Claremont Serial Killings Episode 4

Listen to Episode 4: The Case Against Bradley Robert Edwards

1. Vocabulary

Divide the class into 4 groups to discuss the meaning of these words and phrases to then share with students from the other groups.

Group A

  • prowler
  • introverted
  • lingered
  • allegedly
  • allegations
  • propensity
  • snatched
  • abducted
  • out of the blue
  • damsels in distress
  • didn’t bear fruit

Group B

  • gagged
  • distinctive
  • contemporaneous
  • alibi
  • rendezvous
  • probability
  • plethora
  • peccadillos
  • big ticket
  • big stash
  • down the track

Group C

  • titillate
  • delectation
  • satiating
  • fetish
  • prejudicial
  • admissible
  • inference
  • obviated
  • ruling out
  • flesh that out a bit
  • fair-minded people

Group D

  • overwhelming
  • incidents
  • detract
  • indictment
  • intriguing
  • prominent
  • crucial
  • violated
  • take it on board
  • out of the blue
  • not lost on (someone)

2.  Discuss

In small groups retell the details of the attacks by Bradley Robert Edwards as described in the podcast.

Why do you think it took the police so long to find the attacker?

How do you think they could have solved these crimes earlier?

For more academic English lessons go to:
Smart English Class

Claremont Serial Killings Episode 3

Listen to Episode 3: The Wrong Man

  1. Comprehension 

Answer these questions about Alison Fan interviewing Lance Williams about the Claremont serial killings.

  • What happened in the interview?
  • How did Alison feel about Lance after she interviewed him? What did she do about it?
  • How do you feel about this situation?

2. Research

Divide the class into 3 groups to research one topic each. Find information and photos or images on your topic. Then share your information with members from the other groups.  

  • Police profiling
  • Andrew Mallard
  • Lloyd Rainey

3. Watch

Lindy Chamberlain is another example of a person who has been wrongly accused of a crime. Watch her story here on Anh’s Brush With Fame, Series 4, Episode 2. 

4. Discuss

  • Talk about the situations of Lance Williams, Andrew Mallard, Lloyd Rainey and Lindy Chamberlain.
  • Do you know of other situations where the wrong person has been accused of a crime?
  • What is your opinion?
  • What do you think can be done to prevent people from being wrongly accused?

For more academic English lessons go to:
Smart English Class

Claremont Serial Killings Episode 2

Listen to Episode 2: Tears, Taskforce and a Suspect

1. Complete this information about Ciara Glennon who was the third girl to go missing in Claremont.

  • Name: Ciara Glennon, Age: ___ , Occupation: ___ , Date missing: ___ , Date body found: ___

2. Discuss

  • What happened with the Perth taxi drivers over the Easter long weekend?

3. Research

A. What is the Macro Taskforce?

  • Who is Detective Superintendent Paul Ferguson?
  • Who is Detective Inspector Dave Caporn?

B. Who is Lance Williams?

  • Why was he a suspect?
  • What happened?

C. What is a polygraph test?

  • Who did a polygraph test?
  • Why?
Name: Ciara Glennon, Age: 27 , Occupation: lawyer , Date missing: March 14, 1997 , Date body found: April 3, 1997

For more academic English lessons go to:
Smart English Class 

Claremont Serial Killings Podcast

The Claremont Serial Killings podcast by Gary Adshead from The West Australian describes the true story of 3 girls who went missing from a quiet Perth suburb during the mid 1990’s.

Listen to Episode 1: A Killer Strikes Twice

1. Complete this information about the suspected killer and the three girls who went missing.

  • Name: Bradley Robert Edwards, Age: ___ , Occupation: ___
  • Name: Sarah Spiers, Age: ___ , Occupation:___ , Date missing:___
  • Name: Jane Rimmer, Age: ___ , Occupation: ___ , Date missing: ___ , Date body found: ___
  • Name: Ciara Glennon: Age: ___

2. Discuss in small groups:

  • Describe the suburb of Claremont, what it looks like, the people who live there and things to do in Claremont.
  • Search for images of the poster they displayed around Claremont in 1996 to ‘Help Find Sarah’
  • Search for images of the 3 girls and the suspected killer.

