Unit 3 – Anything Is Possible: Reading Text

Inspiring Stories of the Year

Hello, readers! Every year, you vote for the most inspiring story of the year. To participate in
this year’s poll, rate each story below from 1-5 (1 = not inspiring, 5 = the most inspiring story).

Story 1
The Koh Panyee Football Club
Children have played football for hundreds of years. But for a long time, the children of Koh
Panyee, Thailand, could only dream about it.
Koh Panyee is a fishing village. The houses and buildings in the village are on water. In the past,
the only sports children could do were swimming, boat racing and cycling. Even cycling was
difficult because there wasn’t much space and the bikes could fall in the water. Then, in 1986, the
children of Koh Panyee saw the football World Cup on TV and they decided to form a football
team. “Have you gone mad?” people asked them. After all, there wasn’t enough space to build a
football pitch in the village. But the children refused to listen. They solved the problem by building
a football pitch on the water.
The children worked together after school until the pitch was ready. Then, they began to play. At
first, their ball often fell into the water, but their footwork and control slowly got better and better.
Finally, they entered their club, Panyee FC, into a football tournament on the mainland. Amazingly,
they won third place at the tournament.
Since then, Panyee FC has won the Youth Championships of Southern Thailand seven times. The
club has become one of the best youth football clubs in the country and their story has inspired
people everywhere.
Unit 3 – Anything Is Possible: Reading Text

Dreaming of an Education

Have you ever complained about school? How often have you dreamed about skipping
classes? Studying can be stressful, and many students dream about dropping out. But Tay Thi
Nguyen, a student from Long An, Vietnam, had a different problem. She wanted to study, but
her parents wanted her to stop!
Tay Thi is the eighth of nine children in a poor farming family. She was an excellent student, but
her mother wanted her to drop out after primary school and earn money to help the family. In Year
9, her mother burned her schoolbooks to make her leave school, but Tay Thi borrowed books and
continued studying.
When she was in her final year of secondary school, Tay Thi’s parents burned her books again. But
she still finished school, and she secretly began preparing for the university entrance examinations.
When her mother found out, she said, “I hope you fail the exams.”
Tay Thi arrived at the exams crying, but she passed and began university. At university, she only
had around $3.50 per week for meals, so she cut back on food. She sometimes became ill in class
from hunger, but she didn’t give up.
Since then, Tay Thi has finished university. Now she wants to teach in her village. “I would like to
change people’s thinking,” she says. She has already convinced two of her brothers to go to school,
and even her mother is happy about that. Tay Thi’s determination has improved the future for
everyone in her family.