Module 2 · October 2026
The School Day & the Calendar
Module 1 gave you the people. This one gives you the clock. Most first-year frustration is not cultural — it is the simple fact that nobody handed you the calendar, and the calendar is where every decision in a Taiwanese school actually lives.
作息與行事曆：學年結構、段考、補課日、大型活動，以及如何在這樣的節奏裡排你的課。
This is not an evaluation
Your score is shown only to you. It is never shared with your school, your co-teacher, or the Education Department, and it has no connection to your contract renewal or any performance review.
We report only anonymous group statistics, so we know which topics to explain better at the next meeting. Retakes are unlimited and are not recorded.
本測驗與任何考評、續聘無關。個人分數只有你自己看得到。可無限次重做。
The shape of the year
| Term | Roughly | What fills it |
|---|---|---|
| 上學期 First semester | Late August / early September → mid or late January | Opening ceremony, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Tenth, sports day or school anniversary, two or three exam periods, closing ceremony. |
| 寒假 Winter vacation | Late January → mid February | Around three weeks, timed around Lunar New Year. Whether you work depends on your contract — often a 返校日 (return-to-school day) or a winter camp. |
| 下學期 Second semester | Mid February → end of June | 228, Children's Day and Tomb Sweeping, Dragon Boat Festival, parent meetings, field trips, graduation, closing ceremony. |
| 暑假 Summer vacation | July → August | Summer camps, planning, and — if you are leaving — the six-week checklist from Module 1. |
The trap: make-up school days 補課日
Some Saturdays are working school days.
When a national holiday falls next to a weekend, Taiwan often bridges the gap to create a longer break — and then makes up the lost day on a Saturday. That Saturday is a normal school day: full timetable, full attendance, and you are expected to be there.
These dates are set long in advance and published on the school calendar (行事曆). Missing one because you assumed Saturday was free is the most common avoidable mistake of a first year — and the least forgivable, because the date was on a document you were given in week one.
Exam periods 段考
Each semester has two or three 段考 (periodic exams), plus a final. During exam periods the timetable is rewritten: your English class may be shortened, moved, merged, or canceled outright, sometimes with a day's notice.
The practical consequence: do not schedule anything that depends on continuity into an exam week. Ask 教務處 for the exam dates at the start of each semester and plan your units around them, not into them.
The events that eat lessons
A whole-school event, often a Saturday, with weeks of rehearsal beforehand that also take lesson time. You are expected to attend and to be visible.
The school's birthday, sometimes combined with sports day. Performances, alumni, local dignitaries. Lessons are canceled.
A full-day class outing. Your lesson with that class simply does not happen; you may or may not be invited along.
Parents come to school, usually early in each semester. You may be asked to appear briefly or introduce yourself — ask in advance whether you are expected.
Colleagues watch a lesson and discuss it afterwards. This is professional routine, not an inspection or a threat — being asked is normal.
June. A significant emotional event for the whole school. Attend if you taught the graduating year.
How you find out anything has changed
In order of authority: the school calendar (行事曆) is the source of truth; the LINE group is where same-day changes are announced, usually in Chinese; your co-teacher is who you ask when you cannot decode either.
Two habits worth building in your first month. Put the whole calendar in your phone on day one, including every exam period, event and make-up Saturday. And ask your co-teacher, once a week, the single most useful question available to you: “Is anything changing next week?” — that ninety seconds prevents most of what feels like being kept in the dark.
Leave, and asking for time off
Your leave comes from your contract, not from the regulations that govern Taiwanese certified teachers. Two practical rules regardless of what it says: ask early, because your classes have to be covered by someone; and never book flights before the leave is confirmed. Requests around Lunar New Year, exam weeks and the end of term are the hardest to grant — ask about those months in advance, not weeks.
One thing to do this week
Sit down with the 行事曆 and a phone. Enter every exam period, every whole-school event, and every make-up Saturday between now and June, each with a reminder the day before. It takes fifteen minutes and it removes about half of everything that goes wrong in a first year.
Now check yourself · 接著練習Module 2's questions
24 questions on what you have just read, in the practice bank. Answer one at a time and see the correct answer and the reason straight away. No score, no time limit, nothing recorded.
Practice Module 2 →Sources for this module
- Your school's own 行事曆 — the authoritative document for every date in this module. Ask 教務處.
- 彰化縣政府 — county announcements, including typhoon closures
- 行政院人事行政總處 — the national holiday and make-up working day calendar
- Foreigner Hotline 1990 — English help with anything in this module