LITERATURE & DEEP READING · JUNGLE LION
English Reading in Kaohsiung | Reading and Anglo-American Literature
Understand the world through original books, and slowly develop your own point of view.
━━━━
Baozhong Main Campus · Yichang Branch | Classes by level · Small classes of 6–10 | International teachers guide reading entirely in English | Lexile 420L–950L
After reading Who Was Anne Frank?, the children turned a corner of the classroom into a small special exhibition: a hand-drawn timeline, a replica desk, and a string of old photographs.
AT A GLANCE
Our Reading Class in a Paragraph
Jungle Lion's English reading class in Kaohsiung is an all-English close-reading course built on original-language books. Children are grouped by English level (not grade) in small classes of 6–10, where an international teacher leads reading through questions, using original picture books, nonfiction, and novels, from everyday stories at around 420L on the Lexile scale all the way to English-language literature such as The Hunger Games and A Wrinkle in Time. We don't ask children to translate word by word, and we don't rely on quizzes. Instead, we look at whether children can explain “why.” Every lesson opens with a Recap Q&A, and at the end of the term children present their work through an all-English speech, curated exhibit, or research paper. The course is offered at the Baozhong Main Campus and the Yichang Branch; please refer to the schedule for each class's campus.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
01
SMALL CLASSES
Grouped by level, small classes of 6–10
Placement is based on a child's current English level, not grade. With few children in a class, everyone has time to speak, ask questions and be asked follow-up questions.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
02
ENGLISH ONLY
International teachers lead reading entirely in English, without translation
Reading class is taught entirely in English by the international teacher, with no Chinese-speaking assistant teacher. New words are explained through actions, pictures, and everyday examples, so children learn to understand English through English.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
03
WEEKLY FEEDBACK
Weekly Feedback, Learning Records for Every Class
International teachers give feedback after class every week. Each class has its own Google Site, which collects homework presentation videos, midterm and final report videos, scoring rubrics, and observation notes on the children.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
04
REAL OUTCOMES
Understanding long texts, with visible results
2026 junior high student survey (n=12, self-reported by the children): none of the 12 take extra English tutoring, and for 7 of them English takes up less than 10% of study time.
SINCE 2017 · A READING CIRCLE
It Began with a Table at a Reading Group
In 2017, a mother who couldn't find the learning environment she wanted sat down with children around a table in a space of less than 6 ping (about 20 square meters) to read original English books together. Jungle Lion grew out of that reading group, and today it has been 9 years (including the reading group stage).
Our reading classes today still keep the look of that first reading group: a table, a good book, a few children, and a teacher willing to wait until a child has finished speaking.
HOW A LESSON FLOWS
How a Reading Class Works in Kaohsiung: Four Steps in One Lesson
01
Recap Q&A Opening
What happened last time — and why?
The international teacher starts with a few questions that ask children to retell, in English, what they read last week. From the length of the children's sentences and the words they choose, the teacher knows what needs work this week.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
02
Guided Reading and Questions
Read together, think out loud.
The international teacher reads passages with the children and does not translate line by line. When a new word comes up, the teacher explains it with gestures, pictures, everyday examples, and simpler English, then uses questions to guide children to reason about characters' motives.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
03
Post-Reading Tasks
Make thinking visible.
Cause-and-effect diagrams, character relationship maps, and sentence-pattern extension sheets turn "I understood it" into visible thinking, and give children material to use in the next presentation.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
04
Presentation and Feedback
Speak, defend, reflect.
Every book ends with an output entirely in English: a speech, a curated exhibition, a hearing defense, or a short essay. The international teacher scores it on a 50-point rubric and writes feedback.
SOCRATIC QUESTIONING
One book, two ways to read it: The Wild Robot as an example
"What is the robot's name?" "Where did it land?" Questions like these can be answered by flipping back through the book, so a correct answer does not mean a child truly understood. Our international teachers use five layered questions to lead children from the plot into a character's heart, and then to value choices worth discussing.
