Country Worksheet Australia www.ef.com
About Australia
Canberra
Continent: Australia Capital: Canberra Population: 24.611.400 people Indigenous australians lived in Australia for over 30,000 years before Europeans arrived in the eighteenth century. They are one of the oldest cultures in the world, but their mythological history goes far before that. They believe that long, long ago, in a time before time, the world was made by ancient spirits. The Aboriginals call this time ‘the Dreaming’ or ‘the Dreamtime’. Dreamtime stories are a way of explaining why the world is how it is today. A - The words below are from an Aboriginal story. Before you read the story, try and guess what the story is going to be about. How do you think the different pieces will fit together to make the story? three men
a fire
a nasty surprise
a lot of fish
an old man
a hungry village
a fishing boat
bones
a lie
Tri to use the words to tell a classmate a short story of your own. B - Now read the story. Long, long ago in the time of the dreaming, there was a small village near a lake. The people of the village were very hungry, They had not eaten for days. Three men from the village decided to go and catch some fish to eat. They took a small boat to the lake and told their wives to light the lire because they would be back soon with some fish to cook, That day they caught more
fish than they had ever caught before! The fish were very big and very juicy, and the men were excited because they knew that they were going to eat a delicious meal that night. They caught so many fish that they were afraid their boat might sink, so they decided to sail to the shore. When they reached the shore, there was a very old man waiting for them. ‘Quick’ they said to each other, ‘hide the fish so he can’t see them!’ They covered the fish to hide them from the old man. ‘Excuse me’ said the old man, ‘but I am very hungry and I haven’t eaten any fish in a long time.’ ‘Sorry,’ said the three men. ‘We don’t have many fish-not even enough for our own village.’ The old man turned around and started to walk away, ‘You will never enjoy eating those fish’ he said to them in a sad voice, and then he was gone. When the three men arrived back at their village they told everyone the good news about all the nice juicy fish they had caught. Their wives quickly cooked the fish and everybody was ready to eat. The first person to taste the fish was a little girl. She almost choked and spat the fish out. Her mother tried some and she almost choked too. The fish were full of very tiny, very sharp bones. The fish were very difficult to eat and an old woman from the village asked the three men if they had seen anyone near the lake when they caught the fish. ‘We saw a strange old man,’ they told her. ‘We told him that we didn’t have many fish so that he would leave us alone.’ ‘You three idiots!’ said the old woman. ‘That wasn’t just an old man! That was Ngurunderi! Because you were greedy and didn’t give him any fish, he has made all of these fish bony and difficult to eat!’ Now, every time somebody catches fish from that lake, they are bony and not nice to eat. C - Now answer these questions about the story. 1
The village had not eaten for days because ... a there had been no rain b nobody had caught any fish for days c somebody had stolen their food d none of the above-the story does not tell us
2 When the three men went fishing they felt ... a confident that they would catch fish b tired because they had no food c angry about having to work d happy because they were going fishing
International Language Campuses
3
They stopped fishing because ... a they did not catch enough b they were too cold c they were lazy d they had too many fish
4 They did not give the old man any fish because ... a they did not like him b they did not know him c they did not have enough fish d they wanted to keep all the fish for themselves and their families 5 The old man was ... a their grandfather b a ghost c a spirit d a fisherman 6 The moral of the story is ... a if you have a lot of something you should share it with others b treat everyone kindly because sometimes strangers can be very important c never overcook your fish d always take the bones out before your try to eat your fish