Introducing Mystery Class #10
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| Our Class | ||||||||
Hello! We are the seventh grade humanities students in Mr. Gilbert's classes at Taejon Christian International School (TCIS), located in Daejeon, South Korea. Our seventh grade class has 45 students, who are from all over the world, including South Korea, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, United Arab Emirates, China and the United States. Most of the seventh grade students live in the surrounding community and walk or travel by car/bus to school. But our school also provides a "boarding" program here, and so 11 of the seventh graders live in dormitories right on the school campus. So that you can learn all sorts of interesting facts about our lives in Daejeon, we have prepared a video for you to watch at the end of this web page. Before watching the video, however, let us tell you a little more about our school, city, country and more.
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| Our School | ||||||||
The name of our school is Taejon Christian International School (TCIS). It is located on a ten and one-half acre garden campus in the center of Daejeon. TCIS is a private K-12 school with a total of 570 students. Education is a high priority in the Korean culture and many of our students from South Korea attend tutors after school or in the evening to receive "extra" instruction. Koreans attribute their country's tremendous economic growth to education, especially in technology.
In addition to academics, our students do take time to be involved in many other activities at our school. Athletic teams sponsored by our school include soccer (most popular!), basketball, volleyball, swimming, cross-country, table tennis, and rugby. Our gymnasium has a large banner which reads "Home of the Dragons". Other extra-curricular activities include book clubs, service groups, church praise teams, forensics, math team, student council, science Olympiad, band, and orchestra. |
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| Our City | ||||||||
The city of Daejeon, South Korea, is where our school is located. Also spelled "Taejon" or "Taejeon" on some maps, our city of Daejeon is located in a valley that is surrounded by mountains. It has a population of about 1.5 million people, and is the 5th largest city in South Korea. In another way, however, some call Daejeon the "second city", because several central government offices were moved from Seoul to Deajeon, and therefore we have a large number of central government offices in the Doonsan district of our city.
Daejeon is known as the Science and Technology research center of South Korea, and its Daedeok-Science Town area is considered one of the most important centers for scientific research and development in Korea and Northeast Asia. Samsung and LG are examples of Korean companies that have research and development centers in Daejeon. South Korea has the most sophisticated IT infrastructure in the world. Two well known landmarks in our city are the Daejeon Culture and Arts Center, and the Expo Center Bridge arches, shown below in these photos. The Expo Bridge was built in 1993 as part of the Expo '93 International Exposition.
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| Our Country | ||||||||
The country of South Korea ("Land of the Morning Calm") is located on the Korean Peninsula between the countries of China and Japan. We share the peninsula with North Korea. South Korea is a mountainous country with a majority of the population living in urban areas. South Korea prides itself on its economic development. As the 108th ranked country in size, South Korea has grown to support the 13th largest economy in the world. Following the Korean War (1953), a "militarized zone" was established, which to this day divides North and South Korea at the 38th parallel (latitude). A wall was built that is heavily guarded on both sides, and relations between North and South Korea would be best described as "tense". Many people in South Korea "hope" that one day the two Koreas could be united, but different government philosophies keep the people of these two countries apart. One feature about South Korea that you might not notice from the ground is all of the blue-colored roofs. If you were to look down from space, you can see them -- take a look.
Why are there so many blue roofs? Some say it is the result of modernization programs from the 1970s, when home owners were encouraged to adopt improved slate roofs. But many thought the grey slate was too bland and wanted to paint them a brighter color. During earlier times, only the very wealthy were allowed to have a blue tile roof, to signal their status in life. Some think this is why many of the homeowners chose to paint their slate roofs blue in the 1970's. |
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| Our Weather | ||||||||
Weather conditions in South Korea range from hot, humid, and rainy in the summer to dry and cold in the winter. The best time to visit with comfortable weather conditions is in the fall (sunny, mild, and great fall color!)
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| Our Class Video | ||||||||
As promised, here is the video our class prepared for you. It was fun to film it and to share all the varioius facts about our lives here. (If you look closely, you might be able to see that the weather was cooler than expected that day...brrrrr.)
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| Thank You and Contact Us! | ||||||||
If you want to contact us, you can write to our teacher Mr. Gilbert at his e-mail
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