Witness to a crime Level: Intermediate Teacher's notes: 1. 2. 3. 4. Explain to the students that they have witnessed a crime.

Tell them to read the roles that you give them carefully. Give each student a role. Allow them time to read their roles and then tell them to stand up and mingle with the entire group. 5. As they mingle they should explain their roles to one another. 6. At the end of the activity put the students into pairs and ask them to tell each other all of the information that they found out from the other students. 7. As a follow up activity ask the students to write a report of the crime based on the information that they found out.

You were standing near the drug store; you were talking to a friend who had just come back from vacation. You were listening to her tell you all about her time in Mexico. Suddenly, you noticed three people running from the store.

You were talking to a friend about your vacation outside the drug store, suddenly, your friend shouted, "Look!" You noticed three people running from the store; one was carrying a large bag.

You were waiting in the drug store for a prescription, you were angry because you had been waiting for a very long time. Suddenly, a man pushed in front of you and started shouting. It was 3.30pm; you knew because you had been waiting for your prescription since 3pm!

You were behind the counter in the drug store - serving customers. You were hungry and angry because the customers were being so impatient and you had missed lunch. Suddenly, a man ran up to the counter and told you to handover the money.

You were helping your friend behind the counter in the drug store, you actually work in the bakery next door but it was your break and so you decided to visit your friend now you wish that you hadn't! Suddenly, a man shouted, "Give me the money!" You tried to hide but he saw you! He had blue eyes and was wearing a green shirt and a black sweater with a hat. Your friend gave him $2,000.

You heard a man shouting in the drug store; you were looking for headache tablets. Suddenly, you heard a man shout, "Give me the money!" It was 3.30pm; you were going home to watch Oprah Winfrey, she was doing a special program on violent children.

You were standing near the counter in the drug store, you saw a man wearing a casual pair of black pants and a sloppy sweater. You were surprised because it was the middle of the summer. Suddenly, he shouted, "Give me the money!"

You were holding the door of the drug store open for a woman with a baby. She had a lot of things to carry and so you tried to help her when suddenly two men pushed you; you almost fell! As they ran away, you saw that they were wearing black sweaters.

You were walking into the drug store with your baby. You wanted to buy some diapers. You noticed a man open the door for you, but as you walked through the door two men came out and pushed you out of the way.

You were standing by the mailbox near the drug store trying to mail some letters, when you saw three men running from the store. One had a bag and two were wearing black sweaters, the last man was following them, he was wearing a red shirt.

You were working at the front of the drug store putting cans on the shelves. You were wearing a red shirt and a black pair of pants. Suddenly, you saw two men running from the store with a bag. You ran after them to try to stop them.

You are a police officer. You were standing on the street corner. You suddenly saw three men running toward you; you knew that they were in trouble. You chased them but you only managed to catch the one wearing a red shirt and black pants. When you told him to stop he resisted.

You were watching TV at home; Oprah Winfrey was on - your favorite. It was about 4.15pm when the phone rang, it was the police, they said that John had been arrested for stealing money from the drug store. You couldn't believe it- not your son and not when your favorite program was on!

You own the drug store. The police called you at 5pm to say that they had arrested John. You have no idea what happened but you always thought that he was a problem.

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Parents, Parents!
Activity type: this is a role play activity in which students act out being parents and teachers. Level: Intermediate and above Teacher's notes:

1. Begin the lesson by asking students to discuss parents and what they think of them in
terms of their roles, how they should behave etc. subject.

2. You could dictate a few statements questions to get the students talking about the
Parents do not pay enough attention to their children these days. Most parents do not know much about their children e.g. if they smoke or not, who they hang out with etc. Television is the reason children are so violent these days; parents are not to blame. The Internet is causing children more children to be antisocial and for parents to have little time with their children.

3. Ask the students to discuss the sentences in pairs and then bring the class together
into a big debate.

4. At this point, you may want to go over some useful vocabulary i.e. the sheet below. 5. Once you have gone over the lexical set. Ask them to use the language to answer the
questions below:

VOCABULARY

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

To To To To To To

be be be be be be

out of control strict lenient difficult to handle spoilt the apple of his/her mothers/fathers eye

7. Butter wouldnt melt in his/her mouth 8. To be as good as gold 9. To be told off 10. To be overbearing

Look at the sentences below and try to guess the meaning of the underlined lexical items.:

1. Janey was as good as gold at school; she never got into trouble. 2. He is the apple of his mothers eye; she thinks he is perfect and couldnt imagine him
doing anything naughty.

3. The teacher is extremely strict; she wont even allow talking in class at all! 4. He gets whatever he asks for. If he wants toys, he gets them. If he wants money he
gets it. He is really spoilt.

5. My mother is really a softie; she never tells me what to do or when to come home she 6. 7. 8. 9.

is really lenient. If I get into trouble, she never punishes me. I dont think that she has evertold me off! The children in the new school are completely out of control. They fight in class; they throw things at the teachers and they are often absent. The principal doesn t seem to be able to do anything to stop them. My sisters two year old is really difficult; he throws things and has tantrums. He often cries and generally wont do anything that you ask him to; hes really difficult to handle. The little girl looks like an angel; butter wouldnt melt in her mouth! She is a sweetheart. Janeys parents are very overbearing; they are always at school checking on her; they wont let her go out without them.

