Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson for B2 ESL students helps them discuss the economics of stolen treasure. Using an engaging video and various exercises, students will explore the illicit market for stolen high-value items like royal jewels and the challenges thieves face in profiting from their crimes.
The lesson focuses on key vocabulary related to theft, value, and the legal implications of handling stolen goods. Students will practice using the Past Simple Passive to describe actions where the doer is unknown or less important, and engage in speaking activities to discuss the ethics of value.
Activities
- A warm-up discussion about the challenges of selling stolen high-value items and the concept of a "black market."
- Video comprehension questions with a fill-in-the-blanks exercise based on a video discussing the economics of selling stolen jewels.
- A vocabulary matching task to connect key terms from the video with their definitions.
- A grammar exercise focusing on the Past Simple Passive through choosing correct options and rewriting sentences from active to passive voice.
- Practice with common phrases and idioms used in the video.
- Vocabulary in context exercise to apply newly learned words.
- A speaking practice section with discussion questions about the ethics of value and the reality of master criminals.
- Answer me this, how would you go about selling these?
These are the priceless royal jewels that were stolen
from Paris's Louvre in a recent audacious heist.
- This case was done by professional thieves.
It's not like that you wake up on Sunday morning thinking
I become a burglar, and let's start with the Louvre.
- The French culture minister said
that these jewels have immeasurable value,
but unfortunately immeasurable doesn't pay the bills.
- If they are going to sell this on the market,
then the thieves will get like 30% of that.
- So here are the decisions the thieves may face
if they're looking to profit from the heist,
and what fingerprints could be left behind.
The first and arguably the simplest option
would be to shift these jewels wholesale, completely intact.
Authorities value the complete pieces
at around $102 million, but getting full value
for these would be almost impossible
because if someone were to buy these pieces intact,
they're not just acquiring the jewels,
they're also implicit in the crime.
- If you touch these items and you get caught,
you're gonna be behind bars for many, many years.
- One theory is that the pieces were stolen to order
for a buyer to keep intact.
However, Arthur doesn't think that's likely.
- That the idea of somebody, some commissioner,
some kind of Dr No, a villain from the James Bond movies,
they don't exist.
They only exist in Hollywood movies.
- So if the thieves are going to try and extract any value
from their heists, their likely route
is sadly going to be breaking down these priceless pieces
into many smaller priceable pieces.
You're gonna have to give me a minute here.
The thieves would now be left with this,
and these are just some of the stones.
There's absolutely no way I'm cutting all of this out.
It's a mix of precious metals, pearls, emeralds,
sapphires, and diamonds, all of different sizes and cuts.
- We are talking here about objects that can transform
into something else with no link whatsoever
to the original theft.
- But some of these would be harder to shift than others.
The precious metals would be relatively easy to move,
just melt them down and they're pretty much untraceable,
but they're also not worth very much.
- The downset piece quite often was set with silver
on the top and a thin layer of gold behind,
the metal value in something like that would be negligible.
- [George] When it comes to the smaller stones.
- You couldn't identify them.
Old jewelry is being broken up all the time.
So those sort of diamonds are coming into the market.
- The challenge comes when trying
to sell some of these bigger, far more identifiable stones,
because this is very obviously this
and because these stones are old cut fashioned years ago,
using more rudimentary techniques,
they're potentially dateable,
which could also link them back to the stolen jewels.
- Those would be very hard, I think,
to sell on the open market these fancy cuts
because they're so unique to this piece.
- So in order to hide where this has come from,
you may have to cut it down to a new cut,
reducing the size of the stone by about 20 to 30%,
but making it far harder to trace.
- Could you recut one? No.
It's a very skilled task to recut a stone,
and takes years and years, and years of experience.
- [George] But there may be a way
that these stones could be identified
even if they've been cut
and it lies deep within the stone itself.
- Typically, stones can have a variety
of different conclusions.
They can have little crystals
of a different mineral trapped inside them.
You can have what are called healed cracks,
and feathers inside stones
and some of those cracks might have had fluid in them,
so you get what's called a fingerprint like effect.
If you were that familiar with them.
If you were a curator say,
and you'd lived with these pieces for years,
you certainly might recognize
some of the internal features in them.
There's not much you can do
to change the look of the pearls.
They're all unique shapes and you could, I think,
identify the pearls even once it's been dismantled.
- So is all hope lost?
Is there any chance of the jewels being recovered?
Well, there's one final option we haven't mentioned yet,
and that's that the thieves could get cold feet.
- I think they are scared now.
You know, we are talking about it,
the prime minister in France,
the president is talking about it.
Everybody is talking about this heist.
The ideal ending of the story
that these guys look at each other thinking,
maybe we should leave it on some corner in Paris, run away,
and hopefully the police will start looking
for other things.
Vocabulary focus
The vocabulary section introduces terms related to crime, value, and the illegal trade of goods. Key terms include "audacious," "heist," "immeasurable," "intact," "implicit," and "extract." Students will also learn useful phrases such as "behind bars," "get cold feet," and "pay the bills."
Grammar focus
This lesson concentrates on the Past Simple Passive (was/were + past participle). This grammatical structure is used to describe actions where the agent (the person or thing performing the action) is unknown or less important than the action itself, which is highly relevant when discussing crimes and stolen items without necessarily knowing or focusing on the perpetrators.
