connected go to TAS (though you need to have at least one parent with a foreign passport).
You could also try the European School, Dominican School or Morrison Academy. I am sure there are others too, a lot of people work in education on this board, I am sure they could point you in the right direction.
Dude,
Do you want to attend a regular public school?
You could take a half-year off and get your writing back in shape, and then enter a regular High School.
Most public schools here will take any student, no matter if their language skills are weak or even non-existent.
Usually, they’ll take a few blocks every week and work on their Manadarin or writing or whatever.
My daughter’s elementary school took 2 little Auzzie girls whose folks were working here, and when they started, they had NO Chinese of any sort.
18 months later, they’re just regular classmates, fitting right in.
Conversely, when my daughter started 1st grade, they said she didn’t need to be there for the English classes.
They’re a lot more flexible about stuff than I think most people expect.
Only thing you might want to consider is that there’s probably going to be a HUGE difference in your maturity level and that of your classmates.
Most kids are pretty sheltered here through school, so they’re still kind of immature even through the end of HS.
I ride the MRT with these guys every day, and when I think of one of them hanging out with, like, one of my nephews back home of the same age, there’s a real difference.
Anyway, I think it’s cool that you want to come back.
One way or another, you should be able to work it out.
Good luck, little dude.
I have a ROC passport, i heard most of those school like TAS requires you to have a foreign passport.
In my opinion, you won’t do very well in high school here unless you can read and write very well. There are some non-international private schools in Taipei that will teach anyone who will pay, but many of the students there don’t seem to try very hard. I don’t know how it could be possible to succeed in high school, since many researchers say it takes about two years for someone to get up to grade level in their non-native language. Maybe that 18 months could also be done, but you’re not little… Tenth grade plus 18 months puts you kind of close to graduation from high school… And where do you want to go to university?
If you really want to make it work, I guess you could. But it’s probably much easier to get into a Taiwanese university with a US diploma. If you finish high school in Taiwan, then acceptance to university will be done through the national university placement test. But if you have a US HS diploma, I think that acceptance to Taiwanese university is not as difficult. I’m not sure.
Could you be an exchange student for a semester?
The current law says that if you male and have an ROC passport, you will need to join the army if you don’t go to university, or you will have to join it when you graduate. Currently you have to be in the army for something like 14 months.
I realize it would be pretty hard, and might not work out to be such a good idea. I’m sort of at a cross road in my life, choosing between the US or taiwan. I’m scared because i don’t want to lose my identity as taiwanese, and become more of a american as i have been in the US as long as i lived in Taiwan this year. I hate being a outsider in taiwan because it is my home, and i don’t belong in the US either. I just really want to be there right now, i have been geting depressed over this matter for weeks now. I don’t know what i can do at this point…
And btw i’m not worried about army duty, i’m fine with serving my country.
[quote=“twocs”]In my opinion, you won’t do very well in high school here unless you can read and write very well. There are some non-international private schools in Taipei that will teach anyone who will pay, but many of the students there don’t seem to try very hard. I don’t know how it could be possible to succeed in high school, since many researchers say it takes about two years for someone to get up to grade level in their non-native language. Maybe that 18 months could also be done, but you’re not little… Tenth grade plus 18 months puts you kind of close to graduation from high school… And where do you want to go to university?
If you really want to make it work, I guess you could. But it’s probably much easier to get into a Taiwanese university with a US diploma. If you finish high school in Taiwan, then acceptance to university will be done through the national university placement test. But if you have a US HS diploma, I think that acceptance to Taiwanese university is not as difficult. I’m not sure.
Could you be an exchange student for a semester?
The current law says that if you male and have an ROC passport, you will need to join the army if you don’t go to university, or you will have to join it when you graduate. Currently you have to be in the army for something like 14 months.[/quote]
Yeah, these are all good points.
You could tough it out there 'til you graduate, then come back here and you’d be freaking Batman, you’d be able to anything.
Also, you’d be able to go back to the US for visits as needed if you didn’t want to do the Army time…
My professor’s daughter came to Taiwan last year, and she tried the local high school for a semester. They decided to keep her here but she’s not going to high school here. She’s doing distance high school in Canada, so I think she will get her Canadian HS diploma, but she can still live in Taiwan.
I left the US so now I have no green card and to return there I have to apply for a visa. Sometimes I wish I had become a US citizen since I lived there for 14 years and really felt attached to that country.
[quote=“twocs”]My professor’s daughter came to Taiwan last year, and she tried the local high school for a semester. They decided to keep her here but she’s not going to high school here. She’s doing distance high school in Canada, so I think she will get her Canadian HS diploma, but she can still live in Taiwan.
I left the US so now I have no green card and to return there I have to apply for a visa. Sometimes I wish I had become a US citizen since I lived there for 14 years and really felt attached to that country.[/quote]
More excellent advice.
Starbucks High School.
Wicked.
Oh god, I wish I’d been allowed to do that! I start some major shit to get on my school’s ‘distance learning’ program.
Just do it: it’ll be an adventure. And this is no comment whatever on your abilities, but isn’t Taiwanese high school difficult?
[quote=“Andrew0409”]I realize it would be pretty hard, and might not work out to be such a good idea. I’m sort of at a cross road in my life, choosing between the US or Taiwan. I’m scared because I don’t want to lose my identity as taiwanese, and become more of a American as I have been in the US as long as i lived in Taiwan this year. I hate being a outsider in taiwan because it is my home, and I don’t belong in the US either. I just really want to be there right now, I have been geting depressed over this matter for weeks now. I don’t know what i can do at this point…
And btw I’m not worried about army duty, I’m fine with serving my country.[/quote]
Hey dude, good luck, sometimes we question where we are in life, that’s natural, you are young so you have a lot of good times ahead! Why not finish high school in the US, you are still Taiwanese if you like Taiwanese food, speak Chinese/Taiwanese, have Taiwanese family and friends and like living in Taiwan, don’t sweat it too much. I was happy enough the last year or two in school, most people knuckle down and start to grow up fast…you will see… Finishing high school in US will give you better choices and if you go to college in the US it will be much better for you both ways (both living in US and coming back to Taiwan, Taiwanese respect foreign degrees more). That’s my idea…just make sure it’s Taiwan you miss and you are not just pissed off at school or your schoolmates…if you miss Taiwan maybe you can come back during school breaks…
Don’t move back yet Andrew. For God’s sake, no… not right now. At least finish off your last year in high school.
