Following this break, I think I’m going to need to seek out one of those free lawyers at the courthouse and get someone who can understand the run-on sentences that are Taiwanese laws to translate them even into sentences that don’t lack flow of logic, open-to-interpretation wording, and punctuation.
3 convictions of requisite seriousness (!) and they deport you.
Nothing on the books, of course, and you didn’t hear it from me 
I was interested in starting an immersion kindergarten a few years ago. I found it was dang near impossible. Since then I have been running a buxiban for kids aged 3 to 6. The rules against teaching English in Kindergarten are pretty clear: No ABCs, no writing, no Reading practice. Singing English songs and dancing English dances are allowed. Explicit instruction in English is “harmful” for the children. Its some BS.
Buxibans are free to torture the little ones with endless test and examinations. Until recently, the law prohibited buxibans from teaching kids aged 3-6 (in some areas it still might). Now the only legal distinctions between a buxiban and a kindergarten are the teacher requirements and a prohibition against eating and sleeping in buxibans.
I would love to see major changes in the law what would allow me to open a proper kindergarten but I don’t hold out hope. Registering my buxiban has been a royal pain in the neck so I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to register a new kindergarten.
Because of the open work rights you wouldn’t get deported. However, I wouldn’t swear on that. I recall the fine being 180k, but I’ve never heard of anyone with open work rights getting fined. The JFRV/APRC kindy teaching guys I know get ignored during raids. But then I’m not sure how serious the raids are anyway.
sweaty palms…
So if I open a Montessori primary (age 3-6) buxiban, I could, conceivably, run the classes in English only and not be breaking any laws?
“We are a cram school that teaches life skills and independence with English as the medium of instruction”.
I just can’t register as a kindy, correct? What happens if I teach letter sounds but not letter names? Spelling based on those letter sounds (not the ABCs) without explicitly teaching writing? That’s very much how Montessori works at that age. I feel like this is something that I could find a lot of loopholes and do legally if I get myself a moderately decent lawyer
yes, you right.
Where is the exemption for foreign students? (It rings a bell, but faintly…)
I think 全日外語教學 means operating the class in foreign language all days, not teaching the language as a subject all days. Just my guess, though.
if it is a half day class without nap and lunch, it could be legal, though de facto kindergarten is illegal.
In Taipei, the 台北市補習教育事業協會 are the people who know how to jump through the hoops.
So if I ran my classes from 1:30pm to 4:30 pm, after the kiddos have had their naps and lunch, I could call it “half day” class and not be a de facto kindergarten
@nz If you opened a buxiban you would be free to teach basically whatever you want. Only kindergartens have the prohibition against explicit instruction of English.
You could have an all day buxiban with kids that practice intermittent fasting.
Ah, so to have a kindergarten-for-foreigners, first you need a school-for-foreigners, and you need approval from MOFA as well as the city/county government. Once you have all that, you can make your kindergarten-for-foreigners operate in whatever language you want… as long as you comply with the curriculum of the school’s “home country”, whatever that is. So I guess no High Valyrian classes, then. 
And you need to limit enrollment “primarily” to citizens of the “home country”. 
But possibly good news: (1) there’s some kind of special tax deal, and (2) if the “home country” has a treaty with Taiwan with special rules for international schools, the treaty trumps the MOE’s regulations.
Actually Tando already linked to it in post #2 (I read it too fast the first time to notice!). Here it is again.
I agree with Tando that 全日⋯之外語教學 would include English immersion.
I hope that’s a joke. The internet makes it hard to tell sometimes. 
Exactly. Any time they want to 處分 you, they need a 法律依據 for it, and while there is a fine plus deportation in the ESA for working while foreign without a permit/exemption, that one doesn’t apply if you have an OWP, and there’s nothing in the ECECA about deportation, though as we said there is a fine for teaching without the right credentials.
If you happen to be breaking some other law (not the ESA and not the ECECA), and the relevant authorities happen to find out, that’s another story.
Which courthouse is that?
If you mean the “litigation counselors” at the Taipei District Court, they’re not there to give legal advice in the ordinary sense. They advise you with procedural issues like which form to use (and occasionally get that wrong).
There are free lawyers at Taipei City Hall among other places. I suppose the TDC may have changed since the last time I was there, or maybe they have a room full of lawyers giving free advice that I never noticed. 
translate them even into sentences that don’t lack flow of logic, open-to-interpretation wording, and punctuation
Let us know how it goes!
They might be 實習ing to become lawyers, but you arrange to meet with them at specific times and they help with whatever legal issues you have. I don’t know how sensible or knowledgeable they actually are, I just know they exist and people have suggested I contact them in the past. I’ll find out after the holiday is over and let everyone know how it all goes.
Maybe the law will change after Taiwan makes English an official national language, if that ever happens? It would no longer be considered 外語.
From Personal Experience:
Years ago when I first arrived in Taiwan, a buxiban I was working for started walking over kindergarten students (3-5 years old) from the next door kindy for 2-3 classes a week. These teaching hours were part of my contract and when I asked my employer about the law she replied “oh its fine just sing and dance with them, no books”.
Sure enough about two weeks after classes started we had an unexpected drop in from a member of the NIA as well as the MOE. Two very nice ladies actually. I was in the middle of class when both women entered, took photos immediately of what I was doing, told me to continue my lesson (a song and dance about fruits), then watched for about 5 minutes and peeked around then exited the classroom.
When I walked out of the classroom and into the main office both women and my boss were sitting and chatting. My boss was the first to speak and said “don’t worry you are not in trouble they will explain”. The woman from the NIA spoke first and asked to see my ARC. She saw the address assigned to work permit was the same as the buxiban’s. She made note of it and said “good good”. The woman from the MOE then asked me if I was familiar with the rules regarding teaching children under the age of 6 English. I told her I was new to Taiwan and had heard it was a grey area but was unsure about the rule.
She then explained that 1) I am lucky the students were being walked over to the buxiban and I was not caught teaching at the kindergarten itself. If that were the case, the NIA officer could have me deported for teaching at an address different than my ARC. 2) The lesson they observed was singing and dancing, no reading books, textbooks, or writing materials were in the classroom which is not against any MOE policy. 3) The school would be given a warning for having students under the age of 6 taking classes before 4 pm. She explained buxibans can have students under 7 but only after normal school hours. They cannot have kindergarten day class, but evening classes, taught without books or writing instruction would be allowed.
The classes were changed from 2 oclock to 430 and went on for years without any issues. Hope that helps clarify some of the grey area.
Has anyone else experience something like this? Please share if you have!
They should hire ‘English entertainers’, Native English speaking ‘clowns’ instead of ‘teachers’.
I’ve been teaching kids in my buxiban for many years before 4:00. All of them between 3 and 6. I do remember reading somewhere that you can’t have a buxiban class during school hours but figured it didn’t apply to me because kindergarten isn’t mandatory. I also believe that buxibans can teach English any way they want but kindergartens have more restrictions (i.e. no reading, no writing, only singing and dancing)
Thanks for the insight. 