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Bank Error Makes Customers MillionairesNew Zealand police are hunting for a couple who received nearly US$8 million by mistake from their bank. The couple applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 overdraft. Bank employees made a huge mistake. They deposited NZ$10 million into their customers’ bank account instead of giving them the loan facility. The couple probably thanked their lucky stars. They took the money and ran. The pair, an Asian man and his New Zealand girlfriend, left the country immediately. However, they did not take all of the money with them. New Zealand police have told Interpol about the couple leaving the country, so there is now an international manhunt for them. Westpac officials are keeping how much the couple took a secret.
The couple live in the town of Rotorua on New Zealand’s north island. They ran a gas station which had money problems. They applied for the overdraft to help with their financial difficulties. Locals say the pair left a note on the door of the gas station saying it had closed down. A banking lecturer, Claire Matthews from New Zealand’s Massey University, told the local Newstalk ZB radio station that the couple’s luck would soon run out. She said: "They've taken funds that they're not entitled to, that are not theirs….They've [really] become thieves.” She said it would only be a matter of time before the police caught them. A Westpac Bank spokesman said the bank and police were treating the couple as criminals.
WARM-UPS1. MISTAKES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about mistakes. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. WHOOPS: Complete this table about your mistakes. Talk about what you wrote to your partner. Change partners and share what you heard.
4. BANKS: Students A strongly believe banks are wonderful places we can trust 100 per cent; Students B strongly believe banks should never be trusted. Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. ERROR: Do you get fed up with companies making mistakes? Talk about these with your partner(s). Vote as a class what kind of company makes the most mistakes?
6. MILLIONAIRE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘millionaire’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one. combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING: Listen and fill in the gaps.New Zealand police are hunting __________________ received nearly US$8 million by mistake from their bank. The couple applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 overdraft. Bank employees ____________________. They deposited NZ$10 million into their customers’ bank account instead of giving them the loan facility. The couple probably thanked __________________. They took the money and ran. The pair, an Asian man and his New Zealand girlfriend, left the country immediately. However, they __________________ the money with them. New Zealand police have told Interpol about the couple leaving the country, __________________ international manhunt for them. Westpac officials are keeping how much the __________________. The couple live in the town of Rotorua on New Zealand’s north island. They ____________________ had money problems. They applied for the overdraft to help with their financial difficulties. Locals _________________ note on the door of the gas station saying it had closed down. A banking lecturer, Claire Matthews from New Zealand’s Massey University, told the local Newstalk ZB radio station that the couple’s __________________ out. She said: "They've taken funds that they're __________________, that are not theirs….They've [really] become thieves.” She said it would only be __________________ before the police caught them. A Westpac Bank spokesman said the bank and police were ____________________ criminals. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘bank’ and ‘error’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
STUDENT MISTAKES SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about mistakes in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
MISTAKES DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGENew Zealand police are (1) ____ for a couple who received nearly US$8 million (2) ____ mistake from their bank. The couple applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 overdraft. Bank employees made a huge mistake. They deposited NZ$10 million into their customers’ bank account (3) ____ of giving them the loan facility. The couple probably thanked their lucky (4) ____. They took the money and ran. The pair, an Asian man and his New Zealand girlfriend, left the country (5) ____. However, they did not take all of the money with them. New Zealand police have told Interpol about the couple leaving the country, so there is now an international manhunt for them. Westpac officials are (6) ____ how much the couple took a secret. The couple live in the town of Rotorua on New Zealand’s north island. They ran a gas station which had money (7) ____. They applied for the overdraft to help with their financial difficulties. Locals say the (8) ____ left a note on the door of the gas station saying it had closed (9) ____. A banking lecturer, Claire Matthews from New Zealand’s Massey University, told the local Newstalk ZB radio station that the couple’s (10) ____ would soon run out. She said: "They've taken funds that they're not entitled to, that are not theirs….They've [really] become thieves.” She said it would only be a matter of (11) ____ before the police caught them. A Westpac Bank spokesman said the bank and police were treating the couple (12) ____ criminals. Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
WRITING:Write about mistakes for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about banking mistakes. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. MY MISTAKES: Make a poster about the biggest mistakes in your life. Include what happened, how you felt, and how you feel now. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. WHOOPS: Write a magazine article about the couple on the run with the $10,000,000. Include imaginary interviews with them and a Westpac Bank spokesperson. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. LETTER: Write a letter to the couple on the run. Ask them three questions about their adventure so far. Give them three ideas on what to do with the money. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Bank error makes customers millionairesNew Zealand police are hunting for a couple who received nearly US$8 million by mistake from their bank. The couple applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 overdraft. Bank employees made a huge mistake. They deposited NZ$10 million into their customers’ bank account instead of giving them the loan facility. The couple probably thanked their lucky stars. They took the money and ran. The pair, an Asian man and his New Zealand girlfriend, left the country immediately. However, they did not take all of the money with them. New Zealand police have told Interpol about the couple leaving the country, so there is now an international manhunt for them. Westpac officials are keeping how much the couple took a secret. The couple live in the town of Rotorua on New Zealand’s north island. They ran a gas station which had money problems. They applied for the overdraft to help with their financial difficulties. Locals say the pair left a note on the door of the gas station saying it had closed down. A banking lecturer, Claire Matthews from New Zealand’s Massey University, told the local Newstalk ZB radio station that the couple’s luck would soon run out. She said: "They've taken funds that they're not entitled to, that are not theirs….They've [really] become thieves.” She said it would only be a matter of time before the police caught them. A Westpac Bank spokesman said the bank and police were treating the couple as criminals. LANGUAGE WORK
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