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Summer Immersion 2027 · 台灣暑期沉浸

Spend your summer living with a Taiwanese family. 歡迎來到台灣 · Welcome to Taiwan

A summer in a real Taiwanese home, somewhere in Taiwan. Eat dinner at the family table, ride the train out to lantern lit mountain towns, work your way through the night markets, and pick up Mandarin if you want it. You arrive a guest and leave with a second family.

🏠 Live with a Taiwanese host family 📍 Somewhere in Taiwan 🗓 Summer, dates set with you 🗣 Mandarin optional Ages 14 to 18½
Inquire about summer 2027 See what your summer looks like
An exchange student celebrating a birthday with a Taiwanese host family around the dinner table With your host family · Taiwan

Live with a family, not in a dorm

This is the part that makes a BFE summer different. You do not check into a dorm with a hundred other foreign students. You move in with a Taiwanese family and live the way they live.

Outside of Rotary, BFE runs one of the only formal host-family programs anywhere for learning Chinese, and Traditional Chinese in particular, the script Taiwan still writes by hand. With Rotary you list your top three countries and hope, with no promise of where you land. With us, a real Taiwanese family takes you in, and Taiwan is the whole point.

It is a different world from the big mainland China summer programs, where students spend most of the day in dorms and classrooms and get only a short, scheduled taste of family life. Here, family life is the program. You learn the language at the dinner table, on the scooter ride to the market, and in the group chat with your host siblings.

We sort out the practical side too. BFE meets you at the airport and gets you home safely on day one, and a Taiwan-based team stays close for the whole summer.

BFE exchange students and their Taiwanese host families gathered around a celebration dinner
BFE in Taiwan
A family from day one
You live with a Taiwanese host family for the whole summer and learn Traditional Chinese where it is actually spoken. Airport pickup included, a local team on the ground the whole time.
Rotary
Pick three, then hope
You list your top three countries with no guarantee of where you end up. A good program, but Taiwan and a Taiwan host family are never a sure thing.
Big China programs
Mostly dorm life
Most large mainland summer programs keep students in dorms and classrooms, with only a short, scheduled stretch of host-family time. You see a family. You do not live with one.

Why Taiwan, why now

Taiwan is one of the safest places in the world to send a young person, and its cities are built for one to explore. Public transport is clean, air conditioned, signed in English, and on time to the minute, so you can get almost anywhere for the price of a snack. In Taipei and Kaohsiung one EasyCard taps you onto every metro, bus, and shared bike, and that same card works on trains the length of the island.

It is friendly in a way that surprises people. Ask for directions and someone will walk you there. Plenty of menus, museums, and apps work in English, so you are never stuck, and any Mandarin you pick up is waiting for you on every street corner.

And the food. This is the island that invented bubble tea and turned the soup dumpling into a global icon. Summer is mango season, which means mountains of fresh mango shaved ice on a hot day. You will eat better here, for less money, than almost anywhere you have been.

There is no better time to soak up a language and a culture than while you are living inside it, at an age when it actually sticks.

🛡️
Genuinely safe
Consistently ranked among the safest places on earth. It is normal for teens to get around on their own.
🚇
Easy to roam
A spotless metro signed in English, plus one EasyCard for the bus, the bike share, and trains across the island.
🥭
Mango season
Home of bubble tea and the soup dumpling, and summer means towers of fresh mango shaved ice.
😊
Surprisingly friendly
Ask for directions and someone will walk you there. English gets you by while your Mandarin grows.

What your summer looks like

Life with your host family is the spine of it. Around that, here is the kind of thing a Taiwan summer holds. Exact towns and trips depend on where your family lives, so think of this as the menu, not a fixed itinerary.

🗣️ Optional add-on
Add a Mandarin program if you want one
Mandarin is not required and not automatic, it is something you can add on. The options are wide: local university summer programs that take high schoolers, neighbourhood language schools, and private tutors, with pricing from modest to premium depending on your budget. We help you pick the right fit and set it up. Either way, you practice all day at the family table.
🥟
Make the food, not just eat it
Pleat your own 小籠包 (soup dumplings) from scratch, then shake up your own 珍珠奶茶 (bubble milk tea) in a hands-on class run in fluent English. Plenty of nights, dinner is whatever your host family is cooking, and you are in the kitchen for it.
🎨
Try a craft that is hundreds of years old
Dip plain white cloth into deep blue plant dye for your own tie dye scarf, grind ink and write your name in Chinese calligraphy, or spin wet clay on a potter's wheel in one of Taiwan's old pottery towns. Most regions have a craft like this just down the road.
🏛️
See world class treasure for free
Anyone aged 17 and under gets into the National Palace Museum free all year, home of the famous jade cabbage and a stone carved to look exactly like a slab of braised pork. Across Taiwan, half the best museums cost nothing or close to it.
BFE students at the lantern lit gate of a Taiwanese night market
🌃
Eat your way through the night markets
Bite into a charcoal oven pepper bun, line up for a fried chicken cutlet bigger than your face, then split a tower of fresh mango shaved ice. Every Taiwanese town has its own 夜市 (night market), and they are where the place really comes alive after dark.
Students on a boat trip among misty green mountains in Taiwan
🚂
Take the train out for the day
Wander lantern lit alleys and tea houses that look straight out of a Studio Ghibli film, release a paper sky lantern off old train tracks, hike to a waterfall, or float up to misty tea farms on a mountain gondola. Wherever your family is, a great day trip is a short ride away.
International and Taiwanese students laughing together on a street in Taiwan
🤝
Make actual friends
Your host siblings and their friends, classmates from all over the world, low pressure language exchange meetups, and a country that is easy to roam together. You arrive knowing no one and leave with a group chat.

