Also interested in the elementary schools / other options, specifically for kids with no Chinese.

No idea whatsoever, but young kids will pick up Chinese fairly quickly.

There's some sort of International English Village on Yule St near NCKU, I have no idea if it's any good but it looks like an International Elementary school. I've never found them online before though.

There are three international schools in Taiwan. One in Taipei. One in Taichuang and one in Kaoshiung. To go to one of these, you need to be a foreign citizen or hold two passports. These schools are incredibly expensive though. My wife said about $300,000 a semester.

The International English Village on Yule Street is just an advertisement for a summer camp.

Nan Ke, Chong Ming and BaoRen Elementary schools apparently have bilingual programs. Nan Ke would be quite a commute every morning, Bao Ren is a catholic school and Chong Ming apparently gives way more homework than most elementary schools.

My daughter is 1 1/2 and attracts drooling throngs of enamoured fans everywhere we go. It's disgustingly fabulous! Pretty sure we'll have a monster on our hands soon. X D Because of her age I can't directly recommend anything but a good daycare in East District. But due to teaching experience and input from friends:

My personal impression of the Chong Ming bilingual program is... a load of super-competitive Taiwanese parents pushing their kids to become native English speakers in an elite class for reasons I'm not completely aware of, besides bragging rights. Yes, some of them have plans to return to an English-speaking country and yes, some of those kids have returned from an extended stay abroad and would like to retain their good basis in English. But I'm not at all convinced my kid should EVER set foot in that place. Seriously. Some pressure is good. But nine-year-olds shouldn't get chronic stress headaches.

Do correct me if I'm wrong.

On that note, I'll be interested to see any recommendations this community has for kindergartens. I've heard Bao Ren is good but have no proof.

I have two kids, the youngest six going on seven so he is in the last year of kindy and one eight going on nine in second grade of elementary. Both my kids attended bow run kindie. Not because of bilingual or English but because it is one of the only schools with lots of outdoor space. they have pelnty of slides, a grass playground and just plenty of running room. They have a great montessori class and an English class in as much they have more activities in English and the main thing is if your child doesn't understand then the teacher can explain in English as a last resort.
My eldest goes to Sun lee opp kidsland sesame street. There is no special English class but again he loves it because of the sport and music facilties ( Including a swimming pool). They also have a parent help faciltiy, that if the child needs help in catching up, volunteer parents will sit and help them during class time. What pleased me is that they have a bag-weight-rule to stop them being to heavy and so no wheely bags just on your back.
Bowrun elementary have a Bilingual program but as said before here you have to watch for the prestige but the actual program is good using the same books for first grade as an American school would for first grade and so on.

There are more international schools than stated above. I believe the writer above means Morrisson School in Koahsiung and Taichung. In Koahsiung there is also Koahsiung American school. In Taipei there is TAS for Americans there is also a British/European school. These schools need a foreign passport.

If Robert reads this maybe he could write about the teachers training school. I'veforgotten the proper name for it but it is cool as they do more hands on activities and field trips like foreign schools.

If you want an more indepth write up or have specific questions then fire away I will try to help.

alun

This "teachers training school" Robert knows about, is it in Tainan?
I am looking for a school for my daughter(8-9), for one semester per year only. English is her second language, Chinese she forgot deliberately after a very traumatic experience she had during her one year stay in a Taiwanese public kindergarten at the age of five.
She will keep enrolled in her school back home.
To cut the long story short, I am looking for a school, where she won't be treated as a freak, or forced to sing love songs to abusive teachers.

What school was abusive? Just so we know not to have our kids go there?

There is apparently a good kindergarten at Chen Da University. Would that be the teacher training program you mentioned?
I just want a school where my kid can be a kid. I don't want tests or homework for a kindy kid. I don't even care if he goes to an English class. I just want him to have a fun, interactive learning environment.

I have heard a lot of bad things about Chong Ming, too. Most of it from teachers that have worked there. Apparently, there are a lot of nightmarish-like parents at the school, who stop the program from really being efficient.

Where is the Sun Lee Opp Kidsland Sesame Street?
How much are most kindergartens?

I think most schools here are pretty decent. I haven't heard any horror stories about abusive schools. I think the key is to get to know the teacher. Be involved.

That being said, there seems to be schools that encourage teachers to give more homework, namely Chong Ming and Yong Fu.

