Second Language Learning through Drama by Joe Winston

Author:Joe Winston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

Episode 2

(Focus: reading and listening, establishing the context, introducing tension)

1. Students are given a copy of the story and the teacher reads or retells the remainder of the text:

One day, a school of fish with long, hard, razor sharp swords for noses swam to the shores of Singapura. They began leaping up and attacking the people on the beaches and the fishermen at sea. Their swords pierced right through the bodies of their victims. The Sultan took his army to the beach and saw the bodies of his people strewn across the once-white beaches now stained red with blood.

He ordered his men to kneel and form a line on the beach, creating a wall against the swordfish, but the fish kept attacking. They continued to leap out of the water and kill the soldiers. After many of the men were killed, the Sultan called them to retreat and ordered that everyone stay away from the coastline.

He gathered his advisors together and for days and days they tried to work out a way to deal with the problem, because Singapura was dependent on fishing and access to the sea for trade. After some time, a young boy asked for audience with the Sultan because he had an idea that he thought would solve the problem. He suggested, “Why don't we line the beaches with banana trees? When the swordfish attack, their swords will become stuck in the trunks and we can kill them.”

Everyone thought this was a wonderful idea and the people began cutting down banana trees. At the next low tide the Sultan's men planted them along the beach.

The tide turned and the schools of swordfish approached. The Sultan, his men, the boy and many of the people of Singapura watched as the swordfish began attacking the line of banana stems, getting their snouts stuck in the thick stems. When the last swordfish became stuck, the Sultan's soldiers used their own sharp swords to kill every one of them. The problem was no longer.

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