Crime and Punishment

In this advanced ESL lesson, students learn how to use narrative forms. They will also acquire vocabulary to refer to crime and punishment.

Introduction

In the introduction part of the lesson, the student reads a short passage about a break-in and robbery. Their task is to identify narrative tenses. Then, they learn about the use of narrative tenses and put knowledge into practice by completing sentences choosing the correct narrative forms.
Crime and punishment
The student learns about the steps in a criminal trial process and finds the synonyms for the words extracted from the text (e.g. verdict, prosecutor, trial, etc.).

Reading: Where’s Billy?

The student reads a message from a friend, about a neighbor who got arrested for disorderly conduct. After reading, they complete the sentences based on the text and match the extracted expressions to their meanings.

Video: Why should you read Crime and Punishment?

The student learns about the plot and significance of the famous novel Crime and Punishment and discusses questions based on the video. After watching, they acquire new vocabulary used in the video through a matching exercise (e.g. pawnbroker, intertwined, bleak, etc.).

Reading: The benefits of imprisonment

By reading a short passage based on a scientific study, the student learns how imprisonment of criminals can be effective and beneficial. Then, they fill in the gaps with the missing information based on the text.

Vocabulary: types of crime

The student is given different types of crime, which they need to classify correctly into four categories: organized crime, white-collar crime, crimes against property, crimes against people. After that, they try to decide which consequence or punishment fits a crime. This is followed by a discussion in which the student gets a chance to use the newly acquired vocabulary.