Legal English- Numbers Trivia Pairwork

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

By: Alex Case
Level: Intermediate
Topic: Law
Grammar Topic: General
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Lesson Plan Content:


Legal Trivia Numbers Pairwork Student A
Choose one of the numbers below and change it into a question, e.g. “What percentage
of…?” or “How many…?” Give your partner hints such as “far higher” and “very slightly
lower” until they get exactly the right answer.
Useful language
what percentage what fraction
what ratio/ what proportion what is the… rate (in…)
how often how long
how many/ how much when/ in what year

(The real number is) far/ considerably/ slightly/ very slightly +
+ higher/ longer/ later/ more
+ lower/ shorter/ earlier/ less/ fewer (than what you said)

1. In two thousand and three, two point five billion yen in cash was handed into the Tokyo

police. Seventy two percent was returned to its owners.

2. Twelve million Japanese people owe money to illegal loan sharks.
3. One million three hundred and eighty two thousand crimes were recorded in Japan in

twenty thirteen.

4. There were three thousand yakuza groups with eighty eight thousand members in

nineteen ninety.

5. In nineteen ninety the three largest yakuza syndicates controlled sixteen hundred

gangs and forty two thousand gangsters.

6. There are one thousand two hundred and fifty kouban (small police stations) in Tokyo.
7. The incarceration rate in the US is seven hundred and twenty four people per one hun-

dred thousand (the highest in the world). In Russia five hundred and eight one people
per hundred thousand head of population are imprisoned. The imprisonment rate in
England and Wales is a hundred and forty five people per one hundred thousand.

8. A yakuza member was caught smuggling eight point eight two pounds of heroin into

Canada. (One kilo equals two point two pounds).

9. In nineteen ninety, sixty five point one percent of all crimes in Japan were some kind of

theft.

10. The Japanese police solve seventy five point nine percent of robbery cases.
11. The Japanese police solve ninety five point nine percent of homicide cases.
12. Trial by jury was stopped in Japan in nineteen forty three. A lay judge system was

brought into law in two thousand and four and started operating in two thousand and
nine.

13. Only one in a hundred Japanese workers say that if they know their company is doing

something illegal they would tell anyone.

14. Two thirds of Tokyo women have been groped on a train.
15. A third of all handguns seized by the police in Japan came from America. A seventh of

all guns game from China and one in ten came from the Philippines.

16. A half of all yakuza in Japan are associated with the largest group, Yamaguchi-gumi.
Look at both sheets and ask about anything you aren’t sure about, e.g. things in italics.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Legal Trivia Numbers Pairwork Student B
Choose one of the numbers below and change it into a question, e.g. “What percentage
of…?” or “How many…?” Give your partner hints such as “far higher” and “very slightly
lower” until they get exactly the right answer.
Useful language
what percentage what fraction
what ratio/ what proportion what is the… rate (in…)
how often how long
how many/ how much when/ in what year

(The real number is) far/ considerably/ slightly/ very slightly +
+ higher/ longer/ later/ more
+ lower/ shorter/ earlier/ less/ fewer (than what you said)

17. In nineteen eighty nine, the boss of one yakuza group bought two hundred and fifty

five million dollars’ worth of railway shares.

18. Two million eight hundred and fifty four thousand crimes were recorded in Japan in two

thousand and two.

19. The Tokyo police receive three hundred thousand umbrellas a year.
20. There are seventy nine thousand one hundred people in Japanese prisons.
21. There are sixty six thousand two hundred public prosecutors in the USA. In Japan the

government employs two thousand prosecutors. In the U.S., there are four hundred
and eighty arrests per year per state prosecutor. In Japan, there is seven hundred ar-
rests per year per prosecutor.

22. In nineteen ninety an illegal Smith & Wesson revolver cost four thousand dollars in

Tokyo. In nineteen ninety seven it cost only five hundred dollars.

23. In nineteen eighty nine, there were one point one murders per one hundred thousand

people in Japan.

24. In nineteen eighty nine, Japan experienced one point three robberies per one hundred

thousand people.

25. In Japan ninety nine point seven percent of all the cases which are brought to court re-

sult in conviction. In the US eighty eight percent of all cases in court result in the sus-
pect
being convicted.

26. Fourteen point seven percent of people in Japanese prisons have yet to be sentenced.
27. Five point nine percent of the Japanese prison population is female.
28. The first national legal codes in Japan were in written in eighteen eighty and revised in

nineteen oh seven.

29. Nine tenths of Japanese people believe that the yakuza shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
30. Japanese suspects can be held for one and a half weeks before the police decide

whether to prosecute (and extensions of that time are almost always granted).

31. A third of Scottish thirteen year olds said they had been offered a drug and thirteen

percent said they had used illegal narcotics.

32. Between nineteen ninety three and two thousand and two, the violent crime rate in the

USA declined fifty four percent and the property crime rate declined by a half.

Look at both sheets and ask about anything you aren’t sure about, e.g. things in italics.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Pronounce the numbers another way

Try to think of or remember other ways of saying the underlined numbers. Put a question
mark next to any you aren’t sure about. Just adding an “and” (in the correct place) also
counts and rephrasing it.

