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Introducing Mystery Class #3 Taichung, Taiwan 24.1550 N, 120.6733 E   Hello, North America! Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Karen Harrison and I am Teacher Karen to the Panda class at Jackson Five English School in Taichung, Taiwan. This is a photo of Teacher Karen and her son on a scooter. Our School  We are the Panda class. We are Year 3 at Jackson Five English School. We are not connected to Michael Jackson the singer. Instead, our school is called Jackson Five because the head of our school is Jackson Wu, and "Wu" means "Five" in Chinese. Our teachers are Teacher Karen, Teacher Jeanna and Teacher Jackson.   Jackson Five English School We speak Chinese, the main language in our country. We are learning English. In our country some people also speak Taiwanese and Hakka. Some things we love to do are: making fossils out of flour and coffee grounds, drawing dolphins, reading books, roller skating with Teacher Regine in the basement of our school, taking a nap, exchanging Christmas gifts (especially since Taiwan is new at celebrating Christmas and most families do not celebrate), eating chips for a reward for doing a good job, and playing with our friends. Some movies we like are: "8 Below," "Flipper," "Otis and Milo," "Robot," "Flush Away," "Spiderman," "Kung Fu Panda," also a panda documentary, "Nemo," "Aladdin,", "Wall-e," "Xia Bi" (Chinese history movie), "Cape No. 7" (Taiwanese movied about the cultural diversity of our country), and "Glass Station" (Chinese movie). We love to read about dinosaurs. We also love to read God's story from the Bible. Our favorite games are: computer games, Uno, soccer, baseball, Wii, dodgeball, karate, and rollerskating. We also like to play piano, flute, recorder, cello, sing and dance. In the winter here in Taichung it's not so cold. In the summer, it is so hot. The students in Panda class go to Chinese school at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. After Chinese school, they come to English school at Jackson Five at 4:00 in the afternoon until 6:15. After that some go to math lessons, karate class, music or dance classes. In Taiwan, many students go to school morning, afternoon and evening.   Our City and State Our city has the same name as our county -- Taichung. However, our city is not actually part of our county. Instead, it is separate governmental entity called a "municipality", and there are 4 other "municipalities" like us.   In this map, you can see our city and our county. Our county is shown in red/purple, and in the middle of that county is our city in yellow Click on Map to enlarge Our city has a little more than one million people, and we have a famous sculpture park where you can ride a swan boat on the lake. You can also take your picture behind the giant sculpture of a frame. Sculpture Park In our city, many families use a scooter (small motorcycle) as their main means of transportation. Sometimes you will see a whole family on one scooter. Family on scooter We have a 7-Eleven convenience store at nearly every corner. "OK" is the name of another popular convenience store in our city. Our State Our country of Taiwan doesn't really have "states" like the United States. Instead, the closest thing to a state here is called a county. Taiwan is divided into 18 counties , plus 5 municipalities , and 2 special municipalities. Our county is called Taichung county. It is located along the west side of the Island of Taiwan.   Our Country Our country of Taiwan was part of Japan from the early 1900's until the end of the WWII in 1945, when Taiwan was returned to the control of the Republic of China. Between 1945 and 1949, the communist revolution took place on mainland China, and in 1949 the leaders of the Rupublic of China fled to Taiwan, while the People's Republic of China took over on the mainland. Since 1949, Taiwan is also known as the Republic of China, which is separate from the People's Republic of China. Taiwan is comprised of the main island of Taiwan, plus smaller islands nearby. Taiwan is divided into 18 counties , 5 municipalities , and 2 special municipalities. Map of Taiwan In Taiwan, you can see fireworks on New Year's Eve, Chinese New Year, when a new business opens, at fancy hotels, just about any place any time of the year. Fireworks is called "exploding bamboo" in Chinese because the early fireworks were made in bamboo. "Exploding bamboo" One of Taiwan's famous baseball stars, Chien-Ming Wang, pitches for the New York Yankees. You can see many photos of him on the internet. There are thousands of foreign English teachers living in Taiwan. Many of them come from the United States. Taipei 101 is our country's famous skyscraper. Located in Taipei, it was said to be the first skyscraper in the world to break the half kilometer height mark. Click image to enlarge Our country is also famous for the Formosan black bear, which is a protected endangered species in Taiwan. It has a white V across its chest. Learn more about the Formosan black bear We really enjoyed being a Mystery Class and hope you had fun and learned a lot trying to find us.