LITERAL RECALL
What is the robot's name? Where did Roz land?
— Flip back to the book and you'll find the answer.
THE JUNGLE LION WAY
Why? How did he feel? What does it tell us?
— The answer lies in the children's own reasoning.
Q1
Why do you think Brightbill wanted to learn more about Roz and the other robots?
▸ Identity: Where do I come from? Where do I belong?
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Q2
How do you think Brightbill felt when Shelly told him about the first time the otters saw Roz? Why?
▸ Perspective-taking: Understanding where fear and prejudice come from
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Q3
Why do you think Brightbill decided to protect Roz when Nettle and Thorn attacked her?
▸ Moral courage: The pull between family and instinct
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Q4
What does Roz's decision to save Thorn tell us about her relationship with the animals on the island?
▸ Defusing hostility: How to break the cycle of hatred
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Q5
How did the animals work together to help Roz after she lost her foot?
▸ Teamwork: Connections across differences
WHY ORIGINAL BOOKS
Why Read Original English Books: Three Ways of Seeing the World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
01
More than one version of the world
Beyond a single story.
Reading about Italy, we see how craftsmanship lives on in today's streets through ancient Roman aqueducts; reading about Mexico, we see how families face life and death through festivals and the dinner table.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
02
From stories to real choices
Stories with real stakes.
Reading Refugee, we see why children in three different eras had to leave home; reading The Radium Girls, we discuss whether company profits or workers' lives should come first.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
03
English is a letter written to a real person
Words that cross the sea.
While reading Extra Credit, children exchanged English airmail letters with students at Kikyo Elementary School in Shiojiri, Nagano, Japan, and their words had a reader for the first time.
INSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Classroom Story: After Finishing a Book
CULTURE · MEXICO
Reading About Mexico, Hitting a Piñata
While reading Living in Mexico, the children took turns swinging at a colorful piñata, using a string of verbs amid the laughter.
RECIPE READING
Making Salsa from an English Recipe
Our international teacher guides the children through reading an English recipe, and then they act out verbs like dice, mix, and season step by step.
PEN PALS · JAPAN
An Airmail Letter from Nagano
Alongside the book Extra Credit, the children exchange letters in English with students at Kikyo Elementary School in Shiojiri, Japan. Reading letters and writing back are real reading and writing.
ART HISTORY · FLORENCE
Children as Art Museum Guides
Extending the Italy theme, the children put on berets and introduced the Florentine school of painting entirely in English, from Botticelli and Ghirlandaio to Raphael.
ANCIENT GREECE
Designing a City-State of Their Own
After reading a book on ancient Greece, the children designed "Apollo City": choosing a location, setting rules, drawing a city flag, and then writing their reasons in English.
MUSEUM WALK
Visiting an Art Museum with a Worksheet
Walking into the art museum, children use an English worksheet to observe the artworks and write down what they see and what they think.
IN CHARACTER
Turning Books into Props for the Stage
A chef's hat, a spatula, a Paris street scene: when introducing a story on stage, children use props to bring the scenes of the book right in front of the audience.
FROM PAGE TO SCREEN
Renting a Whole Cinema to Compare with the Original Book
Before a private screening of a film adaptation, the international teacher first takes the children back through the original book, and then they compare together: how will the camera film the plot written in the text? What was changed, and why?
GAME DESIGN
Designing Our Own English Board Game
Children draw their own game board, write English rule cards and shape clay game pieces. "Typhoon in the Arctic" is entirely their own, from the topic to every challenge square.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Older-buddy reading: Older children in advanced classes become "story brothers and story sisters" and read nonfiction books such as Who Would Win? and Guinness World Records with the younger ones. More than a grown-up's reminders, an older child who clearly enjoys reading often makes a younger child want to open the next book.
WATCH THE CLASSROOM
Video Records: Inside Seven Reading Classes
Click a video to play it right here. More classroom videos are on Jungle Lion's YouTube channel.