Big numbers and dates
23 - In 1989, there were one point one murders per a hundred thousand people in Japan.
7 - The incarceration rate in the US is seven hundred twenty four people per one hundred
thousand (the highest in the world). In Russia five hundred and eight one people per
hundred thousand head of population are imprisoned. The imprisonment rate in England
and Wales is one hundred and forty five people per one hundred thousand.
17 - In nineteen eighty nine, the boss of one yakuza group bought two hundred fifty five
million dollars’ worth of railway shares.
18 - Two million eight hundred fifty four thousand crimes were recorded in Japan in 2002.
5 - In nineteen ninety the three largest yakuza syndicates controlled one thousand six
hundred gangs and forty two thousand gangsters.
1- In two thousand three, two billion five hundred million yen in cash was handed into the
Tokyo police. Seventy two percent was returned to its owners.
3 - One million three hundred eighty two thousand crimes were recorded in Japan in two
thousand and thirteen.

Fractions
16 - One half of all yakuza in Japan are associated with the Yamaguchi-gumi...
32 - Between nineteen ninety three and two thousand and two, the violent crime rate in the
USA declined fifty four percent and the property crime rate declined by fifty percent.
30 - Japanese suspects can be held for ten days before the police decide whether to
prosecute (and extensions of that time are almost always granted).
31 - One third of Scottish thirteen year olds said they had been offered a drug and thirteen
percent said they had used illegal narcotics.
15 - Thirty three percent of all handguns seized by the police in Japan came from America.
One seventh of all guns game from China and a tenth came from the Philippines.
29 - Ninety percent of Japanese people believe that the yakuza shouldn’t be allowed...
14 - Sixty six percent of Tokyo women have been groped on a train.
13 - Only one percent of Japanese workers say that if they know their company is doing
something illegal they would tell anyone.

Check any which you are not sure about with the original worksheets.

What is the rule for adding “and”?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Pronounce the numbers

Try to think of or remember at least one way to say each of the numbers written as figures
below. Put a question mark next to any you aren’t sure about.

Large numbers

4 - There were 3000 yakuza groups with 88,000 members in nineteen ninety.
19 - The Tokyo police receive 300,000 a year.
2 - 12,000,000 Japanese people owe money to illegal loan sharks.
20 - There are 79,100 people in Japanese prisons.
6 - There are 1250 kouban (small police stations) in Tokyo.

Decimals

9 - In nineteen ninety, 65.1% of all crimes in Japan were some kind of theft.
10 - The Japanese police solve 75.9% of robbery cases.
8 - A yakuza member was caught smuggling 8.82 pounds of heroin into Canada.

Dates

12 - Trial by jury was stopped in 1943. A lay judge system was brought into law in 2004...
28 - The first national legal codes in Japan were in written in 1880 and revised in 1907.
Check any which you aren’t sure about with the first two worksheets.

Pronounce the numbers different ways

Try to think of at least two ways of saying each of the numbers and amounts below.

Large numbers

100

234

390,000

1,200

1,000,000,000

1,700,000,000

500,000

Small numbers

0

0.5

0.23

0.05

1/4

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

1/5

Dates

2001

2010

15 Jan

7/2/99

Times

06:15

02:20

03:16

04:05

03:55

16:00

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Homework

Choose three of the topics below and find several statistics for each, e.g. spying in
different places, at different times and/ or of different kinds. Next week you will explain the
statistics without saying the topic and your partner will try to guess which of those things
you are talking about.

Suggested topics

(Industrial) espionage (= spying)

(Legal and/ or illegal) gambling

Age of retirement

Arrests

Bankruptcy

Breakup of marriages (e.g. divorce and separation)

Bullying

Bureaucracy

Capital punishment

Censorship

Children in care

Civil cases

Compensation awarded

Confidence in the police

Control of the internet

Corruption (e.g. bribery and nepotism)

Crime by foreign nationals

Data protection problems

Discrimination (e.g. sexism, racism or ageism)

Domestic violence

Drinking and driving

Drugs (e.g. hard drugs, soft drugs or prescription drugs such as anti-depressants)

Fear of crime

Forgery

Fraud (credit card fraud, online scams, etc)

Gun crime

Hacking

Homicide rate

Human trafficking

Illegal file sharing

Illegal immigration

Incarceration rate (= imprisonment rate)

Knife crime

Length of court cases

Length of jail sentences

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Level of fines/ Income from fines

Members of organised crime groups

Missing children/ Runaway children

Misuse of prescription drugs

Money owed to loan sharks

Murders

New laws

Number of illegal weapons

Number of laws on the books

Number of police

Number of public prosecutors

Organised crime (e.g. mafia and gangs)

Petty crime like graffiti and other vandalism)

Political activism (e.g. protests/ demonstrations, petitions)

Political extremism

Pornography/ The sex industry

Prison population

Property crime

Recidivism (= Reoffending)

Reckless driving

Recorded crime

School absenteeism

School violence

Seizures of narcotics

Serious crime

Sexual harassment (e.g. groping on trains)

Smuggling

Street drug prices

Successful prosecutions

Tax evasion

Theft

Violent crime (assault etc)

Whistleblowing

White collar crime

Youth violence

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

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