1.Look at these pictures. What do they have in common?
2.Match the pictures with the appropriate words:
robbery -- speeding -- shoplifting -- credit card fraud -drink driving -- graffiti -- murder -- mugging -- burglary
3.a) Which crimes are the most serious? Number them in order.
3.b) Which of these crimes is more frequent in your country?
3.c) Can you think of other crimes?
4.Read the introduction to an article and answer these questions.
What did the man do wrong?
What was his punishment?
What is “alternative sentencing”?
Make the punishment fit the crime
A man is caught stealing books from a bookshop. The judge asks why he did it, and the
thief says he loves books. What is the man´s punishment? A prison sentence? A big
fine? No. The man is sent to read stories and books to hospital patients. He enjoys the
job and continues to do it for many years!
Welcome to the new world of alternative sentencing programmes. Instead of
traditional punishments, criminals get the punishments that fit their crimes.
5.What alternative sentences can you think of for the crimes mentioned in activity 1?
6.Now read the rest of the article and see if any of your ideas are mentioned.
What other examples of alternative sentencing are there? Two boys were caught
writing graffiti on a wall. The normal punishment for this is a fine, but in this case
the boys were told to do community service. They cleaned seventy walls in three
weeks.
A shoplifter was caught shoplifting three times in one year in a small town in the
United States. What was her punishment? She was sent to speak to shop owners. She
gave advice on how to stop shoplifters. In one month she spoke to the owners of forty
shops. She told them all about shoplifting and the techniques that shoplifters use. It
was a great service to the community because after that shoplifting almost disappeared
from the town.
What about more serious crimes? Is alternative sentencing possible for crimes like
theft or credit card fraud? It depends on many things. Who are the criminals? Are
they young? Is this their first crime? Can they change their way of life? One recent
story suggests it is possible.
A thief stole a lot of camping equipment. He loved hiking, mountain climbing and
other sports. Instead of going to prison, he was told to keep all the equipment and to
take groups of schoolchildren and their teachers camping and hiking every weekend.
He loved it, the children loved it, and now it´s his job.
Extracted from “Speakout Pre-intermediate Student´s book” p.100 with an educational purpose
VOCABULARY: crime and punishment.
7. a) Match the words in bold from the text with definitions 1 – 9.
1) a person who steals things: thief
2) time that is spent in prison:
3) writing or drawing on public walls, doors, etc.:
4) doing unpaid work to help your town/city:
5) stealing things:
6) a person who steals things from shops:
7) cheating someone to make money from them:
8) stealing things from a shop:
9) an amount of money that you have to pay:
7.b) Put the words in the correct place in the table.
criminal
crime
punishment
Think of alternative sentences for the following crimes:
1) Laura Walters, 32, is a very good painter. She forged a painting made by a famous artist and
she sold it for a lot of money. An art expert saw the painting and realized it was not the original
one.
2) Stenven Hunter, 25, is a famous American football player. He was stopped by the police
because he was speeding his car near a school. It turned out he had been drinking alcohol some
minutes before driving his car.
PRACTICE:
8. Make passive sentences using the verbs in brackets. Use the present simple or simple
past.
1. When I was a child I __________________(tell) many stories.
2. I __________________(call) Jim by my friends.
3. I __________________ (tell) that I am like my father.
4. When I was younger I __________________ (help) by many teachers.
5. Last holidays my friends __________________(take) to Disneyland.
6. Last Christmas I _________________ (give) an iPod.
7. My employees __________________ (pay) every month.
8. I _________________(choose) as captain of my football team when I was at school.
Extracted from “Speakout Pre-Intermediate Student´s book”, p.101 with an educational purpose.
9.a) Complete the following stories using the PASSIVE form of the SIMPLE PAST.
STORY 1
Two boys aged nine and eleven __________________(arrest) for robbing a sweet shop. They
used a “gun” which was actually a water pistol with black tape around it. When the shop
assistant started laughing, the boys ran away, but they _______________(stop) five minutes
later by the police. The police arrested them, but said that the gun didn´t have any water in it!
STORY 2
A woman _____________ (send) to prison for internet fraud. Leila Krieff had a website called
heroesfund.com, which asked the public to send money for exsoldiers. But Krieff didn´t give
the money to the “heroes”. Instead, she bought two homes, a Porsche, a Mercedes and a boat.
STORY 3
Tony and Gretel Rivera were arrested for art theft. Between 1999 and 2007 they stole
hundreds of paintings from art galleries in the USA. One painting _________________(take) by
the Riveras from a gallery in Santa Fe.
The Riveras __________________ (catch) when they tried to sell the painting to Joachim
Cohen in California. Cohen recognised it immediately; he owned the art gallery in Santa Fe.
MORE PRACTICE: passive voice.
Use the following verbs in the past passive to complete the sentences.
build (x2) -- invent -- practise -- write -- discover
The television ______________________ by John Logie Baird.
The American Constitution _______________________ in 1787.
Penicillin _________________________by Ian Fleming.
The first aeroplanes ______________________ by the Wright brothers and Alberto Santos
Dumont.
The Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower ____________________ by French architects.
Surfing ____________ first ________________ by Australian sportsmen.
Extracted from “Speakout Pre-Intermediate Student´s book”, p.101, 106 with an educational purpose.