how is the taiwanese school-system here?
-how many hours a day do the children attend school
-when does the semester/school year start and end
-how long do they have summervacation
-how is their schedule, what lessons do they focus more on (less…)
-how do the teachers “punish” children for bad behavior
my son is not nearly enough ready for any school (he’s only 2,5 months!!) but I have this idea that the danish school-system is way better than the taiwanese…
how is the Taiwanese school-system here?
I guess that depends on your view of education.
-how many hours a day do the children attend school
7:30am - 4:00pm in general. 1st and 2nd grade finish at around 12 and the rest of the elementary students have Wednesday and sometimes Friday afternoons off. Those exceptions don’t apply to private schools in general, and some junior high schools go until 5pm or later.
-when does the semester/school year start and end
Start - September, End - June
-how long do they have summervacation
2 months, July and August
-how is their schedule, what lessons do they focus more on (less…)
The focus is mainly on the core subjects - Chinese, math, science, English, history, geography, social studies, in about that order. They also have things like art, computers and music, but these cannot be taken as a subject.
-how do the teachers “punish” children for bad behavior
That depends on the teacher and school. Physical punishment is illegal, but it still happens in some places. Other than that its the general things like standing at the back of the class of some form of bribery (e.g. candy).
my son is not nearly enough ready for any school (he’s only 2,5 months!!) but I have this idea that the danish school-system is way better than the Taiwanese…
Like is said, it depends on your view or education. Taiwanese students learn a lot of things and get to very high levels, expecially in math and science. But the learning is often parrot fashion and students are generally not encouraged to think for themselves or be creative. I think the Taiwanese education can be good if used as a base and then supplemented. JdSmith has some interesting opinions on this subject and I’m sure he would be prepared to give you some advice.
Just my 2c worth … hope it helps!
teggs
If you have a good memory, you’re OK. Your understanding is secondary. So, basically there’s no education.
School starts at 7:50am til 4:00pm, and most of the primary schools here have activities afterwards i.e. soccer, rollerblades, arts and crafts etc… so your child could be in school up to 5:30pm everyday. It’s the best time of the day for the kids.
From September to June.
2 full months, July/August and also 3 weeks for CNY.
Main focus: Chinese, Math, Science, Geography, English, Nature and Art.
Although illegal here, physical punishment is very much in use up to high school, and then you have the “corner” and like the previous poster mentioned all kinds of bribery and scare tactics.
After having my child for 2 years in primary school here and having visited countless of other schools I’ve opted for home schooling, but my son loves to go to school so I changed him to another one, very small (10 kids per class) but keep up the homeschooling.
I think education here is a disaster and having worked a bit with the departement of education in Taiwan and seen how they "Trained their teachers, I cried for weeks… :help: :help: :help:
I guess at the end of the day, this is something you need to see for yourself and judge. This is a good place to start as quite a few people here are parents with kids at school so you’d be able to get a lot of opinions.
Good Luck
That’s what I’m doing too.
I was very worried about sending my son into the public school system here in Taiwan, but my husband is Taiwanese wants our kids to have a strong foundation in Chinese. I was a teacher in the U.S., so I began an extensive search for just the right school for him. It turns out that schools vary greatly depending on the principal and the teachers. One school I looked at was very rigid and teacher centered, with a focus on paper and pencil seatwork, while another school that was just ten minutes away was very progressive, with a play-oriented, child centered approach (I was looking at public kindergartens) with very dedicated, knowledgeable teachers. Needless to say, that’s where I sent him and he has a great time. There is never any kind of corporal punishment or harsh yelling- teachers are kind and gentle and really focus on using a lot of positive reinforcement and conflict resolution techniques rather than the traditional methods of controlling behavior. They have an emergent curriculum that comes from the kids’ interests and ideas. So, it pays to go and visit schools you are thinking of sending your kids to. There are some good schools/teachers out there who will really make the effort to give yoru child a great education. Meet with teachers and principals, ask lots of questions, stay and observe some classes. If they are unwilling to accommodate your requests, I would bet that it wouldn’t be a school you’d want to send your child to anyway. Good luck!