Listen to a talk show and write whether the sentences from the video are True or False.
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- Učenik piše osvrt na novinski članak. Iznosi vlastito mišljenje.
- Učenik iskazuje slaganje i neslaganje s tekstom.
1 A video - curfew for teenagers
a) The first speaker thinks that a curfew wouldn't be a good idea.
b) It's in the teenagers' nature to rebel and stay out late.
c) If kids are falling into criminal patterns of behaviour, it's usually because of their parents.
d) The police has the power to take the kids home and tell the parents what they were doing.
2 Vocabulary check
Put the correct form of the following words into the text: curfew, rebel, exposed to, to fall into criminal patterns, abuse.
3 Reading comprehension
Read the newspaper article and choose the correct answer for each sentence from the drop-down menu.
A curfew for teenagers
After a long debate in the Parliament, the police announced that they are thinking about introducing a curfew scheme during the weekdays.
According to police chief Johnson, anyone under the age of fifteen will have to be home by 10 p.m. He stated that the aim of the scheme is to reduce the number of teenagers becoming victims of crime, as well as to reduce the number of teenagers becoming offenders themselves. Chief Johnson also said that the police officers will patrol the streets after ten p.m. and take the teenagers home if they are caught out in the streets.
He believes that the number of teenage crime will fall due to the fact that most of them take place early in the evening, when children are alone in the dark without any adult supervision. He also believes that the presence of police officers in the streets will show teenagers that they can turn to the police if they have any problems. He thinks that the scheme will be a real success because they are also thinking about introducing fines for parents who let their underaged children wander the streets at night, instead of being in their homes and preparing for school.
4 Making suggestions and expressing results
Listen to the strategy for making suggestions and expressing results and fill the text with the missing words.
Making suggestions and expressing result
When you are writing a letter to a newspaper, you will have to make suggestions and express results. In order to be able to do this, first you need to understand the problem that you are writing about, as well as its cause. You should prepare some suggestions on how to solve the problem, not only complain about other people's suggestions. When you have a suggestion, you must support it with possible results, so you need to think carefully about the issue. In the end, you should also use specific phrases to introduce the suggestions and results, like: I recommend that… This would mean… Another good idea would be… In this way… Another suggestion would be to... Perhaps we could...
5 Read the letter to a newspaper
Read Sinead's letter to a newspaper and answer the following questions.
Dear sir or Madam,
writing to express my views on the curfew scheme proposed by the police and reported in your newspaper on Sunday. I have to express my strong disapproval of the scheme because I believe it will do more harm than good.
Chief Johnson says that the scheme will not only protect the teenagers, but will also reduce crime. But he did not mention the teenagers who never get into any trouble, although they are spending time with their friends in the streets. The curfew scheme would punish them and they could react in a negative way, making the problem even worse.
I recommend that the police should focus more on the real offenders, rather than all teenagers. This would mean that all the innocent teenagers would not feel called out and feel like they are being punished for something they have not done.
Another good idea would be to talk to young offenders and their families because many of them have a difficult time at home because their parents do not look after them properly. The police should also involve social services to give those families more care and support. By doing so, they could find out why some teenagers break the law and deal with the problem in the proper way. If they did that, they would solve the problem in the long term, not only reduce crime for a couple of months or so. Another suggestion is to organize activities for teenagers, like sports, drama or book clubs, play areas or the like. If they had more worthwhile things to do outside their homes, they would not cause problems. Nobody can deny that there is nothing for teenagers to do in most of our towns and cities, except hang out in the streets. The local government should get more involved and provide places for teenagers to meet and free activities for them to do after school or at weekends.
I look forward to hearing the opinions of other readers.
Yours faithfully,
Sinead Smith
writing to express my views on the curfew scheme proposed by the police and reported in your newspaper on Sunday. I have to express my strong disapproval of the scheme because I believe it will do more harm than good.
Chief Johnson says that the scheme will not only protect the teenagers, but will also reduce crime. But he did not mention the teenagers who never get into any trouble, although they are spending time with their friends in the streets. The curfew scheme would punish them and they could react in a negative way, making the problem even worse.
I recommend that the police should focus more on the real offenders, rather than all teenagers. This would mean that all the innocent teenagers would not feel called out and feel like they are being punished for something they have not done.
Another good idea would be to talk to young offenders and their families because many of them have a difficult time at home because their parents do not look after them properly. The police should also involve social services to give those families more care and support. By doing so, they could find out why some teenagers break the law and deal with the problem in the proper way. If they did that, they would solve the problem in the long term, not only reduce crime for a couple of months or so. Another suggestion is to organize activities for teenagers, like sports, drama or book clubs, play areas or the like. If they had more worthwhile things to do outside their homes, they would not cause problems. Nobody can deny that there is nothing for teenagers to do in most of our towns and cities, except hang out in the streets. The local government should get more involved and provide places for teenagers to meet and free activities for them to do after school or at weekends.
I look forward to hearing the opinions of other readers.
Yours faithfully,
Sinead Smith
a) What does she think about the scheme?
b) How many suggestions does she make?
c) How many possible results does she mention?
6 Sort words to make sentences
Put the following words into the correct order to make sentences from the letter.
7 Writing
Write a letter (200 to 250 words) to the newspaper expressing your opinion on the following proposal.
Your local council is planning a new scheme to reduce street fighting and teenage crime. Under this scheme, the police can remove teenagers from a certain area after 10 p.m. if they don't live there and arrest them if they return within 24 hours.
Before you write the letter, think about:
- how you feel about the scheme: do you agree or disagree with it?
- the cause of street violence
- alternatives
- possible results of the alternatives
In paragraph 1, say why you are writing and express your opinion on the proposed scheme.
In paragraph 2, explain the reason for your opinion and show you understand the problem and its cause.
In paragraph 3, present the first suggestion and the result.
In paragraph 4, make another suggestion and the result.
In paragraph 5, add a final point.
Word count: 0