DETECTIVE STORIES : SEQUENCE 4

Sance 1 : ANTICIPATION

Doc 1 : A PARTIR DE LA PHOTO NEW MISSIONS :

"What are the elements of a good crime story?"

"What's the English for?" secs par ex. pour "culprit", mais si tu as une classe plus forte, tu peux exiger d'eux qu'ils
dcrivent l'action en donnant un exemple : "What's the word for someone who hurt someone / did a crime?"
Donc, l, tu fais sortir des termes gnraux : "In a good crime story, there is always a... victim". Et l, tu
demandes : "opposite ? " Peut-tre qu'un lve te dira : "a killer ?" Tu introduis : "murderer" et "culprit of a crime".
Tu peux noter au tableau
"There is always..." et leurs propositions en dessous, et tu peux les aider faire des catgories.
- a crime weapon
- witnesses
- a proof / an evidence
- a detective / policeman /sleuth
- to commit a crime
- a time of the crime
- an alibi
- a reason for the crime
- to blackmail someone
- a crime of passion
- to solve a mystery
etc.
Aprs, tu peux faire des sous-catgories :
- crime weapon : a knife, poison, etc.
- possible reasons for a crime : money, hate, love, despise...
- evidence : fingerprints, time of the crime, etc.

Remplir la mindmap au fur et a mesure.

Doc 2 : the new yorker cover (slow reveal)

Faire decouvrir le documents au fur et a mesure en leur faisant mettre des hypothses
Distribuer la mthodologie pour description dimages

Trace crite :

This document is a magazine cover.It is entitled the New yorker and it dates back to the end of 1997.The scene
must takes place at christmas in the living room of a cosy appartment or house.On the right,a christmas tree is
decorated with lights,garlands and topped by a golden star.At the foot of the tree,christmas present are scattered
about on the floor.Some of them have already been unwrapped while others are still tied by red ribbons.In the
background a fire is burning in the fireplace.Stockings are hanging from the mantelpiece.In the foreground i can
see a woman.She must be in her mid twenties.She has long wavy hair she is slim she is going downstairs and
holding a gun in her hand.She is shocked

The man may be dead /her husband. The man may have a cardiac arrest .The murderer may be a buglar or the
wife. She may have a gun because she is scared of the burglar.
 OBJECTS / DEDUCTIONS DEDUCTIONS DEDUCTIONS DEDUCTIONS
CHARACTERS ON THE PLACE ON THE TIME ON THE ON WHAT
ON THE OF ACTION CHARACTERS HAPPENED
PICTURE
The New Yorker The scene
PROBABLY /
SURELY /
CERTAINLY
takes place in New
A christmas tree York
and socks on the The scene MAY The scene
fireplace + dates take place in a MUST take place
(Dec 22 & 29) + living-room or in a in winter /
presents study, in a house December / at
Christmas
The scene MAYBE
/ PERHAPS takes
place = MAY take
place on Christmas
eve, or on
Christmas day

A man is lying
on the floor He MUST be He MAY have
the victim. He been killed by a
MAY be dead or burglar / a thief
unconscious or he
MAY be sleepING
The lady is She MAY be the
holding a gun killer / the witness
They MAY be She MAY have
married or friends SHOT = killed the
man/ MAY have
heard the man shout
or the sound of the
gunshot
The man and the
woman MAY have
had an argument
She MAY have
discovered the body
when she arrived in
the room / down the
stairs

POINT DE GRAMMAIRE : MAY/MIGHT/MUST

Groupwork :

You are a policeman,speak to a journalist to give a description and analysis of what you saw /you are the woman
you recount to a policeman what happened.

Distribuer liste +exercice vocabulaire

Doc 1 : inspector linley mysteries

Vocabulaire : camper/couple

Grammaire : preterit simple/preterit en BE+ING

Watch the extract and take some notes in the grid .Tutorees prepare the questions while tutors take some notes
on what they have seen.

The scene takes place in the countryside.A young couple were murdered savagely.They were camping in the
countryside,the woman was reading a letter and they were drinking champagne when somebody arrived and
killed them.Later, a young cyclist who was passing by discovered the dead bodies .When she arrived,the couple
were lying on the floor.

Can you imagine the motives/the reasons,the cause of the murderer

Make assumptions using may/might/must/perhaps/maybe

PRETERIT EN BE+ING= action en deroulement dans le pass/description

PRETERIT SIMPLE= action brve qui interrompe une action en deroulement

Exercice vocabulaire+Exercices probabilit

Doc 2 : 911 CALL

911 is the American emergency number.

