Taipei students look for pen pals in Israel

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the coronavirus pandemic makes direct international contacts more difficult, students at 60 schools in Taipei City and Israel have become pen pals, reports said Tuesday (Jan. 12).

The Taiwanese capital launched contacts between its schools and those in other countries in 2016, with the United States, Japan, and Italy as some of the main partners. The interaction has focused on specific topics, including the environment, animal protection, film, art, and news.

In 2019, Taipei invited elementary schools, high schools, and senior high schools from Israel to join the program, and after one year, 30 schools had given a positive response, officials said.

Originally, students wrote letters and cards to each other, but the virus outbreak last year changed all that, bringing e-mail, social media, and videoconferencing to the fore.

Students at the Taipei Municipal Jinhua Junior High School said they were interested in discussing the stray animal issue in Israel, though the absence of a common language was still a problem in their communication. A first attempt failed because the Israeli schools had closed due to the pandemic.