If you have a foreign citizenship, you can come back as a 橋身 and be admitted to top ranking school with only a B+ GPA. Years and years will be wasted in Taiwan trying to catch up with the rest of the students if you move back now. Writing is ESSENTIAL in high school here, no to mention you’ll have to face college entrance exam which will chew you alive if you haven’t been preparing for it.
If you’re depressed, it probably means you’re not doing enough sport. Go play basketball or bike, it’ll get your testosterone pumping.
All in all, suck it up!
Good luck young man.
I am doing the reverse on my kids, once they are thru junior high, they get sent back to my native country, whether they want it or not. (They want to).
In general the primary schools here are OK, no complaints. I am thinking about putting my girls through a private junior high, where the pressure isn’t so great, however we still have a few months to decide in.
The high schools here are terrible, lots of pressure, 18 hour days, and big classes. The main goal is to perpare you for the college entrance exam, and that’s means lots of drilling and lots of rote learning. Apart from improving your Chinese, don’t expect any meaningful progress in your academic prowess. Independent thinking is not a trait which is encouraged in the high schools here.
On the positive side, at least in the public high schools the teachers don’t hit you anymore, however it’s harder to say when you are in a private school. That said, if you end up in a “hitting” school, note that they hit the kids with poor marks, so if your written Chinese isn’t up to scratch, expect the teacher’s ruler to come in close and painful contact with your knuckles on a regular basis.
Also, I expect that you would prefer to be able to ener a good college and earn a decent degree, which is recognized and usuable all over the world. That would see you entering a top university here, which however will still offer the academic level of a smaller US college in most subjects.
In order to achieve this goal, you would have to be at the top of your class in every subject, and at the very least your Chinese would have to be on the level of your classmates from more or less day one if you are to achieve this goal.
Therefore, I second the other posters, when they try to steer you into finishing high school in the US and only then go to Taiwan. You will be able to get into Taida, Zhengda or another similarly ranked university much easier.
Moreover, you are in 11’th grade? I am not too familiar with the US education system, however that would mean that you merely got one year and a bit before you are through. You can see the end of your high school years, and why not just finish things up where you are, and try to aim for a B+ or better?
That’s my 2 cents, good luck whatever you decide to do.
I taught high school here for 4 years. I can safely say that if you were to ask the advice of a high school student, they would tell you to stay there. The education system here is “unique”. I’ve had several students do a year in the US and had a very difficult time re-adjusting when they came back.
Finish school in the US.
You are an ROC citizen right? So finish your H.school and do your college in the USA. Get that out of the way, then you can decide to come back and do something in Taiwan, but you will have your education out of the way. And many Taiwanese companies would be happy to hire you as a grad of a US school system.
So 5 more years in the USA bud.
It goes by fast .
Well, if it had been my kid,k Tommy’s response would have been the one s/he would hve got.
We can get a top notch education for free in Denmark, so why take an inferior product in Taiwan?
The locals are pining for overseas study, I kid you not.
(And I understand them).
I’ve helped a lot of students escape to greener pastures in Canadian or American high schools. I’ve seen ONE student come from the US to do high school in Taiwan, and she was absolutely miserable.
Do yourself a favour and stay where you are until you graduate.
Depends how screwed up your grades are in the US. If you’re headed to community college or dropping out of HS in the US, don’t think running to Taiwan is going to make life easier.
As for becoming less Taiwanese, that’s kind of nonsense. Just because your getting acculturated to the US, doesn’t mean you’re becoming less Taiwanese. Think of it as becoming uber-Taiwanese… 
I think it is kind of cool being a Taiwanese that can speak English and a few mainland dialects, because we have to mingle with those types in the USA…
I met a kid who did the same, and he hated it. His Mom was Taiwanese and his Dad was American. He was bilingual and had spent a few years in elementary school in Taiwan before moving to the US. When he arrived back in Taiwan at 15 years old to finish his high school there, he deplored it and the family ended up leaving after a year, mainly because of that.
Hi Andrew,
I think I’m kind of like you, except I was born here in the US. I’m also finishing 11th grade, and thinking about going back to Taiwan for the rest of high school or for university. I’m kind of struggling with the conflict of being in the US or being in Taiwan.
What I can tell you is that I’ve asked my friends who are ESL and from Taiwan here about going back and completing high school, and they’ve told me not to go back for high school even though I speak and type fluently since my writing is at a primary school level.
My friends are a bit less mature than their American-born counterparts because they are not exposed to the same media content or lifestyle in general, like someone before me said. So if you do go back, I’d look out for that. A lot of my friends don’t get “That’s what she said” jokes or “Your MOM” slurs, for example.
Unless you’re willing to go to an international school in Taiwan, I don’t think it would be worth it for you to go back now. The American school system is very unique, and you’re really close to earning your diploma.
Another option: You could apply to university in Taiwan in the fall, since you’ll probably be applying for other colleges anyways.
Or, research colleges that have study abroad opportunities in Taiwan, though you’d probably have to stay in the US university for a year at least before you are allowed to study abroad.
But anyways, good luck with your decision! I hope this helps somewhat…