My son does go to the Teacher's College. Their reputation is that of a school that requires less homework and encourages more creativity. An example of that in practice is while most schools give summer/winter homework worksheets and booklets, theirs tend to be more reports, outside reading, that type of stuff. I also like the big open spaces there. Apparently the weakness of the school is that it's softer on academics so by the time students get to junior high, they have to play catch up in maths and sciences. I don't know how true this is but that's what they say. I'm sure it depends from kid to kid and teacher to teacher. On the plus side, they do have a large campus, swimming pool and grass and trees.

As for kindies, I've worked in many. There's some good ones in different price ranges but you're looking at probably around NT$10,000/month including books, fees, etc. for most aesthetically pleasing ones ie. more space, more staff to maintain appearances. There's great teachers in most of them. Once you narrow your choices down to 2 or 3, the key would be to talk to other parents of kids that go to the school and figure out which teacher would be most suitable for your kid. Some parents may prefer stricter teachers, more academically oriented classes or a teacher who enjoys the arts more.

Again, you've gotta talk to the teachers and get to know the curriculum. Once you understand what the teachers and courses are like you can compliment their education or do further review at home if you like. It's hard to find a really bad school or teacher here, in my experience, but you do have to figure out which one has goals and methods closest to what you and your child would prefer.

I agree - I haven't heard of any abusive schools - just teachers. Communication and research should be the best way to avoid such a situation.

To clarify, is Teacher's College kindy or elementary? Or both?

Question about Bao Ren: I understand this is a Christian school? How much Jesus-talk happens there? By this I mean, as a "survivor" of Catholic schools myself, I'm not sure how comfy I feel sending my kid to a religious school even if it delivers high-quality programs. Are the kids forced to sit through church services? Do they pray before each meal/class/bathroom break? Any info on this would be appreciated.

Also, to go back to Neotribe's original post on this thread, we decided to stay in Taiwan and raise our daughter here for a lot of reasons. I hear the same stories back home about making ends meet. Between the unbelievable cost of medical care in the US and the downward spiral of the public education system, I'm not sure why we'd relocate unless we got some really awesome jobs there - and even then we'd probably think twice. And raising our daughter in a trilingual environment is such an opportunity! Honestly, we won't be going back to the States unless there's some kind of apocalyptic disaster.

The school is located in Taipei County (直潭國小)

We have children in Baoren and they love it. We love it too, not just because they love it and are very happy, but because we feel the balance is right. Yes, they have homework, but very little of it comes home. Our policy is that they stay after in anchingbaan and finish it there. Usually only about an hour or so a day, not that bad. The teachers are wonderful, were immensely helpful as we were looking for a school, which is one of the reasons we picked it.

PM if you want more info, but we have been very happy with Baoren and would highly recommend it. One note, though. The kids would have to be close to natively fluent in Chinese. We came from another country where they were in a bilingual Mandarin program and thus fairly fluent.

I think several of us are interested in the answer, so I don't want to PM.

Is Baoren very religious? I would rather my son wasn't taught religion.

east district daycare
hi foreignemmy,
Could you tell me more about the daycare in East District that you recommend--name, location, price, phone number, etc.? Also, do you know if any of the staff speak English? Thanks for your help!

My daughter is 5 1/2, Im a single mom and since age 2 1/2 she has attended the same preschool/kindy Im working at, which is prob the most expensive one in Tainan (if I didnt work here w/o a discount, I wouldnt be able to afford it). She is fluent in Mandarin and has been learning basic characters (half day English, half Mandarin). She will start elementary school August 2012 and I am just going to send her to a local public one here in Anping where we live. I want her to go to Simen Elementary school in Anping as its more activity oriented rather than academic, sailing classes, dance. I just dont know the process of going about enrolling her, if anyone can help regarding enrolling in public schools.

She used to get crazy amounts of attention (well she still does, but I guess she's used to it now), especially with blue eyes and blondish hair. I hated people taking her photos w/asking (actually its illegal to take photos of children w/o parental consent) or giving her candy (popping the crap into her mouth) w/o asking me, as she has a blood sugar sensitivity. I literally had to have a name tag in Chinese read "dont feed me candy" whenever we went to the store. She also didnt liked to be touched by strangers. I didnt want her to get used to being constantly objectified, but now she understands the culture (language helps) and she can tell people herself dont touch me or dont take my picture (most of the time she will), she found her voice and sense of boundaries so it has all been educational and of course the majory of interactions w/ locals is great, the majory of our friends are Taiwanese w/kids her age.