3. The podcast mentions other criminals that terrorised Perth before the Claremont serial killer.

Divide the class into two groups to research one each. Think about the questions – Who? What? When? Where? How? Then share the information with someone from the other group.

  • Eric Edgar Cooke
  • David and Catherine Birnie

 

Answers: 
Name: Bradley Robert Edwards, Age: 50, Occupation: telecommunications technician and little athletics volunteer
Name: Sarah Spiers, Age: 18, Occupation: secretary, Date missing: Jan 26 1996
Name: Jane Rimmer, Age: 23, Occupation: child-care worker, Date missing: June 9 1996, Date body found: Aug 3 1996
Name: Ciara Glennon: Age: 27

 For more academic English lessons go to:
Smart English Class

The Australian

University students learn from The Australian’s Hamish podcast by Charlie Peel

A university lecturer has adapted The Australian’s chart-topping podcast series Who The Hell Is Hamish? as a learning resource to be used in the classroom.

 

University of Western Australia English language teacher Carolyn Martin, who has developed her own online database of lesson plans, has made questionnaires about the podcast’s first two episodes that can be used for high school and adult English learners.

Ms Martin told The Australian the podcast and its engaging content was an ideal medium for teachers to use to boost student participation and grab their attention.

“As the notion of the flipped classroom is gaining in popularity, where the student listens or reads the material in their own time to then be prepared for discussion and activities during class time, the podcast fits perfectly into this teaching style,” Ms Martin said.

“It can be a waste of half an hour for a student to listen to it in class and some of them will need to listen to it more than once to grasp the content.

“This way, they can do it in their own time.

“The podcast idea certainly fits in with that because they can ¬listen at home but do the -discussions and research in the classroom.”

The podcast series by The Australian’s journalist Greg Bearup investigated the life and crimes of NSW conman Hamish McLaren, who has pleaded guilty to defrauding 15 victims of more than $7 million. Episodes of the podcast have been played more than three million times through various feeds, rocketing the series to No 1 on the iTunes podcast charts.

About 40 per cent of the series’ listeners have been overseas.

“It’s an interesting story, the podcast itself, because it is real life and that is always more interesting,” Ms Martin said.

“Students can relate to it more. Fraud is something that is common around the world, but the students can’t believe that someone (Hamish) could have so many stories.”

Ms Martin has been using the podcast as a talking point for her adult English language course students at UWA’s Centre for Eng¬lish Language Teaching.

“They take it home and listen to it and come back to class to talk about what they have heard,” she said.

“One of the things they discussed was lies and the question, have you ever lied before?

“From that, they admitted they’d all lied before and then talked about when it is OK to tell a white lie and when it has gone too far.

“We discussed the locations mentioned in the podcast and they all got engaged in finding the places and talking about the story.”

Ms Martin said the clear language, usually spoken in broad Australian accents, was useful to students wanting to learn the intricacies of the English language and terms such as “squirrelled away” and “hard-nosed”.

The Who the Hell is Hamish? podcast series can be accessed here.

The lesson plans are available at www.lessons.smartenglishclass.com

Who the Hell is Hamish Episode 3

The Gatsby of the Great Lakes

Before listening to the third episode of Who the Hell is Hamish, divide the class into three groups to research a topic, then share the information with the other groups.

Research

  1. Who is Jay Gatsby?
  2. Who is James Bond?
  3. Who is Mark Twain?

Now listen to Episode 3: The Gatsby of the Great Lakes

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Mark Twain

After listening to the podcast, discuss with a partner the stories and lies Hamish told and the warnings about him from other people. How does the quote from Mark Twain relate to this? How are the characters Jay Gatsby and James Bond used in reference to Hamish?

Find these locations mentioned in Episode 3.

