In English, Year 9 are currently exploring how to write a range of non-fiction texts.  The focus for the last two weeks has been the documentary ‘Blackfish’ that examines the keeping of killer whales in captivity.

Students are being asked to write a speech about their opinions on whether this should happen or not.  9E were fascinated by how large the killer whale in the film, Tilikum, actually was, so the English staff took them outside to actually measure the true size of Tilikum compared to them.

Tilikum was over 20 feet long, which works out at around 4 and half of Owen!  Having developed a deeper understanding of how huge these creatures are, the information the class had on the size of the tanks Tilikum was kept in and the contrast in size of the trainers working with them really hit home how horrific his story was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Navin is really looking forward to seeing the final speeches that are produced (hopefully including some of the statistics that we found out from our measuring.)