I have a blog about our life here:
http://kathy-benavides.blogspot.com

I have 7 Australian thoroughbreds, not mixed race. If you have a Taiwanese wife then it's actually pretty easy for you to do it here.
Raising children here is not hard. We're from Australia and my wife and I have some Chinese, though it's gone rusty since we studied at Cheng Kong.
The children will pick up the language fantastically in their first year at school. The major issue will come later on when you face the pressure of Middle School and the competitive nature of the demands on successful students. We have had to pull ours out of school at Grade 8 (not being able to help them with their homework) and use our home country's Distance Education Center to ensure they have relevant qualifications for Australia, to deal with the eventual requirement to leave Taiwan when they turn 20.
We still have 3 younger ones in a local Chinese elementary school and are toying with idea of allowing them to go for it in the Middle School system.
There is a restricted entry English department of the Nan Ke Science Park Experimental School out in Hsin Shr. It requires parents to have a Master's degree or work in the Science Park and prefers Chinese nationals coming from overseas. It costs about $3,000 USD annually. The other close schools are in Jia Yi (I think) = Victoria Academy and then either of the 2 expensive ones in Kaohsiung. (Around $400,000 NTD per year tuition alone)

Sure you can survive here. I just got my APRC and my wife will receive hers gratis, (I had to pay taxes for 5 years here to get it) but your children won't automatically qualify.

One of my students' fathers is an official in the Tainan Municipal Education Department and overseas all of the local elementary schools.

I mentioned to him that there are many expats in Tainan with questions regarding school placement. Being the nice guy he really is, he right away offered to provide assistance to those needing help finding the right school and with enrollment.

He speaks some English and will have me interpret if otherwise needed. However, as he is a very busy guy, I did not ask for his permission to post his contact details on the TB.

Anyone needing help with PUBLIC schools can PM me for further details.

Please note that private/non-government schools such as Bao-Ren, Nan Ke (Science Park) or the NTNU Affiliated Elementary School (Nan Fu Hsiao) does not fall under the Tainan City Municipality so not much help can be given there. Advice could be offered though.

Jay

Kathy,

See my earlier post and PM me, if you want help with enrollment.

Jay

Yo dudes an dudesses. all of this info about schools is great. I have another question. My daughter is 3 and is fluent in english mandarin and taiwanese. I think she will run into a problem because she was born on sept 24 which I think will make her a late candidate to enter elementary school. she would be 3 weeks late. anyone experience this kind of problem before? shuaige

Dyogi, so so sorry for this slow reply! Took a long vacation and forgot all about Tainan Bulletin!
That daycare is Yo Jer Bao Bao at 113 Yu Shao Rd.
We are very pleased with our daughter's care there. A couple of the ladies there speak limited English, enough for day-to-day stuff but not enough to depend on totally. My husband is Taiwanese so between my crap Chinese and him - we had no probs. I love those ladies! So does my daughter!

Well, I think any school is good these days lesser kids. lesser stress on the teachers, that is good.
Of cause people have their personal preferences but beside that schools here are actually pretty good.
Except senior high school my kids went through the regular school system.
Senior high school we chose a school in Taipei, private. The actual school in the morning was as ordinary as it can be but for the whole afternoon till night they attended a special art school for drumming, dance, music, KongFu,...
the whole Chinese culture thing, with a great focus on human values, without any religious stuff attached.
My daughter, who is now in Germany and wants to study music there, didn't turn into a Chinese person through that education, I think she just became a really cool person. Having said that, only since I know how sensitive some expats about this element are.
I personally never cared about it too much, too busy and to lazy. I thought them my values, that worked, the rest is their own choice anyways.

On the note of getting special attention, well folks thats a tough one but in recent years that has been also a bit less drastic as it once was. I know it is still irritating but hey this is Taiwan.

Once my daughter expressed a certain frustration, that she was asked all these questions and tells them either in Chinese or Taiwanese she was born and raised here only but that they kept asking her all these typical tiring questions, "Do you like the food here?", etc. She thinks that that is really too much but she knows her manners, is a nice and polite girl and initially will answer you.

My sun on the other hand looks at you with that wired face and usually just walks away but then at other times when I am not present or present in his mind, may say something in Taiwanese I'd rather prefer not to understand ;) , you know "boys", for which I had to go to school and listen to the teacher. :)

By the way pointless to make a big thing about it, all I ever did was supporting the teacher to keep these wild teenage boys in line. I am so glad that I forgot, how I once was.

Good luck!

I agree with you....as a teacher at a public elementary school.