SHORT · VENICE
Around the World: Venice Crafts
Alongside the A1-3 reader Around the World: Venice, children made mosaic collages by hand, learned about the lagoon ecosystem, and saw how Renaissance craftsmanship has been preserved to this day.
CREATIVE WRITING
Pokémon Reading Class: Children's Original Stories
Inspired by Pokémon, children wrote their own English stories and then told them to everyone on stage.
BOOK REPORT
Ada Twist, Scientist: Post-Reading Presentations
After reading Ada Twist, Scientist, children gave presentations entirely in English on their own understanding of the book.
IN THE LESSON
How to Train Your Dragon: Reading Class Records
Following the How to Train Your Dragon reader, see how our international teacher guides reading and asks questions in class.
MINI THEATRE
Mini Theater: Matilda
Children adapt the plot of Matilda into a mini theater piece and use performance to show how they understood the book.
SCIENCE READING
Science Reading in the Kitchen
Reading and doing at the same time, children test in the kitchen the science they read about in the book.
MYSTERY & GAMES
Detective Novel and Board Game
After reading a detective novel, children design its clues and reasoning into a board game.
THE LEXILE SPECTRUM
Kaohsiung English Literature Reading List: 17 Original English Books, from 420L to 950L
The Art History Desk in the Reading Corner: Read original English books, and read a painting too.
The book list is arranged from easier to harder by Lexile (a measure of English text difficulty). Grades are for reference only; the level your child actually fits is determined by the placement assessment, and the books each class is reading follow the latest schedule.
Full text booklist (17 books)
A1-2 Explorer Level (420L–510L)
Hey Jack! The Toy Sale (Jack's Toy Sale) | 420L | Suggested grades: Grades 1–3 | Core question: Should you give up a treasured toy for a friend? | Final output: life picture-card speech
Living in... Italy (Little Rome Guide) | 480L | Suggested grades: Grades 1–3 | Core question: How does ancient Roman craftsmanship live on in today's streets? | Final output: 4-minute cross-cultural comparison presentation
Moana 2 (Movie Reader) (Moana 2) | 510L | Suggested grades: Grades 1–3 | Core question: Can we hold on to tradition and sail into the unknown at the same time? | Final output: character decision presentation
A1-3 Leap Level (510L–580L)
The Magic School Bus: Satellite Space (Magic School Bus: Satellite Space) | 510L | Suggested grades: Grades 2–4 | Core question: How do satellites connect the Earth? What is each person's responsibility on a team? | Final output: space mission presentation and short essay
Monsters & Mold (Creature Clinic) | 540L | Suggested grades: Grades 2–4 | Core question: Can a controlled experiment unlock the secret of the "monster"? | Final output: lab notebook and report
Time Jumpers (Great Adventure in the Future) | 560L | Suggested grades: Grades 2–4 | Core question: A cashless future is convenient, but what privacy do we give up? | Final output: future technology ethics report
Welcome to Our Table (The World's Dinner Table) | 580L | Suggested grades: Grades 2–4 | Core question: What stories of geography and migration are hidden behind a single dish? | Final output: fully English guided tour of a cross-cultural fusion menu
A2 Practice Level (600L–750L)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Super Fox Mr. Fox) | 600L | Suggested grades: Grades 3–7 | Core question: The farmers' greed versus the fox's fight to survive: who has the better case? | Final output: character motivation map speech
Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Rain Forests | 680L | Reference grades: Grade 3 to Grade 7 | Core question: How do we weigh the economic gains from cutting trees against the loss of species? | Final project: Stakeholder evaluation chart
The Wild Robot | 720L | Reference grades: Grade 3 to Grade 7 | Core question: Can a robot programmed by others grow to love and act selflessly? | Final project: 450-word O.R.E.O. mini-essay and defense
Refugee | 750L | Reference grades: Grade 3 to Grade 7 | Core question: Why did children in three different eras have to leave home? | Final project: Model United Nations hearing defense
B1 Upper Level (740L–950L)
A Wrinkle in Time | 740–900L | Reference grades: Grade 5 to Grade 9 | Core question: In a world where thoughts are controlled, why does love hold such power? | Final project: Sci-fi philosophy essay presentation
Hidden Figures | 820L | Reference grades: Grade 5 to Grade 9 | Core question: How did three Black women mathematicians break through barriers of race and gender? | Final project: 150-word persuasive letter and in-character questioning
