Does anyone know about home-schooling, alternative education (eg. Steiner, Montessori, etc.), or serious private schooling (ie. schools that don’t simply do a more intense version of the already inane Taiwanese way, but those that do, for instance, the I.B.) in this country?[/quote]
Sorry this is such a late reply. I never saw this until I was just digging around.
I’m not familiar with any Steiner schools, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist here in Taiwan. There are plenty of options for Montessori schools. The hard part is that they’re still considered after school programs AND the 1-3 graders still have an insane amount of homework to do. Many schools run a good elementary program, but it’s still stuck being in the context of the children having to finish their homework first, at least from what I have seen. Montessori schools are finally coming together to work to change that, but it’s not likely to happen any time soon. Right now, we’re working on creative ways to still have some Montessori, despite the challenges.
For 3-6, (Pre-K and K) the story is the same as any other place there is Montessori: Check it out. Be sure to take a long observation. Many schools have the materials and let the children work, but they don’t get the full 2.5-3 hour free work period. This has a big impact on the school day and concentration levels for the child. So you might see students working when you visit, but they might be working for 1/2 hour or 45 minutes, then stopping. I’m saying that as a caution no matter where you look…it’s not a Taiwan caution, but a Montessori one.
[quote=“Puppet”]Tere are plenty of options for Montessori schools. The hard part is that they’re still considered after school programs AND the 1-3 graders still have an insane amount of homework to do. Many schools run a good elementary program, but it’s still stuck being in the context of the children having to finish their homework first, at least from what I have seen. Montessori schools are finally coming together to work to change that, but it’s not likely to happen any time soon. Right now, we’re working on creative ways to still have some Montessori, despite the challenges.
For 3-6, (Pre-K and K) the story is the same as any other place there is Montessori: Check it out. Be sure to take a long observation. Many schools have the materials and let the children work, but they don’t get the full 2.5-3 hour free work period. This has a big impact on the school day and concentration levels for the child. So you might see students working when you visit, but they might be working for 1/2 hour or 45 minutes, then stopping. I’m saying that as a caution no matter where you look…it’s not a Taiwan caution, but a Montessori one.[/quote]
I know a Montessori preschool in Banqiao. I’ve known the owner and her family for four and a half years now (ever since the school started). The owner has proper AMS accreditation (美國AMS 3-6合格教師), as a result of being trained in San Francisco and having undertaken further Montessori studies at the accredited training center here in Taiwan. This kindy takes children from 2 to 8 years old (they typically ‘graduate’ at 7 or 8, whatever year level that is here).
Over the last couple of years the local Hess kindergarten finally closed down after dissatisfied parents pulled their kids out. This Montessori school is still going after four and a half years, and is well supported by the local community. They welcome visitors.
I know a Montessori preschool in Banqiao. I’ve known the owner and her family for four and a half years now (ever since the school started). The owner has proper AMS accreditation (美國AMS 3-6合格教師), as a result of being trained in San Francisco and having undertaken further Montessori studies at the accredited training center here in Taiwan. This kindy takes children from 2 to 8 years old (they typically ‘graduate’ at 7 or 8, whatever year level that is here).
Over the last couple of years the local Hess kindergarten finally closed down after dissatisfied parents pulled their kids out. This Montessori school is still going after four and a half years, and is well supported by the local community. They welcome visitors.[/quote]
I’d love to check them out. I am going to try to take a tour of some of the schools to observe the next few months. I’ll keep them high on my list.
Feel free to contact me if you’d like to be introduced when you go there. The owner speaks good English, two of the teachers pretty much don’t speak any, and one of the others has conversational English.
Sounds good. There’s a good chance they’ll know me or at least know about me if she had contact with the AMS training center here in Taiwan. But it would be good to have a contact first, since there are people who have met me that I simply can’t remember.
Do you belong to the AMS center in Taiwan? I’ve long wanted to do their course, but I just can’t manage to get that amount of time off work unfortunately.
The time for classes is easy - it’s on the weekends. It’s putting the albums together that is a nightmare. Who knew there could be a few hundred pages written about spooning, sorting, and polishing activities?
A great thing happened to me the other day. I recently set up a full Montessori classroom to teach English and we have had students in to work in there. I had a group of 3 year olds (it’s not mixed age grouping yet in that classroom) and they had been working for about a half hour. Another child (6 years old) came in and said, “Time to go outside and play” (in Chinese, of course) One of the three year olds said, “Not now. We’re working” and not one 3 year old left. They stayed there until they HAD to go (I had to leave early that day).
So I’m trying to find exactly how to use Montessori to teach ESL. It’s worked on some level, but until I have a regular class happening there, the children will still not be normalized. But I’m excited as to what I see happening so far.
