P5 Stellar English Unit 7: TEN

A 'little book with a big heart' about a little girl coming to terms with her parents divorce and her father moving away. She finds the strength to deal with the upheaval in her life through her love of football, the camaraderie of her team-mates and the support of her family.

Set in a small, seaside town in Malaysia and culminating in a denouement at Wembley Stadium, it is a touching, multi-cultural story of the universality of human values.
(taken from: http://shaminiflint.com/books-youngreaders.html)

In Unit 7, a short story was adapted from the above story: TEN.
This was written by Shamini Flint who was a corporate lawyer and she has sold over 500,000 books since she began writing six years ago.

The main character, Maya is a 10-year-old girl who is crazy about football.
Watch video: Maya from TEN plays soccer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaO8JQZzgu0

This story uses many analogies from football to describe Maya's outlook of life.
It is very interesting to compare the football match to the family problem faced by Maya.

Example 1:
"When we were younger, Rajiv and I would rush upstairs and try to break up the fight. (of the parents)
Rajiv was like the referee of a game where the players start shoving each other -  he would get between them. (parents) I would be like one of the senior players and try and drag one of them away."

Example 2:
"Zico scores.
Maybe this will turn out all right in the end!"
As Maya was talking about the football match, she was also referring to the family conflict which she hoped will turn out all right in the end afterall.

The subject matter - football could be unfamiliar to many pupils, especially  the girls.
I've listed some videos below for easy reference:

1) Brazil vs France World Cup 1986 - Penalty Shootout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nhvqIjgQ04
(Some parts of the match were described on page 3 of our reading text.)

2) Socrates Backheel Penalty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7dFeY6kl1k
Socrates was one of the footballer mentioned in the story: Ten.

Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, MD (19 February 1954 – 4 December 2011), simply Sócrates, was a Brazilian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was also a qualified doctor.

Sócrates was a technical playmaker, known for great through passes and his vision on the field, as well as his physical strength. He was also a two-footed player and a prolific goal scorer. His ability to read the game was highly valued, and his signature move was the blind heel pass.[2] He was considered to be one of the greatest midfielders ever to play the game.[3] Easily recognizable for his beard and headband, he became the "symbol of cool for a whole generation of football supporters".[4]

(Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sócrates)

3) Zico Legend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1jJUX9HeHw
Zico was another footballer mentioned in the story: TEN.
He was Maya's favourite player and his squad number was 10!

Zico scored 52 goals in 72 international matches for Brazil, and represented them in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups. They did not win any of those tournaments, even though the 1982 squad is considered one of the greatest Brazilian national squads ever.[5] Zico is often considered one of the best players in football history not to have been on a World Cup winning squad. He was chosen 1981[6] and 1983 Player of the Year.

(Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zico)

4) The author: Shamini Flint has written many interesting titles.
Check out her website for more information on her books: http://shaminiflint.com/index.html
Just to list some of her titles:
- Crime Fiction Series: Inspector Singh Investigates
- Diary of the Taekwondo Master (and many other titles in this series)
- Sasha Series
- The Seeds of Time