Activity 3 - Crime and Punishment
Writing to Inform, Explain, Describe

 
 
  Objectives

During this activity you will think about how you can use language to explain a situation.
 
 
  Outcomes

At the end of this activity you will have:
 
 
a storyboard in which you have decided on appropriate punishments for a range of minor crimes
 
 
a sheet of sentences which you have joined together in different ways
 
 
a storyboard in which you have given clear explanations of a situation from three characters’ points of view.
 
 
  Resources

To complete the activity you will need:
 
 
Sheet 3.1 Cause and Effect
 
 
Sheet 3.2 Short Cut
 
 


  Activities
 
 
  Introduction
 
 
  1. Open and watch the You Decide storyboard, which shows several frames in which crimes are being committed. After each scenario there is a frame of a magistrate in a courtroom. Complete the empty speech bubble in each of these frames with the punishment that you think the offender should receive. Explain your reasons.
 
 

to open the You Decide storyboard
 
 


  Development
 
 
  2. Your teacher may give you Sheet 3.1 Cause and Effect so that you can practise using a range of connecting words before you start work on the next storyboard.
 
 
  3. Now open and watch the Short Cut storyboard, which shows an incident where an elderly man confronts a girl who is taking a short cut across his garden on her way to school. Watch carefully because you will have to use the information in this storyboard to complete the next part of the activity.
 
 

to open the Short Cut storyboard
 
 
  4. Now open the Complaint storyboard, in which the man comes to the girl’s school to make a complaint about her, and the head teacher asks the girl to give her side of the story. It’s your job to explain both characters’ points of view to the head teacher – and to decide on the punishment the girl should receive. Your teacher may give you the text of the Short Cut storyboard (on Sheet 3.2 Short Cut) to help you with this part of the activity.
 
 

to open the Complaint storyboard
 
 


  Plenary
 
 
  5. You will have the chance to watch some storyboards that other students have completed, and to share your work with them too. Think carefully about the explanations that they have written and see if you can come up with any improvements.
 
 


  Extension/Homework
 
 
  6. Write a letter from the head teacher to the old man (or to the schoolgirl’s parents), explaining the punishment that the girl will receive.
 
 
  7. Find a short newspaper article about a crime in a local or national newspaper and stick it on to a sheet of A4 paper. Underneath write a paragraph explaining what punishment you would give in this case and why.
 
 




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