Questions:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Are your parents strict or lenient? Can you name someone who you think is spoilt? When was the last time that you were told off and why? Do you know someone who is difficult to handle? Are you usually good as gold? Could you be described with the idiom butter wouldnt melt? Would you say that your parents were overbearing or not? Now tell the students that they are going to take part a parents meeting at a school that is having problems. Hand out the roles. Explain to the students that the meeting is to decide whether to

10. 11. 12.

hold a sports day or not. There have been problems with the sports days in the past; the school has decided to have a meeting to look at the pros and cons and to make a decision as to whether to have one or not this year. Put the students into groups with one principal per group. Tell the principal that he/she has to moderate the meeting and to make sure that the students come to a conclusion and a result! Run the role play and monitor. Do delayed correction at the end of the activity.

ROLES

PARENT (Mr. /Ms. Chester) At the last sports day you got up and ran after your child during a race in order to encourage your child. Johnnie is a fabulous child; he always good as gold and quite clearly the best student in the school. You feel that your behavior at the sports day was normal ; your parenting skills are second to none. Of course you should have a sports day. Johnnie will win and you want to see him win. He loves sports and loves to compete. He was a little aggressive last time but it was not his fault that the other student nearly broke her nose; she fell on to Johnnies hand!

PRINCIPAL (Mr. /Ms. Smith) You know that some of the parents feel strongly about the sports day but during the last event a parent jumped up and joined in with a race! How ridiculous! Also that child was also involved in a fight although there wasnt any proof. In your opinion, both the children and the students get too carried away. They become too competitive and too aggressive. You want the parents to either stay away from the day or for the sports day to be stopped altogether. The school can have other types of competitions that are less violent! You do love sports though and do feel that it would be a shame to get rid of it. May be only some parents should not be involved?

PARENT (Mr. /Ms. Edwards) You hate competitive sports and would love to ban the day altogether. You feel that the children should make pots and paint pictures instead. You love harmony and balance; you think the children should be taught to love one another and to care about each other not stand in a line and try to beat each other to a finishing line. Your daughter Daphne got really upset during the last sports day when someone pushed her and almost broke her nose. You would love to see the children doing another kind of activity such as dance.

PARENT (Mr. Ms. Plover)

You love sports day; it is character building. You think that all children should learn to compete so that when they enter the business world they are prepared. Everyone needs to be competitive; its a dog eat dog world. Races are very good for the children because they keep the children healthy and fit. You think that in fact there should be more sports in school. You think there should be fewer activities such as dance and flower arranging- what do they teach?

TEACHER (Ms. / Mr. Sparrow) You think that it is about time that the school got rid of the sports day. It is only about fighting. The boys get aggressive and usually there is a fight. You are tired of having to break up fights and of stopping bullying. You think that the children should do more school work instead such as geography or history. You dont understand why the principal doesnt suggest this.

Alibi Activity type: A role play based on a very old idea in which students have to act as criminals and police people. Level: Pre-intermediate and above Teacher's notes:

1.

Tell the whole group about a crime which has recently been committed, for example: Last night between 6pm and 9pm a diamond was stolen from a store on the main street of our town. The diamond was priceless. Nobody knows exactly when the diamond was stolen but it was certainly taken between 6pm and 9pm. Two people were seen outside the shop last night and have been taken in for questioning by the police. At present, they are the prime suspects and unfortunately they are in this very room!

2.

3. 4. 5.

6.

7. 8. 9.

Point out two suspects in the group. Choose the most confident students who do not mind being suspected of a crime. Make sure that they feel suitably surprised! Ask the students what needs to happen now i.e. that they need to be interrogated and that they need to have a strong alibi. Actually they have to think of one story i.e. that they were together and they need to think, in detail, what they did between 6pm and 9pm. They might say, for example, that they went to a restaurant, they ate fish, they shared the bill and that they went home on the bus. The stories MUST be identical. If the stories are not the same, they are GUILTY Tell the two students to leave the room and to think of an alibi; it must be watertight. Tell the remaining students that they are police people and what they are going to do is to interrogate the suspects. Arrange the classroom so that you have two equal groups and put one group on one side of the room and the other group on the other side of the room. Ask them to think of questions that they would like to ask the suspects. Tell them that they need to find differences between the two suspects stories. After a few minutes preparation, allow the two suspects back into class. Seat one suspect in front of one police station and the other in front of the other police station. Tell each group to interrogate the suspect with their prepared questions. After 10-15 minutes (this will depend on the group), swap the suspects over i.e. move one suspect to the other police station and move the other suspect to the other. Allow time for the new interrogations. After both police stations have spoken to both suspects, ask the stations to confer as to whether they think the suspects are guilty or not i.e. were there any differences in their stories. As a follow-up, you can do error correction, ask the students to write up a report of what happened and also decide on an appropriate punishment!

Note: You can have more than two suspects e.g. three suspects and three police stations or four and four police stations. The amount will depend on your class size. Always make sure that you have the same number of stations as suspects because they all need to speak to

each suspect. This is a very good review of the past simple and past continuous. This activity can take up to an hour possibly over that.

Checking into a Hotel

Topics/Conversational Moves

Opening/Greeting Request Room Specify Room Type and Number of Occupants Length of Stay Help with Luggage Special Needs (wake up call, room service, laundry) Sign the Register Book Other Business (Can you think of anything else?) Closing/Farewell