Dear Tina,

The midi you hear is the representative song of our moving-dog. Birdd composed the song (the lyrics）. The lyrics are adapted from the song of a cartoon- “The adventure of Tom Sawyer”. 【“The adventure of Tom Sawyer” is one of Mark Twain’s great compositions. Somebody adapted Mark Twain’s composition for cartoon. When we were children, we all enjoyed this cartoon.】 The reason why we choose the song of “The adventure of Tom Sawyer” is that Tom is very smart, brave, energetic, and kind. We all think moving-dog also has these characteristics, like Tom-a smart, brave, energetic, and kind dog. We think the song can express the spirit of moving-dog. Have you ever heard the song of “The adventure of Tom Sawyer” in English? We have translated the lyrics into English version, but we just “translate” the spirit of the song. We didn’t consider the melody. So, we think the lyrics maybe not harmonize with the melody. We would like to try to sing the song in English. Therefore, we would like to know if you could help us to find the song in English. If not, we can still try to sing the song we have translated. Thank you!

Besides, I would like to share some images of moving-dog with you. Apr. 11th is the anniversary of the founding of Dinglio Elementary School (Birdd's and Shanchin’s school). They hold a fair, a sports meet and a performance to celebrate the anniversary. Birdd’s and Shanchin’s classes sold the bookmarkers of moving-dog. The two posters（Moving_dogs_dinlio4ab_jonho.jpg） are drawn by our students. The left one is drew by Birdd’s and Shanchin’s students and the right one is drew by my （Ms Ko）students. For us, moving-dog is a real dog and a kind dog. He always cares for everyone and helps the people in need. Birdd, Shanchin and I want our students to learn the caring characteristic from moving-dog. We hope our students could care for everyone and everything wherever they are. We hope there is always a moving-dog in their hearts by this learning activity, even if they become adults. I think you must be curious about moving-dog… Moving-dog was born on Nov. 1st of 2002. On the parent-teacher meeting, a parent suggested that teachers should do something, because he thinks that children now always think and care for themselves first. So we “create” moving-dog. We hope students could cultivate their morality by the learning activity. At first, moving-dog was only a piggy bank. Then, he became more and more vital. Our students saved money to donate it to the people who are in need. We think the love and the caring minds of our students make moving-dog become a real dog. By the process of this learning activity, we find the change of our students. Therefore, I feel “moving-dog learning activity” is good and important moral education. And I introduced moving-dog to my present class (Jhonghe elementary school). My students all love him, and they wish they could keep kind and caring minds like him. Sometimes, my students attend the learning activity with Birdd’s and Shanchin’s students. They also feel glad that they have so many friends in another school. Birdd, Shanchin, and I hope that my students can learn some important things from Birdd’s and Shanchin’s students and moving-dog. Besides, we hope all of our students could spread around the spirit and the meaning of moving-dog gradually… On Apr. 21st of 2003, moving-dog was reported on the newspapers. （look at the “20030421_Moving_dog_news.jpg”）We were excited because our wish is going to be realized…Moving-dog will become famous…

We hope you’ll love moving-dog like us.

What following (The colored words) is a letter to Tai-dong Christian Hospital written by our children.

Dear respected ones in Tai-dong Christian Hospital,

We are third grade students of elementary school. We would like to write an amazing story about moving-dog. Although moving-dog is not a real dog, when we want to put the money into “moving-dog’s stomach”, we all feel he is a real dog. The money we deposit is the result of our effort. Though we only donate coins (including 1 NT dollar, 5 NT dollars and ten NT dollars), we believe we can save up to 2000 NT dollars. We hope you can use the money to buy useful medical articles and instruments and helpful nutriment for patients.

Wish you be healthy and Happy New Year!

A group of third grade students of elementary school

2002.01.31

Tai-dong Christian Hospital is the first organization that we helped. Before we transferred our donation to the hospital, our students wrote a letter and read the letter to them. They introduced moving-dog to them and they hope they could make good use of the money. What beautiful and wonderful words and voice…Hope you’ll like it, too！

Have a wonderful day.

P.S. 1.“The_song_of_moving-dog.jpg” is the English version that we translated.

2. On the Christmas of 2001, one student sent moving-dog some ornaments as Christmas gifts. We think moving-dog is a real dog and true friend for them from this action. Please look at “Merry Christmas to moving-dog.jpg” .

3. The attached images- “Tom01.jpg”, “Tom02.jpg” and “Tom03.jpg” are the pictures of the leading role, Tom in the cartoon.

Your Taiwan sister and brother

Ms Ko ＆ Birdd ＆ Shanchin

2003.04.27

My dear American students,
Thank you VERY MUCH for your special gifts. We all believe that you must have spent a lot of time on preparing for the gifts. We are all proud of you and your teacher, Ms Tina. She is a GREAT teacher. Many of you mentioned that Ms Tina helps you a lot on your learning in the letters you wrote to Birdd. You are so lucky to have her in your school life. We all think that Ms Tina always does her best on teaching. We also learn a lot of things from her... In addition, Birdd feels glad when he received your letters. He also worries about these letters, because he thinks his English is very poor. Besides, Ms. Ko feels sad because nobody writes to her.(smile... Just kidding)

Most important of all, we all appreciate you and your teacher for your friendship. We love you and miss you. Hope we could meet each other face to face someday. Always care for you....

Have wonderful learning...

Your Taiwan teachers
Mr. Birdd, Ms. Ko, Mr. Shanchin, Ms. Chen

My dear sister,
Yesterday I received your special gifts. We all love it. I've read several letters that the students wrote to Birdd. Jessica Lin mentioned that you have "star" and "stripe". What does it mean? Does it mean that you divide the students into two group? Besides, the "recorder" of your voice is VERY SPECIAL. I like it VERY MUCH. Your voice is so sweet and beautiful. I am curious about how you make it. Most important of all, we would like to say "Thank you VERY MUCH!" to all of you. We all believe that you and our American students must have spent much time on preparing for these gifts.

We'll mail you the photos of us and the gifts in a few days. Birdd wants me to tell you that he has been busy these days. So he can't write to you. He hopes you would not mind it. He always cares for you. And I miss you, too!

Have a wonderful day.

Your Taiwan sister,
Ms. Ko