Dancer in the Dark - Selma's sentence

Hi guys,

today we finished talking about Selma's predicament and made hypotheses about her possible sentence. Here is what we said about her motives for acting in such and such a way and also the possible verdicts if she had to face a trial:

Warm-up 

"But I can't do that Bill" -> she says she can't wait/ She has to pay the doctor in the afternoon, that's why she needs the money now, not in a month.

"I can't save up more money" -> she was fired from the factory, that's why she can't save up more money.

"I can't count it now but I trust you" -> she trusts Bill, she is also blind and it would take her too much time, that's why she can't count the money.

"It's my money ; No, it's my money"  contrastive accentuation

Possible sentences for Selma:

If Selma doesn't succeed in leaving the country with her son Gene, she will go to court and face a trial. Here are the possible outcomes:

- After the inquiry she will be declared innocent / non-guilty

- The judge could be lenient and decide on a 3 or 5-year sentence with parole. It means she will go to jail but not for a long time. The jury will understand she is also a victim; she didn't have a choice, she was forced to kill Bill.

- a 20-year sentence or life imprisonment.

- The death sentence / capital punishment; if the judge thinks the crime against a policeman was particulary crual, he will decide to condemn Selma to death. She will be:

* electrocuted (electric chair)

* poisoned (lethal injection)

* hanged (rope)

* executed (firing squad)

* gassed (gas chamber) 

I finally revealed you the end of the story; Selma will be sentenced to death...

HW:

- vous devez écrire la lettre que Selma écrit à son fils dans le couloir de la mort en respectant les consignes données par la fiche guide.

Files:

- les consignes pour la lettre ici.

- la liste d'aide au vocabulaire ici.

- un exemple de fiche méthode: écrire une lettre ici.