could you let me know the thread? they must changed something recently. iiuc, foreigners in Taipei were directed to register in the morning of the lottery day for non prioritized kids to join the lottery. it was so at least till 2018.
Every public school will be different. I think most have a kindergarten and some even have a preschool/daycare with it. At my school there is a kindergarten that takes about 30 students a year. A good number of directors and homeroom teachers put their kids in there. So, I assume they are high on the list. I’m not sure about us foreign teachers.
The principal usually has a lot of say if someone can bypass the list or if the school can open up the classes to more students than the max number. I’ve experienced this twice so far at my school. A foreigner wanted to send their two kids here one 5th grader and the other 1st. 1st grade was full, but the principal approved of the kid joining. The other time was just last semester and the principal denied it. So, I would say buddy up with them and always be on their good side. It might even be better to work at a smaller public school, so you can see the principal more often.
My school is about 900 students, 3 classes in each grade. I see my principal every day and talk to him. He speaks English and is very friendly. On the other hand at a larger school I had a camp at, the principal pretty much stayed in his office which was the entire top floor of the school.
A downside to small schools is that you will have to make more lessons. I have to make 6 lesson plans a week. Whereas my colleague at another school only makes 2 a week.
At public school when the homeroom teacher is not teaching, they are usually at their desk grading books or writing in communication books. A subject teacher usually comes to their classroom and teaches at this time. The homeroom teacher may still discipline students during the other class. It depends on how the subject teacher feels about it. From what I have seen the good homeroom teachers will always keep one eye on the class and discipline them.
The last few posts of this thread:
which you were involved in. I think in Taipei there isn’t a separate policy for foreigners, or it’s not made clear, so maybe you’re right and I was thinking of NTC.
I actually hadn’t thought if grade schools were full. What do non-employees do if a grade is full? Do they have to take their kid to another neighborhood school? I just assumed they made room for all the kids in the area.
What is the reason for that? Fewer classes, so you see one class more often?
So I think I can check homeroom teacher off my list. I couldn’t get any work done with another class going on. Also, even if I’m a subject teacher, it’s going to be really weird with a homeroom teacher in the room at the same time. I guess the same is true if there’s an assistant teacher. I get really self-conscious if another adult is watching me. I don’t mind if the room is full of CCTV cameras, but having someone else there makes me nervous. Probably better for discipline, though.
I see.
This is what I posted.
and this is your reply.
so, I thought you were talking on Taipei’s kindergartens.
yes.
Yes. If the principal doesn’t want to make an exception then they will have to go to a school in the area that has space. If no schools have space, then I think the government will temporarily raise the max students for that grade/class.
The chances are you will only see a class once a week. You usually need 18-20 teaching hours a week. So, if you are at a small school like me. You get assigned all the mid and high graders for one subject and then two grades for another subject like art. This will get you to about 18 hours a week. If you are at a large school, you might have 10 classes per grade so you only have to teach two grades.
You get used to it. Homeroom teachers don’t really care about you or what your teaching. Your coteachers on the other hand might judge you. In my experience they keep it to themselves and try to make the class great. The good ones will provide you with feedback on how to improve.
If you choose public school be prepared to have multiple coteachers, who may or may not speak English. I think the most I had was 12 in one school year. They all have different styles or ways of doing things, so you will need to be flexible.
When and where was it? In Taipei, foreigners’ kids could be accepted by principal’s discretion in the past, even if the school was full or not in their school area. they changed the rules, and foreign kids on ARCs are treated in the same way with local kids now, iiuc.
New Taipei City right on the boarder of Taipei City. First case was 2 years ago I think. I think they said that the kids would just be like observing and wouldn’t get a grade but they stayed for 1.5 years and one kid graduated. The other case was just earlier this semester. The principal said no and my school helped the parents find a school in the area that had room and also was part of the bilingual program.
So, there’s a homeroom teacher and a coteacher in the class. What is the role of the coteacher, and if I’m teaching the class, why do I have to conform to their way of doing things? I’ve taught with a coteacher before, but they mostly monitored the students and helped out a bit.
I don’t see why parents would put them in the school under those conditions.
Are the bilingual programs hard to get into?
The coteacher is there to help the students learn the content and to keep the students in line. Remember you won’t be teaching them English, you are teaching them a subject and that content comes first over English. Some coteachers might just want to do the class 50% in English and Chinese. Others might want more Chinese to make sure the students are learning. There are lots of different styles of coteaching, you might want to look some up.
The class isn’t solely yours. Actually the way it was explained to me a couple months ago, the class isn’t mine at all. I’m just like an assistant and out of all 19 classes I have there are only two that are solely mine. Also I’m not not in the assistant program either. Anyways your coteachers will know the students the best and should help you with your lesson planning so your material isn’t too hard for them.
No clue.
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Many schools in New Taipei have some kinds of “bilingual” programs.
Some of them would be full, some would not be.
This year 22 schools are expected to be full.
112 school year elementary school freshman full school pre-check list
Be careful of some of these. I started calling the main/office number for a lot of the public schools that had giant “international bilingual curriculum school!” banners up outside to ask if they wanted another foreign teacher…all five that I called told me they didn’t have any and weren’t planning to hire any either. Now, there are plenty of Taiwanese teachers who do speak excellent English, but I doubt the quality of a “bilingual international” public school if there aren’t even any “international” teachers…
Did I misunderstand, I thought you switched from public to private? Why, if you are, are you switching back?
You are correct, I left public and went to private, but I keep my options open. I was also curious, as it felt like overnight, 90% of all public schools in TW declared themselves “bilingual” and “international”. It appears they did just that — put up a banner declaring it so made it so…
Is calling schools directly something you’ve had success with before? Is it possible to apply directly? I imagine you speak Chinese fairly well.
I’ve never had success with calling public schools directly, though I haven’t tried that hard. I did directly call my current (private) school. But I think it was sheer dumb luck and timing of the universe that lead to me getting this job. All the public school jobs i had before I got through connections (either knowing the principal or someone who taught there). I don’t know if the MOE even allows that anymore — the FET program has gotten kinda out of control these last few years.
So, though you said it is a definitive no, you didn’t know on Taipei. As for Taipei, it is not maybe. It is a definitive yes.
I’m not sure why you’re bringing this up again. This question was settled a few days ago.
to say the highlighted part, because i confirmed it at doe.
Great, that’s good news. Thanks for doing that. Just to be clear, you confirmed with the Taipei department of education that the children of foreigners can apply to the admissions lottery of public school kindergartens?
I don’t suppose you also asked if the of foreign teachers got on the priority list the same as local teachers. That’s why I brought this up.
Either way, maybe you can share the information you got on the thread about kindergartens since it was just a minor issue here.
I brought it up here because somehow it sounded that public kindy is almost impossible for foreign kids but if parents are teaching at school they are given priority is a part of the reason you consider public teacher job. if it is not impossible or they don’t get any priority, you might have less reason. at that time i didn’t know whether you were thinking taipei or new taipei, so gave registration info on both cities, and maybe FETs are not included in both cities. if it is just an ancillary bonus point to be an FET at public school and not affect on your consideration, just ignore.
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