You use it when an accident happens, when you are hurt = injured, when you are ill, when someone
faints. IN ORDER TO call an ambulance, the paramedics/ TO report on an accident.

You use it when a building is on fire / burning SO AS TO CALL the firefighters / firemen.

You use it when a crime happens TO call the police TO report on a crime.

Is it the same system as in France?

No, France we have several numbers. We dial 17 for the police, 15 for the doctors / ambulances and
18 for the firefighters WHEREAS in the USA they only have one number.

Can you deduce which situation concerns us? The title of the course is written on the blackboard.

First listening :

What is the situation/it is a situation mentioned earlier ?

Words youve heard

Second listening :

Circle the words you hear

Third listening :

Take some notes/diviser la classe en 2 : operator and the caller

prepare your own 911 call.You can be the cyclist who discovered the bodies or you can invent your own 911
situation.
SEANCE 3 : analysing a crime scene

Anticipation ?

The scene takes place in a house more exactly in the drawing room or the living room since there is an
armchair, a pedestal table and different chairs. It is Christmas eve, on the wall a calendar is pinned with
the date : December 24th. Moreover, it seems to be cold outside, the fields are covered with snow and the
fire is lit in the fireplace

There is nobody in the room exept the print of a body on the floor : it must be a crime scene, we are not
sure if next to that print the stain looks like a blood puddle or a wine puddle. The room is really messy :
everything is upside down, topsy-turvy, some plates are even broken : the scene was very violent and the
criminal ( murderer) left the place rapidly in so far as the door is still open.

The inspectors will have a great workload : there are so many evidence/clues to analyze. You've
mentionned a crime scene, a criminal, a murderer, now can you imagine the reason, the motive, the
cause of the murderer

Maybe the murderer wanted to take his revenge, or perhaps he just wanted to steal money ( there is a
safe at the top right hand corner) and the robber turned bad.

(OO.OO- 00 : 11) no soundtrack : make a quick presentation of the document

The setting :

The suspects :

The victim :

The police :

This video looks like an old fashioned fiction and is entitled whodunit.The scene takes place indoors in a living
room.A man is lying on the carpet,he is now a corpse.Right next to the body we can see a clock, it must be the
murder weapon.Six people are gathered around the dead man,two of them are policemen one office ris taking
some notes while the other analyzes the situation to find the culprit.The others are suspects.

Arret sur image et emission dhypothse sur les diffrents suspects et le mobile du crime.

As a detective what are the major information you want to know :

Name of the victim :

Instrument :

Time of death :

Reasons for deaths :

Now as a detective ,you are going to question the main suspects

1/Polishing the brass

2/Buttering the scones

3/ Planting my petunias

They were all doing something when Lord smile died.The first suspect was polishing the brass when the murder
happened ,the second one was buttering scones while the other was planting petunias.

In your opinion after listening to the alibis ,who is the murderer ?

Last part :

Watch the video and make a list of all the changes that have occured

-flowers stuffed animal

-tablecloth coat

-chair in the background mans hat

-flowerpot womans hat

Paintings chair

Carpet dolly

Clock

What does the conclusion of this document mean ?

YOU DONT SEE WHAT YOU RE NOT INTERESTED IN

Transport for London : In a classic gathering of murder suspects in a drawing room the ad aims to
make drivers and cyclists aware of just how easy it is to miss something you're not looking for, and by
extension to not see one another on the road.

This video looks like an old fashioned fiction and is entitled Whodunnit ? The scene takes place indoors, in a living
room. A man is lying on a carpet, he is now a corpse. Right next to the body, we can see a clock , it must be the
murder weapon. Six persons are gathered around the dead man, two of them are policemen : one officer is taking
notes while the other ( the detective wearing the traditional raincoat ) analizes the situation to find out the culprit..
The others are alledged murderers . Lord Smile has been murdered at 3:34 pm with a blunt instrument. They
were all doing something when Lord Smile died:the first suspect was polishing the brass when the murder
happened, the second one was buttering scones while the last one was planting her petunias.

EXERCICE : groupwork avec chacun son scenario et chacun presente son alibi avec un indice,le reste de la
classe doit deviner pour chaque groupe qui est le coupable.

Its very hard to live in a studio apartment in San Jose with a man whos learning to play the violin. Thats what
she told the police when she handed them the empty revolver.

