Student's Book - Page 40-41 - 2

Student’s Book - Page 40-41 - 2

Read and listen. Check your answers.

Story time

The day the sea went out

It was December 26th, 2004. Tilly Smith, a ten-year- old girl from England, was on holiday in Thailand with her parents. Together with her parents and hundreds of other tourists, she was enjoying the sea and the sun on the beautiful Maikhao Beach near Phuket in the south of Thailand.

It was eight o’clock in the morning. Tilly and her parents were in the water, playing with a ball.

Tilly looked around. Lots of people were at the beach and they were having fun. Some were swimming and snorkelling. Two boys were trying to catch fish. A boy and a girl were building a sandcastle. Other people were reading, eating ice cream, writing postcards and taking holiday photos.

Suddenly something strange happened. ‘The sea began to bubble first.

Then it was gone! All the water rushed out and where we were standing, there was no water any more!’ Tilly said. Her parents and many other people wanted to follow the water.

Tilly was scared. For a moment, she closed her eyes. She saw herself at school, in a Geography lesson in October or November. ‘I heard my teacher,’ Tilly said, ‘Mr Kearney, talking to us about the dangers of tsunamis. “Before there is a tsunami,” I heard Mr Kearney’s voice, “the water goes back. Then people have five or ten minutes to run quickly out of the water.

When the water comes back, it comes back very, very fast and high and it’s really dangerous.”

‘Mummy, we must get off the beach now! 1 think there’s going to be a tsunami!’ Tilly shouted. At first, her parents didn’t understand. ‘Mum! Dad! A big wave! It’s dangerous!

Let’s run!’ Tilly shouted. When people heard that, they started to shout, ‘Off the beach. Run! A dangerous wave is coming!’ Tilly and her parents ran away from the beach.

They ran back to the hotel and went up to higher floors.

All the other people ran away from the beach too.

They followed Tilly and her family.

Then the water came back. It was very high and fast and there was a lot of noise. The water broke trees, huts and small houses. In many parts of Thailand and other countries, the tsunami killed lots of people.

On Maikhao Beach all the people were safe. They were safe because ten-year-old Tilly Smith remembered her Geography lesson. And they were safe because Tilly reacted so quickly when she saw what was happening.