Empower p 57. Punishment or Rehabilitation. Oral Mediation

Using a voice messaging app you have a class discussion on whether prisons should be about punishment or rehabilitation. One of your classmates says that the prison system should focus more on punishment and retribution since criminals deserve to be punished for their actions.

It is your turn to intervene and you think that prisons should be more about rehabilitation. You read an article on page 57 or alternatively, on the BBC website entitled How Norway turns criminals into good neighbours. Select the relevant information from the text and record your message defending your position. Speak for 2 minutes.

Some useful language:

Introduction

To start with, I would like to...

To begin with, it must be said that..

 The purpose of this comment is to...

Sequencing  

Firstly, .../In the first place, ... / To begin with, …To start with, I should point out that ...

Secondly,.../A second area to consider is …

Another point to remember is ...
Last but not least, I would like to add that...

 

Opinion

Personally I feel that ... Let me explain why.
As I see it, … The reason is ...
It seems to me that… This is because ...

I would argue that for the following reasons:...

I feel very strongly that ...

I am convinced that ...

I am inclined to believe that...

I am of the opinion that ...

The reasons why I believe that prisons should be more about rehabilitation are as follows...

I think it is true that ...
I shudder to think...

• shudder: to shake because you are cold or frightened, or because of a strong feeling. E.g. Just thinking about the accident makes me shudder. Shudder to do something: I shudder to think how much this is all going to cost (= I don't want to think about it because it is too unpleasant).

In my view, ...

It is questionable whether …
It beggars belief how a person can ever learn to be more humane without any models of good behaviour.
It is true that ... On the other hand, ...

While nobody can deny that ... , I would like to point out that …
At first sight ....,but in fact ...

Although it is true that... , we must  take into account that...

It could be argued that … However, I would like to point out that ...

Despite all the arguments, I still feel that ...

It may be true that ... . However, ...

In no way would I agree that...

Surely it is completely unacceptable that...Nevertheless,...

I am sure you will agree that…

Surely you must agree that…

I was extremely impressed by…

What is particularly spectacular/interesting is…

I would like to stress that...

It should be noted that...

It is worth bearing in mind that... 

I was rather disappointed by…

My overall impression was that …

On the whole, it appears/seems that ...

In general,…

Generally speaking,…  Broadly speaking,  

Strangely,… 

Surprisingly,… 

Evidently,…

Indeed,…  In fact,… 

Admittedly, 

Admittedly: /ədˈmɪtɪdli/ used when you are accepting that something is true. Sp. cierto es que, ciertamente.

Presumably,...
Presumably: /prɪˈzjuːməbli/ used to say that you think that something is probably true. Sp. Supuestamente

 

While some prisoners ... , others may....

A major problem is that ...

We must take into account the fact that ....

It goes without saying that ...

Needless to say,

Without a shadow of a doubt...

I can speak from experience when I say that  

The government should take action to prevent and resolve

The action taken to deal with these issues leaves a lot to be desired.

A prison system that focus on rehabilitation can make a difference.

It is also up to politicians to tackle these issues

Paraphrasing 
In other words,  

Or, to put it another way, ...

What I mean by that is that  ... 

Engaging the reader
Have you ever wondered what/how/why...

What would your life be like if...? 
What would you do if...?
Are you one of those people who ...

Isn't it extraordinary how/that...? 
Imagine if/ what...
Suppose that ...

Let us suppose, for example, that...

Addition
In addition...
What is more...
Besides...
Moreover...
Furthermore...
In addition to being...

Conclusion
All things considered, I believe that ... 

All in all, I think that ...

On balance, it seems to me that...

To finish with, I would like to say that...

Finally, ...

To sum up, I believe that ...

In conclusion, her actions suggest that ...