Students Book

Welcome section C
Grammar: present perfect and future passives; future predictions
Vocabulary: crimes; getting into trouble
Read and listen
a Paddy Thomas is concerned about young
people and gangs. Read the interview. How
does he think he can help fight this problem?
Presenter: New statistics
have been released today
that show gang crimes are
on the increase in the UK. They also show
that there has been a rise in teenagers being arrested for
crimes such as burglary, shoplifting and vandalism. Many
people feel that, if nothing is done soon, then this problem
is likely to get worse. One man who wants to do something
is Paddy Thomas from the Chance UK charity. He hopes his
new plan will prevent children from getting into trouble
and committing more serious crimes in the future.
Paddy Thomas: More and more children in deprived inner-city
areas are turning to gangs because they don’t know anything
different. These children are often from broken families in
which there is no father figure. Our idea involves identifying
children between the ages of five and eleven who we feel are
at risk. We then assign these children to police officers who
act as mentors. The officers meet up with the children once a
week to do things like going to football matches or going on
days out to the beach. It’s a chance for the kids to hang out
with a strong role model and do the normal things that most
children of their age do.
Presenter: Why are you concentrating on children who are
so young?
Paddy Thomas: Because the problem starts at an early age.
We know that children as young as seven have been used by
gangs to carry their weapons. One of the biggest problems is
peer pressure. A lot of these children feel that, because all their
friends are in gangs, they should be too. If we can show these
children that there are other options, we hope they won’t be
persuaded to join the gangs. We’ve been experimenting with
the scheme for six months in the London area and the results
are very encouraging. We will probably be taking the idea to
other cities throughout the UK next year. If we are successful,
then we will see fewer young children turning to crime and
these neighbourhoods will be made safer for everyone.
b
CD1 T04 Read the article again
and listen. Answer the questions.
1 What do new crime figures show?
2 What areas are most hit by gang
crime?
3 How does Paddy’s scheme work?
4 What sort of things do the police
mentors do with the children and
why?
5 Why is the scheme for such young
children?
6 What future plans does Paddy have?
2 Present perfect and
future passives
a Complete the sentences with the
words in the box.
have given will be taken
will spend will be helped
will apologise has been chosen
has been arrested will tell
1 14-year-old Gary Hall
has been arrested four times in
the last year.
2 Now the police him one
last chance.
3 He to take part in a new
government anti-crime experiment.
4 Gary to meet the victims
of his crimes.
5 Gary an afternoon with
the victims.
6 They him how their lives
have been changed by his crimes.
7 Then Gary for what he has
done.
8 He is one of hundreds of teenagers
who by the new scheme.
8
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