Hi students!
Do you already know the new vocabulary of crime and punishment we have recently seen in class? Learning new vocabulary is not an easy thing, but, in order to acquirele to use in our language production, it helps to practise it and do exercises containing that new vocabulary. For that reason, I've selected a few texts, videos and games that you can read, watch or do to start getting familiarised with the new voabulary. Ready?
First of all, I'd like you to do this game in order to check what you already know about the different types of crimes. If you already know the word that appears on screen, you can click on "Get a Word" to get another one. In case you don't know what the word means, you can choose any of the on-line dictionaries provided by the webpage and get the definition in English. My favourite one is Word Reference, but you can get any other. Only one thing, try not too be tempted to get the translation into Spanish!
The good thing about this topic is that, unfortunately, there are all sorts of cases related to crime everyday. We can watch them on TV, listen to them on the radio or read them on the newspapers or the Internet. Therefore, there are many chances to find examples of this new vocabulary everywhere around us. For you to practise some reading, I've selected a few pieces of news that I found on-line, so you can read and reflect about them:
What crimes have these people committed? Have they been punished for them? How? If not, which punishment should they have, in your opinion?
As I've already told you in class, reading, like listening, is a very autonomous skill, so it requires a lot of extra practice that you need to do on your own. You can read books or on-line newspapers to help improve your reading skills and, also, learn new vocabulary and structures. If you go to Resources, on this blog, you'll notice I've included a new link, which will take you to BBC News webpage, where you'll find not only news related to crime, but all sorts of news from all over the world. Maybe, you can try to check the news in English instead of Spanish everyday. If you include English in your daily habits bit by bit, you'll see how that will help you to get better in the language.
Now, it's time to practice some listening. I've selected a few pieces of TV news also related to real crime stories. Watch them and then, make the same reflections as you did with the written stories:
If you'd like to keep practising your listening skills, remember that, on Resources, you can go to Video news any time and watch short videos about what's going on in the world.
Do you like TV shows or movies related to crime? As you know, crime is one of the most attractive topics in terms of fiction, since, just like what happens with horror films, we tend to be excited by what we fear. There many TV shows that deal with crime stories: CSI, The Mentalist, Bones, Castle, etc. One of the most popular ones is Criminal Minds, I don't know if you've heard of it. In this show, an FBI group resolves crimes by using a very special technique: analysing the murderer's behaviour. By doing this, they profile their unsub (short for unknown subject), and search for a person who adjusts to that profile. Here's a video showing a scene of this show. Try to pay special attention on crime words or situations you can hear or see.
All of the TV shows I mentioned above can be watched here in Spain, thanks to the wide range of public TV channels we have. Besides, as I've already said several times in class, our TV systems offer us now the possibility of watching all American TV shows and movies in English, by just going to the audio options of our TV and changing the audio channel. It's incredibly easy, try it and you'll see!
Well, that's all in terms of crime and punishment. I hope you find all this material useful.
Enjoy your holidays and I'll see you in a week.
Take care!
