Original TItle: Losing my mind in Chia-yi…
Please help! Two weeks ago, I moved from Taipei to Chia-yi with my wife because of her job. I thought there would at least be one language school in this city to continue my studies, but there is nothing! Not one! How do the foreigners learn Chinese here? An Australian woman told me there is a Taiwanese woman who teaches privately… for NT$900/1.5 hr lesson. Are these people crazy? :loco: I need a tutor. Please help!
I had a great teacher when I lived in Jiayi (12 years ago). Her name was Liu Haihong (Sea Rainbow), and she had taught at Jiayi boys’s high school (Jiayi Gaozhong) for years and years. Her father was a mainlander (a general in the ROC Air Force), so she never picked up the Taiwan accent - her Mandarin was beautiful. If you have any Chinese friends in Jiayi, you might be able to track her down by calling the high school. I forget what she charged, but I remember feeling that it was worth it. She knew how to teach Mandarin. I learned a lot from her.
PS $600NT/hour for a one-on-one class with a qualified teacher is a bargain. Who’s crazy? :loco:
PPS This woman is a graduate from Tai-Da, at a time when that meant something…
Thanks for the information Maoman. I will try to find her. I agree that NT$600/hr is alright for a VERY QUALIFIED teacher. However, this lady is not a qualified teacher. Some of her students have complained to me that she does not know how to teach at all! For a non-qualified teacher, $600/hr is insane. I could spend $200/hr and have a betel nut girl teach me Chinese if I wanted a non-qualified teacher. She’d probably be cuter, too. 
P.S. In Taipei, I had “qualified” Shi-da teachers offer me lessons for $300/hr.