About meals, and why breakfast is not included

No BFE program includes breakfast, anywhere, and that is on purpose. In Taiwan a proper breakfast costs about US$2 and there is a breakfast shop on practically every corner. Taiwanese families almost always eat breakfast out, so you will too, soy milk and a hot egg crepe on the walk to wherever you are headed.

It keeps your costs honest, it gets you using your Mandarin from the first hour of the day, and it is genuinely one of the best parts of the morning. Lunch and dinner are a different story: those are covered through the program, usually with your host family or out on an activity. The exception is simple. If you choose to eat out on your own, or you do not show up for a meal, that one is on you.

A real Taiwan breakfast, roughly
豆漿 Fresh soy milkNT$30 · ~US$1
蛋餅 Egg crepe (dan bing)NT$30–40 · ~US$1
飯糰 Rice roll (fan tuan)NT$45 · ~US$1.40
油條 Fried crullerNT$25 · ~US$0.80
A full set, soy milk plus a couple of itemsNT$60–120 · ~US$2–4
Typical 2026 prices at a neighbourhood breakfast shop. Even the famous ones rarely top NT$75 an item.

How BFE supports you

BFE (遠景安) has spent years looking after exchange students far from home, and we bring all of that to your summer in Taiwan. We are a Taiwan-based team on the ground, not a faraway office, so when you have a question or something goes sideways, a real person who knows the country is close by.

  • We carefully match you with a Taiwanese host family and stay involved the whole way through.
  • Airport arrival and pickup are handled. We meet you when you land and get you home safely on day one.
  • On the ground help wherever your family lives, for the day to day things and the unexpected ones.
  • Most students reach us on LINE, @bfe.tw, the app everyone in Taiwan already uses, and it is how we prefer to talk. You and your parents can also call the BFE Taiwan office on +886 2 2729 4656 any time.
Parents: we know sending your child across the world is a big decision. Reach out and talk to us directly, in English or Mandarin. That is exactly what we are here for.
An exchange student cooking breakfast in her Taiwanese host family's kitchen
Want more than a summer?
Study in Taiwan for a whole high school year
Same host-family heart, the full experience. Live with a Taiwanese family, go to a local high school, and come home fluent. Placement is somewhere in Taiwan, matched to you.

Questions, answered

Who is this for?
English speaking teens, ages 14 to 18½, who want a real summer in Taiwan rather than a quick tour. If you are curious, independent, and up for trying new food, new words, and life in someone else's home, you will fit right in.
Where in Taiwan will I be?
With a host family, somewhere in Taiwan. It is not guaranteed to be Taipei. Where you land depends on which family is the right match for you, and Taiwan is small and well connected, so wherever you are, the night markets, mountains, and day trips are close by.
How long is it and when?
A summer, with the exact length and dates set together with you. Because we build everything around a host-family match, your start and end depend on your availability and when your family is confirmed. The earlier you reach out, the more options you have.
Do I have to study Mandarin?
No. A Mandarin program is optional, not automatic, and not part of the base summer. You can add one on if you want formal classes. Either way you will pick up plenty just by living with your host family and using it every day. Complete beginners are welcome, you start from 你好 (nǐ hǎo, hello).
Do I live with a host family or in a dorm?
A host family. That is the whole idea. Outside of Rotary, BFE runs one of the only formal host-family programs for learning Chinese, and unlike Rotary, you are not entered into a lottery of countries. With us it is Taiwan, with a Taiwanese family, every time.
Is Taiwan safe for a teenager?
Yes. Taiwan is consistently ranked among the safest places in the world, the metro and trains are easy and well lit, and it is normal to get around on your own. BFE is on the ground the whole time, reachable on LINE and by phone for anything that comes up.
What about meals?
Breakfast is never included, because in Taiwan it costs about US$2 and there is a breakfast shop on every corner. Lunch and dinner are covered through the program, usually with your host family or out on an activity. The one exception is if you decide to eat out on your own or miss a scheduled meal.
What does it cost, and what is included?
Tuition is arranged through your overseas partner organisation, the agency or program that sends you, so the exact figure depends on them. On the Taiwan side, your summer covers your host family, lunch and dinner, activities, and airport pickup. Message us on LINE and we will walk you through the full breakdown.
How do I sign up?
Send us an inquiry below, or message us on LINE. Because every summer is built around a host-family match, spots are limited and the earlier you reach out, the better.

Ready to spend a summer in Taiwan?

Tell us a little about yourself and we will walk you and your family through dates, host-family matching, options, and next steps. No commitment, just a conversation.

Inquire about summer 2027 💬 LINE @bfe.tw

Prefer email or phone? Write [email protected] or call +886 2 2729 4656. We reply fastest on LINE.