  • Blueys Beach
  • Hunter Valley
  • Woolloomooloo
  • SoHo, New York

Research these people mentioned in Episode 3 and remember what was said about them in the podcast.

  • Terry Randall
  • Malcolm Irving
  • Brian Price, FEX Group
  • Tom Ford
  • Russell Crowe
  • John Laws

Bec says that Hamish’s image changed while she knew him. Discuss these words with a partner and how they relate to Hamish’s image:

  • surfie
  • triathlons
  • botox
  • hair-dye
  • designer suits
  • paleo diet

Finally search for images of:

  • Hamish McLaren and Bec
  • Hamish with a sticker on his head in New York with the name Hamish McLaughlin

For more academic English lessons go to:
Smart English Class

Who the Hell is Hamish Episode 2

Fashion Crimes

Before listening to the second episode of Who the Hell is Hamish divide the class into three groups to research a topic and discuss vocabulary. Then share the information with the other groups.

 

Group 1

Research topic

Lisa Ho, fashion designer Australia

Vocabulary

  • autism
  • psychiatric
  • fleeced
  • mind-boggling
  • pyramid scheme
  • reverse psychology
  • parasite

Group 2

Research topic

Energetic treatments

Vocabulary

  • superannuation
  • nest egg
  • reneged
  • web of deceit
  • unencumbered
  • naïve
  • savvy

Group 3

Research topic

Musgrave House, Sydney

Vocabulary

  • hard-nosed
  • under the radar
  • empty the coffers
  • loot
  • King Midas
  • squirreled away
  • made good coin

Now listen to Episode 2: Fashion Crimes 

After listening to the second episode discuss these questions with a partner:

  1. Use your knowledge of the Research and Vocabulary from the previous activity to explain what happened in Episode 2.
  2. What countries are mentioned?
  3. List the people mentioned and the amount of money they lost to Hamish.
  4. Use the example of Victim A, Victim B and Victim C to explain how Hamish tricked the people.
  5. How does music and sound effects create mood for the podcast?

For more academic English lessons go to:
Smart English Class

Who the Hell is Hamish?

The Day Max Died

This lesson is based on Episode 1 of the Who the Hell is Hamish podcast from The Australian reported by Greg Bearup. Hamish has stolen millions of dollars from innocent victims and this podcast aims to explain how he did it.

Before listening to the podcast discuss these questions:

  1. Have you ever cheated? Have you found out someone who has cheated?
  2. Do you always tell the truth? Are there any situations when you think it would be acceptable to lie?
  3. If you had money to invest how would you make decisions on what to do with it?

Do you know what these words mean?

  • bankrupt
  • sociopath
  • banter
  • vulnerable
  • algorithms
  • authentic
  • declaration
  • incriminate
  • legit
  • discombobulating
  • cohort

Now listen to Episode 1: The Day Max Died

After listening to Episode 1 use a map to locate these places and discuss what was mentioned about each place:

  1. World Trade Centre
  2. Sydney Opera House
  3. Stewart House, Curl Curl
  4. Bondi Beach
  5. MIT
  6. Harvard
  7. Wallstreet
  8. Circular Quay
  9. Byron Bay
  10. Bronte
  11. Tamarama
  • Summarise what happened in Episode 1.
  • What is your opinion?
  • What do you think will happen in the next episode?

For more academic English lessons go to:
Smart English Class

 

Spoken Presentation on a famous site

Use your poster from the writing activity where you researched a famous site in your country. Prepare a short presentation using the poster as your visual aid to present the famous site.

  1. Introduction – introduce yourself and your famous site. Describe where it is located and what it looks like.
  2. Body – give more detail about your famous site dividing your ideas logically. Think about the history of the site and any interesting facts.
  3. Conclusion – sum up the ideas you have presented and give your opinion. Consider why this site is popular.

Video yourself giving the presentation and assess yourself on:

  • fluency and coherence
  • vocabulary
  • grammar
  • pronunciation
  • delivery
  • strengths
  • areas to improve

For more academic English lessons go to:

Smart English Class