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Worksheet 5: Creative Exercises based on the Crime and Punishment section

A. WRITING TASKS

For each task think about the following:

Example / Your idea
Text Type / Novel
Subject / The death of Poncelet – death penalty
From the viewpoint of the victim’s family
Purpose / To describe the scene from another point of view
To move readers of the scene
To counter-balance Helen’s viewpoint
Audience / Readers of the eye-witness account
Tone / Very emotional and moving
Angry tone – desire for revenge
Techniques / Emotive language
Description of feelings
First person narration
Lexical field of anger
Similes and metaphors
  1. Imagine that you are a prisoner on death row. Write your diary.
  1. Write a speech against or for the death penalty. Make sure you have a particular audience and use the CAMEL EATS PARIS worksheet. Download it from
  1. Write a magazine article about the death penalty. You must be very clear about the type of magazine you are writing for and what your objective is. Think carefully about your audience.
  1. Make a leaflet where you condemn the death penalty. You are going to hand it out in front of the Texas prison in order to try and convince people that Texas should ban the death penalty.

B. ORAL ACTIVITY – class debate

In groups of 4 – 2 students are FOR the death penalty and 2 students are AGAINST the death penalty.

Prepare on a POSTCARD size of paper some arguments which you will be able to use in your debate. Make sure you present them as bullet points only. You can only have this in front of you during your debate.

FOR
  • The victim's loved ones have a right to gain peace through the murderer's death.
  • God himself instituted the death penalty (Genesis 9:6) and Christ supported it (Luke 19:27)/

AGAINST
  • The death penalty is not a ...... The average murder rate per 100,000 people in US States with capital punishment is about 8%, while it is only 4.4% in abolitionist states.
  • The death penalty strikes at the poor and racial minorities – two out of three children sent to death row are people of colour from underprivileged backgrounds + add statistics

Make sure you research your arguments – have some statistics and think about how you can be persuasive. Use the websites I have given you or other ones you have found. Quote people – make sure you quote sources which seem convincing. Use emotive language as well.

THE DEBATE

Each group of four will then debate the death penalty. The teacher will just listen. Make sure that when someone makes a point, you actually respond to that point BEFORE going on to give another argument. The idea is to listen to others and to persuade us that your arguments are stronger.

Each student will be graded separately so make sure you ALL speak and allow others to get a word in the debate – don’t dominate or you’ll be marked down.