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!)
- 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.
- Say 'No, haha, of course it's not stolen' and show them the receipt.
- See if they know any other words for 'steal' - teach them nick, swipe and 'five-fingered discount'. Elicit Shoplifting.
- 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'.
- 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?
- Have you ever stolen anything from a shop?
- Would you ever nick anything from a shop? If so, under what circumstances?
- Get feedback on questions - get one in each group to 'report' back and encourage contributions from the others.
- 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.
- 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?
- Do you think it's right or wrong to shoplift? Why/why not?
- 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!
- 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.
- 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)
- When they've finished, swap round the role-cards. If you like, get the best students to perform their role-plays for the class.
- 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.
