I went to check out a bilingual preschool in Taichung this morning, and it seems pretty nice. Very similar in many ways to what I am used to back in the U.S. Definitely very focused on giving the children a substantial variety of experiences, and I was impressed with their music room, art room, and general classrooms.
In fact, the only things I didn’t like were:
The toddler playground is TINY, no running around space. I’m going to check out another of their locations though, because I’ve heard it’s newer and bigger.
They do take the kids out on field trips on occasion, like maybe once every couple weeks. They have a bus that they use for this purpose, and of course they’re very careful to keep the kids safe and together. BUT, I just prefer the idea of the kids being inside the school grounds at all times.
I asked my cousin’s wife if this is a common thing - she takes her kids to another preschool. She said sometimes they have a field trip a week! So I was wondering, is this field-trip thing a common thing in Taiwan preschools? I realize that the purpose of them is to even further broaden the kids’ horizons, it’s simply that I would rather just know that I could go get them at any time at the school down the block from me - KWIM?
Would anyone else here have similar reservations, or am I just being completely overly paranoid? Is this field trip thing no big deal?
My daughter’s school always gives us notice and a permision slip to sign so I don’t worry too much. She loves to go. They don’t go too often. Maybe twice a school term. Last week they went to Tom Dragon, (a playroom) and now she is bugging me to take her again, but it is expensive.
My school does and encourages field trips although once a week seems a bit extreme. The older children in kindergarten do walk a block to a large neighborhood playground so they can get some fresh air (yes I am aware that we’re talking about Taipei here). I’ve done a few field trips with young children (2-4 years old) in the past including to the Nocturnal House in Taipei Zoo when we were learning about nocturnal animals last October, to the fire station while we were learning about community helpers (and a walk around the neighborhood to visit some shops to “buy” things during this unit), Fins during an under-the-sea unit, and a trip to Da’an Forest Park to fly some homemade kites during our weather unit. We have also done the obligatory field trip to the Aladdin Indoor Playground. We always have low adult-to-child ratios through parent volunteers and the number of teachers who attend (each class of children under 4 years old in my school has three teachers and on field trips, each adult is in care of no more than three children or two in the parents’ case) and the utmost precautions are taken to ensure safety both in transportation and in the actual field trip itself. The transportation museum and the natural science museums are also popular. We also have speakers come into our school such as doctors and dentists to talk about their jobs (health and wellness unit), and we even had Dr. Dog come to visit and talk about what they do and how to deal with dogs safely a few years ago…but that was with our older kids.
I can understand the desire for kids to remain in the school as a safety issue, but if the school you send your child to is as careful as my school is, it’s really not that bad and it is a very useful educational tool for your child to connect the outside world with what he or she is learning in the classroom.
[quote=“hether2”]
Would anyone else here have similar reservations, or am I just being completely overly paranoid? Is this field trip thing no big deal?[/quote]
Is your paranoia being influence by the recent school bus tragedy that involved the child who was left on the bus and died? If so that is understandable. Does your paranoia also involve a cultural aspect, meaning you feel little less control over the situation because your child in the hands of someone who’s culture has different approaches to child rearing?
It’s quite understandable to have a sense of paranoia especially if this is your first born, as you’ve never been a parent before. Perhaps, once you say what concerns you the most then you can find the answers for those concerns from the school as you’ve done with your relative. Field trips are positive in many aspects like Imaniou meantioned.
Yeah at the nursery where we sent our boy they had one huwai a week. Sometimes they’d just go to the “mountain” round the corner, or down the hill to the lake fishing, or even just round the community looking at flowers or something.
Namahottie, the kids are in their hands anyway, in our out of school.
But the wawa che :fume: really awful, tiny, seats not even screwed down sometimes never mind seatbelts (what are those?). Sometimes the boy would travel in a teacher’s car… and I don’t remember signing any sort of approval for that but I man the whole thing’s so laissez faire…
I’ve noticed at my son’s school that there are these black vans picking kids up to take them to Happy Marian. The tint is so dark I couldn’t see in at all. I wonder why it’s so dark. To keep out the heat or so that people can’t see how many kids are crammed in there?
Would it keep out the heat? Well, the glare, I suppose. But yeah they sure do love their tinted windows here.
In a country with no personal space and where privacy is apparently not valued, it’s odd how everyone shuts themselves off in their cars. If you wanted to wave people on, when driving, or thank them for a courtesy, you couldn’t; you can never really see the driver of the other vehicle, through the dark glass.
[quote=“braxtonhicks”]
I’ve noticed at my son’s school that there are these black vans picking kids up to take them to Happy Marian. The tint is so dark I couldn’t see in at all. I wonder why it’s so dark. To keep out the heat or so that people can’t see how many kids are crammed in there?[/quote]
Have you seen the school cram too many children into the bus? I work at Happy Marian and our school always rents two extra buses for field trips. Please PM me if you have any information about a school. I am sure Head Office would like to know about that. A specific date, an estimate of the amount of children would be useful. Thank you.
Darn, I should have known better than to mention names–sorry. No, actually I didn’t see kids crammed into those Happy Marian vans (tint was too dark to see anything really)–I just thought they were a little peculiar looking you know, like something out of a Spy Kids movie. And they were the after-school-pick-up vans, not on field trips. And the only reason I made that comment about maybe the vans being “crammed full of kids” was that I’ve seen other schools’ vans crammed full of kids, not necessarily at this particular school.
you know, like something out of a Spy Kids movie. And they were the after-school-pick-up vans, not on field trips. And the only reason I made that comment about maybe the vans being “crammed full of kids” was that I’ve seen other schools’ vans crammed full of kids, not necessarily at this particular school.