Hi,
I’ve just arrived in Taipei as an expat. My wife and 20-month old son (2 in March) are coming out in the New Year. At home in the UK our son goes to a day nursery 3 days a week, 8am to 4pm. I think my wife would like to find a similar arrangement over here.
Do I have any choices? Can anyone help?
Thanks.
Hi CJ and welcome to Taipei. What part of the city will you be living in? That will help in getting suggestions. If your will turn 2 in March and if you’re living in Tianmu, you can start looking at Tiger Tots. There’s also the Taipei Montessori, one on Tianmu North Road, and another in Xinyi District (can’t remember the address). A friend has her two year old enrolled at another place in Xinyi District and both girls seem happy there. You can try the “Family Forum” at parentpages.net/phpbb2/index.php and I’m sure you’ll get some addresses and suggestions.
Thanks,
I’m temporarily nr Gold’s Gym at the Fushing/Xinyi junction. However, everyone else who’s out here with my employer has pointed me to Tianmu as the “right” place!! So, I’ll be looking there no doubt as aa starter.
Does that give me any more options? I’d heard there was a Montessori in that area but couldn’t find any links to it anywhere…
I’ll also try that link that you’ve given.
Thanks so far 
There are 3 Montessoris it seems:
montessori.org.tw/p3.htm?sid=B1Jb1iVF
Have you looked at the other daycare thread further down? It seemed that there although there are good places opening up, some are truly awful. And the vast majority of kids of that kind of age go to nannies, not to actual daycare.
[quote=“CJ”]Thanks,
I’m temporarily nr Gold’s Gym at the Fuxing/Xinyi junction. However, everyone else who’s out here with my employer has pointed me to Tianmu as the “right” place!! So, I’ll be looking there no doubt as aa starter.
Does that give me any more options? I’d heard there was a Montessori in that area but couldn’t find any links to it anywhere…
I’ll also try that link that you’ve given.
Thanks so far [/quote]
Not to be commercial or anything, but just a block away at the corner of Xinyi and Dunhua, there’s this little ol’ school called Happy Kids which has been around for about ten years…
We only take kids beginning at the age of 2.5 years old, though, so I’m not sure how much of help this info will be. The teachers are all certified and it’s a child-centered curriculum based on NAEYC standard practice. If your little one won’t be old enough when you arrive, it’s still an option when he or she is a little bit older. From what I know about TYPA Tiger Tots, they have a similar age limit. There’s also a day-care center on Xin Yi Rd. Sec. 2 and Shao Xing S. St. I go by it when I go home by taxi. They take in younger kids than us, but I don’t think they are Montessori beyond the name of their school. Then again, that’s pretty much the story for a lot of preschools with the name “Montessori” or “American” in them…or worse “Montessori American”. It’s simply a way of looking more prestigious to parents who are familiar with the philosophy (or at least aware of the name of the philosophy) but not knowledgeable about its practices, yet still force 3-year-olds to memorize word lists and do workbooks, instead of learning through play and community building activities like circle time.
Sorry to wax soapboxy on you all about the quality of preschools in Taiwan. 
Imani, my wife was saying that there are loads of Montessoris and many fakes, and now I read this post of yours. But when I looked on the web I just found montessori.org.tw with its 3 schools. I know nothing about Montessori methods or philosophy (other than what I’ve now read on their site), but I knew the name and took it to be the taiwan branch of some international montessori setup.
I guess that’s exactly the trap they would hope I’d fall into?!
Our little one is with a baomu (nanny) at the moment, and although she’s perfect in many ways, providing a large, safe environment for half a dozen kids to run around, I’m starting to think he would benefit from more structured play (defo not memorization or workbooks – he’s only 19 months! montessori.org.tw takes even younger kids… just have to be able to walk… so I guess I will look into it.
But you really would not recommend them?
Where/how did you find the nanny? Through an agency?
My wife found her through a forum; I’m not sure if there were other postings there. I’ll ask her if you like.
Our nanny would probably take one more. But it’s in Nangang, nowhere near Tianmu or the city centre. Of course you might well want to consider moving to Lotus Hill or one of the other communities out this way when your family arrive; but even from our place it’s a good 20 min drive.
Hi…I am from USA, and understand the importance of having a “mother’s day out” (like it’s called back home) where you drop off the kid a couple times a week…
Actually, I have an English school here in Taipei, and we are opening our “Little Beginners” classes which is everyday from 8:00-12:00 M-F. However, we do accept the drop in kids who come a couple days a week. Currently, we are just having it be for four hours, but in the near future, there will be the option of having it until 4:00 in the afternoon.
We are located near the Technology Building MRT near Fuxing and Heping Road. If you are interested, let me know and we can talk further.
Bonnie
You may ask at the European school in Taipei. The German school, which is part of it, has a so called “Pampers League”, which is part of the kindergarten. Probably the English school offers it too. However, I have no idea from when to when each day. But it might be worthwhile to ask. Other schools - often English/American kindergartens offer it too, as it is common in Taiwan for both partents to work during daytime. I don’t recommend a nanny. Too many bad news recently about such ‘caretakers’.
What’s an American/English kindergarten? You just mean a standard Taiwan kindy with English lessons and foreign teachers? I hardly think that’s what the OP had in mind, and as has already been said most of these places only cater for older children.
The bad news I’ve been hearing recently has mostly been about kindergartens, not nannies.
Happy Kids is an actual nursery/preschool, not some English school gimmick, thus why they are very strict about the teachers (foreign and Taiwanese) having a strong background in education, especially ECE. It is in English though, so if you want your kid to come out speaking fluent Chinese, this isn’t really the school to get that although I can think of one little boy who started here speaking only Taiwanese at the age of 2 and graduated from kindergarten fluent in English and pretty fluent in Chinese.
In the time I have been with the school, I have taught kids from several different countries including New Zealand, the UK, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the Maritius (sp?) Islands, South Korea, France, and the US. I’m sure there have been other nationalities go through the school as well.
It’s not a Montessori program although we use some Montessori manipulatives. It’s center-learning, theme-driven, and child-centered curriculum that covers social, gross and fine motor, language, literacy, numeracy, cognitive, and self-help skills through age-appropriate activities and materials.
Not many “preschools” (thinly-veiled language schools often, especially with chain schools like Hess, Happy Marian, etc) can say they follow the guidelines set by the NAEYC (the National Association for the Education of Young Children, in the United States). CJ, I wish you luck in finding appropriate childcare here in Taiwan. Feel free to stop by our school and take a look if you are interested in options for the near future when your child is a little bit older. Cheers.
Imani I’ve looked at the website and read what you’ve said and I think it sounds great. Can you post or PM the prices do you think? (I bet the price rules it out for us, it sounds too good to be true)
Our son goes to a “Nursery” back home in the UK, 3 days a week, 08:00 to 16:30. He loves it and, as he’s an only one, it’s important to be interacting with other kids.
The Tiger Tots at TYPA seems to take kids from 2 and upwards - does anyone have direct experience of those classes?
What you are offering, ImaniOU sounds great. Can you PM me some more details pls.
Thanks for all the helpful replies.
Chris.