The Hunger Games | 810–920L | Reference grades: Grade 5 to Grade 9 | Core question: When reality TV becomes a tool of control, how can one person resist? | Final project: Policy hearing defense, fully in English
The Radium Girls | 860L | Reference grades: Grade 5 to Grade 9 | Core question: Corporate profit or workers' lives: which should come first? | Final project: 6-minute environmental justice presentation
Who Was Anne Frank? | 880L | Reference grades: Grade 5 to Grade 9 | Core question: Hiding in a secret annex and writing a diary, how did she hold on to human dignity? | Final project: Curating a themed exhibition and giving a guided-tour speech
History Smashers: Women's Right to Vote | 950L | Reference grades: Grade 5 to Grade 9 | Core question: What invisible gender barriers are hidden in the history that textbooks leave out? | Final project: P.E.E.L. mayoral platform essay
ASSESSMENT RUBRIC
How the final is graded: the international teacher's 50-point English presentation rubric
The rubric is shared with children and parents at the start of the term. Children know what to practice, and parents can understand where the scores come from.
01 · 10 points
Content & Organization
Assessment criteria: understanding of the topic, structure of the argument
Can explain the cause and effect in the original book; the opening, main points and conclusion are clearly separated.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
02 · 15 points
Language Skills
Assessment criteria: precise word choice, varied sentence patterns, pronunciation and fluency
Uses the words and sentence patterns learned in class; controls speaking speed and clearly pronounces word endings such as -ed and -s.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
03 · 15 points
Presentation
Assessment criteria: confident body language, eye contact, vocal expression
No reading from notes and no turning your back on the audience. Speak while looking at the people in front of you.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
04 · 10 points
Supporting Elements
Assessment criteria: self-made visual aids, impromptu Q&A, listening to peers
Bring a model, poster or slideshow you made yourself, and answer questions from classmates and the international teacher calmly.
READING AT HOME
Reading with your child at home: three easy habits
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
01
15–20 minutes a day, listen to the audio and point while reading
Listen, point, read aloud.
First listen to the audio and follow along with a finger under the words, then imitate and read aloud, and finally read it fluently on your own.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
02
No Chinese written in books
Guess from pictures and context.
We encourage children to guess meanings from the pictures and context rather than writing Chinese translations in the book, building the habit of understanding English through English.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
03
20–30 minutes of homework per week; no need to correct spelling mistakes
Let teachers handle the mistakes.
Homework is mostly cause-and-effect diagrams or sentence-pattern extension sheets. Parents just need to keep your child company and do not need to correct spelling mistakes; the international teacher handles that in class.
WHO READS WITH YOUR CHILD
Reading Teachers
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
FOREIGN TEACHER
Hannah Gilbert
Bachelor's degree in Secondary English Education from Anderson University in the US (Magna Cum Laude); holds a South Carolina teaching license; previously taught Grade 11 and 12 English Literature and IB TOK (Theory of Knowledge) at an international school, and has also worked as an ESL teacher.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
FOREIGN TEACHER
Peter Shimon
Bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in the U.S. (double major in social studies and history), with a teaching license. More than 25 years of teaching experience across the U.S., Russia, China, and Taiwan, and familiar with the IB PYP and Cambridge curriculum frameworks.
The international teacher leading each class follows the latest schedule.
PARENTS ASK
The 8 questions parents ask most often
What level should a child be at to start English reading classes in Kaohsiung?
Jungle Lion's original-book reading classes start at A1 and continue up to B1. We place children by English level rather than grade, and we welcome children from age 4 to Grade 12. Our book list runs from everyday stories at about 420L Lexile to British and American literature and history readers at around 950L. If you are not sure of your child's level, you can first book a free 15-minute placement test.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
My child attends public primary school and has never studied in an all-English program. Can they keep up?
