Shoplifting Role-cards
1A
You are an old woman on a visit to the Prado
museum in Madrid, and while no-one was
looking you stuffed a small sketch by Picasso
into your shopping bag. You are very scared.
1B
You are a security guard in the Prado museum
in Madrid, and you suspect an old woman of
stuffing a small sketch by Picasso into her
shopping bag while you weren't looking.
1C
You are the chief security guard in the Prado
museum in Madrid.
2A
You have gone to Tescos to steal a couple of
CDs because you knew one of the checkout girls
at school and you reckon she won't say anything
even if she notices.
2B
You work on the checkout in Tescos and an old
school friend has obviously got something
stuffed under his jumper.
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2C
You are the manager of the local branch of
Tescos. You can see that there is something
suspicious going on at one of the checkouts and
have gone over to see what it is.
3A
You are an alcoholic with no money and have
just managed to get a bottle of whisky into your
bag without anyone noticing in the off-license.
3B
You work in the off-license and you think you
have just seen one of the local drunks hide
something in their bag.
3C
You are the manager of the off-license and have
just seen your father, who has a severe drinking
problem, come into the shop.
4A
You have gone to the local Chinese shop to buy
some fireworks but have just realised that you
don't have enough money to buy the ones you
really want, so you will have to put them in your
backpack while no-one is looking.
4B
You work in the local Chinese shop and you are
very shy, but you think you have just seen
someone with a backpack stealing some
fireworks. You decide to call your father, who is
upstairs asleep.
4C
You own a Chinese shop and have just been
woken up by your daughter, who is saying
something about a shoplifter. You hate the
customers, and are in a very bad mood.
5A
You are a professional shoplifter who has just
changed into a jumper in the changing rooms, and
are preparing to walk straight out of the shop
without taking it off.
5B
You are a store detective in Zara and have noticed
that customer who looks very familiar went into
the changing rooms has come out wearing a
different jumper.
5C
You are the manager of a local branch of the
clothes shop Zara.
 Shoplifting - Always Wrong or Sometimes Right?

This lesson plan focusing on the issue of shoplifting was kindly provided by Richard Willmsen who also runs the blog The
Three Ts. The lesson encourages students to discuss when / if shoplifting is ever acceptable and includes role cards for group
discussions. British English is the target here, so you may need to adapt some of the vocabulary if you are teaching American
English (or Canadian, or Australian English!)

1. Show students something you can claim to have stolen - bananas or IPODs work wonders - and ask them
how much they think it cost.Tell them you didn't pay anything for it, because you stole it.

2. Say 'No, haha, of course it's not stolen' and show them the receipt.

3. See if they know any other words for 'steal' - teach them nick, swipe and 'five-fingered discount'.

4. Ask them if they've ever taken anything from a shop without paying. If no, tell them you understand they
might be shy, and put them in groups to 'share their secrets'.

5. In pairs or threes or whatever, give them the following questions to discuss:

 Have you ever stolen anything from a shop?

 Do you know anybody else who shoplifts regularly?

 Why do you think some people help themselves to things in shops?

6. Would you ever nick anything from a shop? If so, under what circumstances?

7. Get feedback on questions - get one in each group to 'report' back and encourage contributions from the
others.

8. Have a quick vote on who thinks it's ever right (under certain circumstances such as disaster or extreme
hunger) or always wrong to shoplift. Put them in threes or fours depending on the size of the class, and try
to make sure each group has a mix of yeses and nos.

9. Give them the following:

 Do you think it's right or wrong to shoplift? Why/why not?

 Is stealing from local shops the same as stealing from supermarkets? Why/why not?

 Do you know anyone who's ever get caught shoplifting? Did you feel sorry for them?

10. See if anyone knows that in some countries the police will not go out to the store if the vale of the goods
stolen is less than 350 euros. Briefly ask them what they could steal 'for' 350 euros. Tell them that all the
things they've mentioned are basically free if you're prepared to maybe lose face a little in your local
community!

11. Tell them they're going to practice their shoplifting skills. Because they're just practising, they will have to
take it in turns to be the thief and the shop assistant/store detective, and the manager - if you have some
groups of two, get rid of role-cards 1C and/or 5C.

12. Hand out the role-cards, making sure that they don't share the information with their partner or partners, and
be prepared to deal with any vocabulary issues (sketch, to stuff, checkout, fireworks, backpack, familiar)

13. When they've finished, swap round the role-cards. If you like, get the best students to perform their role-
plays for the class.

14. If you do have a lot of time left, have a few post-it notes to hand so that they can write their own role-cards
for the other students to use.

Continue to Role-Cards for small group discussion.