The Scarlatti Tilt by Richard Brautigan

Have a look at that document and introduce it quickly

This document seems to be an extract from the novel The Scarlatti Tilt written by Richard Brautigan, but in
reality those two sentences are the entire novel. This is the shortest text we've ever seen. They settle the whole
situation : the scene takes place in San Josen in a flat , the two protagonists are a violin player and a woman who
may be his wife. One day she is fed up with him playing so she decided to kill him with a gun. Finally, the police
officers do not need to ask her questions, she confesses herself. Now, you have been surprised when I told you
this was the entire novel because it was so short, with the pictures hereafter, try to write a longer short story
giving more details ( around 10-12 lines )
DEVOIR : crire lhistoire partir des photos(impratif dutiliser le prtrit simple/prtrit en BE+ING)

SEANCE 4 : investigating /LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

PART 1 :

Anticipation ? source R.Dahls tales of the unexpected 1948/COVER BOOKS

1st part of the text (l.1-7)pick out words which make reference to people,event,place

Who : Mrs Maloney/a policeman on the phone/the victim Patrick,Her husband

What : Patrick has died/Patrick is dead/She has found him dead

Where : lying on the floor/probably in the house

Groupwork : now what if you were the detective ?Anything strange or surprising ?

A few minutes later= why not immediately ?

She got up ?

She knew the number ?Why ?Does she know the police ?

Patricks dead ?Why not my husbands dead ?

Maybe he had a heart attack, hem ay have comitted suicide ?Was he murdered ?Why call the police not a
doctor

2nd part of the text : (l.8-13)

WHO : Mrs Maloney+ 2 policemen Jack Noonan and OMaily=she know them

Describe the attitude of both characters :

Mrs Maloney : hysterical/weep/fell right into Nolans arms

Mr Noonans : he put her gently/he knows her and wants to comfort her

Her husband must have been a policeman,thats why she called her patrick instead of my husband.

3rd part of the text : (l.15-end)

Who : same characters+doctors+2 detectives +police photographer+the fingerprint man

Doctor examine the body

Detective look for clues

Fingerprint man : fingerprints were taken

Why 5 more people because its a murder : BLOOD

Why congealed blood ?Assumptions ?

Patrick came back from work

Refused to eat supper

Mary goes out to buy vegetables

Mary discovers her husband lying on the floor

She calls the police

Detectives arrive at the Maloneys house

DETECTIVE NOTES :

Victim : Mr Patrick Maloney

Weapon : congealed blood/Heavy blunt instrument

Motives : to get revenge/out of jealousy

Suspect : his wife/a former convicted

Alibi : shed slipped out to the grocers store

Witnesses : no witnesses

Clues/evidence

TRACE ECRITE :

In this extract,Mrs Maloney finds her husband,Mr Maloney,a policeman , lying on the floor.At first we thought that
Mr Maloney may have fainted or committed suicide but when detective arrived they treated this case as a murder
since they found congealed blood on the head of the victim.The murdurer must have hit the victim on the head
and must have used a heavy and cold instrument.He might have killed his victim to get revenge or out of jealousy.

Hmw : detectives want to ask questions to Mrs Maloney/Voir mthode dialoque

Mrs Maloney,I need you to answer some questions.

-When did Patrick come back from work ?

-What were you doing when Patrick came back

-i was sewing in the living room,she answered.

- did you have fight ?

-no i just sked Patrick if he wanted to go out for super but he refused because he was too tired

- What happened then ?

- i put the meat in the oven and went to the grocery store to buy vegetables

When I came back,Patrick was lying on the floor

-Can the grocer confirm this ?

-of course.
Homework : vocabulary + Newspaper article on the case

PART 2 : film extrait : (Mrs Maloney acceuille son mari+ lannonce+meurtre)

In this extract,Mrs Maloney welcomes her husband from work.She is very caring and gentle,on the
contrary/while/whereas her husband is very cold and doesnt seem happy.She cant stop talking while her
husband doesnt say anything.She tells him that she expects a boy but he still doesnt react.Then Mr Maloney
announces that he wants to divorce her and marry someone else.Mrs Maloney doesnt react,she is
speechless,she cant believe it and repeats you cant, you cant.After a while she goes to the freezer to look for
the leg of lamb and cook it.Instead she hit him with the leg of lamb and kills him.

PART 3 : text didactis ( invesitgation+policeman eating the weapon)

In this part of the text, the two detectives are looking for the weapon since if you get the weapon,you get the
murderer.One policeman believes that the murderer must have used a big bar to kill Patrick,so the weapon must
be near the house or in the house.Mrs Maloney offers them to eat so that the detectives eat the murder
weapon.When the policemen say that the weapon must be under our nose,the situation is ironic because its
literally under their nose.Thats why Mrs Maloney is laughing because the detectives arent aware that they are
eating the murder weapon.

CO :test + travail sur les question