Yes. Placement depends only on a child's current English level, not on their school or how many years they have studied. Our current children are mainly from Sanmin District and neighboring school districts. In our September 2026 primary-school parent survey (n=56, self-reported by parents), 33 parents said their child studies English only at Jungle Lion.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
How do we know which class suits our child?
There are three ways: share an English exam result, tell us your child's Lexile reading level, or book an in-person one-on-one placement test. The in-person test takes about 15 minutes, is free, and is given by our head of teaching. New children can also arrange a single paid trial class: NT$380 for a 1-hour class; for a 1.5-hour class, NT$550 for A2 and below and NT$600 for B1 and above.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Classes are all in English. What if my child doesn't understand?
Except for "Reading Taiwan," which is taught in Chinese, all Jungle Lion classes are taught entirely in English by international teachers. We do not have Chinese-speaking assistant teachers, so children don't get used to waiting for translation. Teachers explain new words with gestures, pictures, everyday examples, and simpler English. In-person classes have 6–10 children, so every child has time to speak and ask questions.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
There are no quizzes. How do we know if my child is making progress?
We look at whether a child can say "why." Each class opens with a Recap Q&A, and the teacher tracks progress through the length of the child's sentences and how well they use words. Teachers also give weekly feedback after class. Every class has its own Google Site learning record, including shared homework videos, midterm and final presentation videos, scoring sheets, and observation notes on each child. At the end of the term, we review all-English presentations with a 50-point rubric.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
How much time does it take at home? Can my child write Chinese in the book?
We suggest 15–20 minutes a day of listening to the audio and reading along with a finger, plus about 20–30 minutes of homework a week. We ask children not to write Chinese translations in the book, and to guess meanings from the pictures and context instead, gradually building the habit of understanding English through English. Parents don't need to correct spelling mistakes; the teacher handles them in class.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Does reading original English books help with junior high school English?
From our 2026 junior high survey (n=12, self-reported by students, September 2026): none of the 12 take extra English classes elsewhere, 7 spend less than 10% of their study time on English, and 8 reported placing in the top 10% of their class on their most recent midterm. Of the 4 who took the first mock exam in Grade 9, 3 earned an A++. The most common area for lost points was clause-based grammar details (9/12), which is where we continue to strengthen our teaching.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Which campus are reading classes held at? What are the class times?
Original-book reading classes are offered at both the Baozhong Main Campus and the Yichang Branch. Each class's campus and time slot follow the latest schedule. The two campuses are about 260 meters apart, roughly a 4-minute walk. Opening hours: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 16:30–21:00 (on Tuesdays only the Yichang Branch stays open until 21:30); Wed 15:30–21:00; Sat 08:30–12:30.
START WITH THE RIGHT BOOK
Start with a Just-Right Book
We first find out what your child can read now, then recommend a just-right starting point: not so hard that it causes frustration, and not so easy that it becomes boring.
Book a free 15-minute placement test (LINE @junglelion) →
Read next
Where Kaohsiung English reading sits on the whole learning path: Learning Path Map →
After reading, share your ideas out loud: English Speaking Skills →
Preparing for Cambridge English: Cambridge English Coaching Class →
TWO CAMPUSES · SANMIN, KAOHSIUNG
Two campuses, a 4-minute walk apart
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jungle Lion Baozhong Main Campus
No. 155, Baozhong St., Sanmin District, Kaohsiung
Tel. 0933-655-001
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jungle Lion Yichang Branch
No. 40, Yichang Rd., Sanmin District, Kaohsiung
Tel. 0966-454-001
Hours: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 16:30–21:00; Wed 15:30–21:00; Sat 08:30–12:30. On Tuesdays the Yichang Branch stays open until 21:30.
The two campuses are about 260 meters apart, a 4-minute walk. For the surroundings and parking, see our two-campus neighborhood guide.