Te 8 ruscha indd

7 5

---

HOME READING
D a tiz an d th e W h a le  
S h a rk
This story is about Datiz, a fisherman’s 
son and Splash, the talking Whale Shark. 
The story takes place in Mantanani Island, 
off the North West coast of Malasia.
Datiz loves the sea, especially swimming 
with sea creatures. Datiz and his father catch 
many types of fish to sell at the market and 
to cook at home. The sea is so important to 
the people of Mantanani.
Every March the whale sharks swim 
past Mantanani as they migrate from the 
Philippines to Australia. Everyone comes to 
the beach to swim with them. Whale sharks 
are the ocean’s largest fish, and they can live 
to be 100 years old. Despite their enormous 
size, whale sharks are gentle and kind. They 
spend most of their time near coral reefs 
eating the tiny sea creatures called plankton. 
Datiz always waits for March to see his friend 
Splash, the talking Whale Shark.
One day Datiz’s uncle from the neighbour­
ing island of Sapi comes to Mantanani. He 
teaches Datiz and his father a new technique 
called blast fishing*. “You will catch just as 
many fish, but in much less tim e,” he says. 
Datiz and his father try this method, and 
catch many fish. When the other fishermen 
see this, they all start blast fishing, too.
Soon, March arrives and Datiz dives into 
the water to find Splash. The two friends 
swim around the coral reef and talk about 
the adventures they have had since they 
last saw each other. Suddenly, they hear a 
loud BOOM! They see a mess of bubbles, 
broken coral, and dead fish floating to the
surface. They see a fisherman throwing fish 
bombs into the water. Datiz has never seen 
blast fishing from underwater. He is horrified 
to see that it is destroying the coral reefs. 
Splash says, “ I won’t see you next year. I saw 
this happen on another island, and now we 
can’t stop there, because there are no more 
coral reefs and plankton for us to eat.”
Datiz makes a plan. First, he tells all the 
fishermen on the island about what he has 
seen. But the fishermen explain, “ Blast 
fishing has given us more fish to sell at the 
market, and the merchant doesn’t care how 
the fish are caught.” Datiz realizes this is a 
bigger problem than he thinks.
Datiz asks Splash to bring him to Sapi, 
where blast fishing has destroyed the coral 
reefs. Datiz is shocked when he sees no 
fish and no colourful coral reefs. He takes 
pictures to show to the people back home.
Datiz works all night, printing out the 
pictures from the coral reefs of Sapi, and 
learning more about the terrible effects of 
blast fishing. The next day at school, Datiz 
shows his class the pictures and explains, 
“When we buy fish, we have to demand that 
the fish be caught in a sustainable* way. If 
not, soon we won’t have any fish!” The other 
students rush home to tell their families.
Next March arrives, and Datiz is excited 
to see Splash! The friends swim around the 
reefs, which are still colourful and full of life. 
Splash says Datiz, “Thank you for teaching 
the people how to sustainably fish. The reefs 
are so beautiful because you never gave up!”
b la s t fis h in g * or dynamite fishing is the 
practice of using explosives to stun or kill 
schools of fish for easy collection.
s u s ta in a b le * is causing little or no 
damage to the environment, and therefore 
able to continue for a long time.

---

U N IT 10 All the w o rld ’s a stage
I n q u i r y q u e s t i o n :
What is the role of theatre in our life? 
I n q u i r y t h e m e :
To understand the role of theatre and its 
stages of developm ent
In t h i s u n i t y o u w i l l . . .
^ listen and com plete the table 
^ listen to the texts about different types of 
theatre
^ read about the history of theatre 
^ read and com plete the texts with suitable 
words
^ w rite a letter and dialogue 
^ perform a play________________________
A c a d e m i c s k i l l s : ______________________
^ listening for details 
^ giving reasons
^ understanding main ideas of paragraphs 
^ guessing meaning from context_________

---

1 a Listen and re p e a t th e new w o rd s .
audience, gesture, tragedy, stage set 
1 b W o rk in p a irs. A n sw e r th e q u e s tio n s .
1) What is theatre?
2) When and where did the first theatres appear?
3) What types of plays were performed?
4) Who were the actors?
1 c W o rk in p a irs. Read and c h e c k y o u r ideas.