REF:
TOPIC Military Patrolling (Night Patrol)
LEVEL Upper Intermediate
LANGUAGE PRESENTED Lexis related to (i) patrols (ii) noun and adverbial phrases
(iii) formal and informal style
SKILLS DEVELOPED Speaking; listening; note-taking; report writing
MATERIALS Total pages (8) 3 pages of teacher s notes and 5 pages
of student s material (including tapescript)
ESTIMATED TIME 90 minutes (with or without report writing task)
PRODUCED BY PEMP
INSTITUTION/DATE PEP/PEMP August 2003
SAC or CLASSROOM Classroom
ORIIGINAL SOURCE
TEACHERS' / USERS' NOTES - brainstorm general concept of patrolling
- student pairs create a story and retell to classmates
- teacher s feedback on language generated
- jigsaw listening and note-taking (3 groups)
- information exchange
- vocabulary work (matching)
- listening for formal vs informal expressions
- incident report writing
PILOTED N/A
When? Where? Who with?
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Teacher s notes
Speaking
Activity 1: Introduce the topic to the students - write the word  PATROL on the
whiteboard and elicit words associated with patrolling. Eg. purposes of patrol, tasks,
equipment, manning.
Activity 2: Ask students to imagine they were on night patrol duty when an incident
took place. In pairs or small groups, students work to create a short story describing
the incident  be flexible with timing. Explain they can take notes and that they will tell
their story to another pair when they are ready. While students are working, the
teacher circulates to help with lexis and language as needed  s/he can also help to
reformulate any inappropriate or inaccurate language at this stage if s/he wishes.
Activity 3: Students self-select stories for re-telling to the whole class. The teacher
notes down on the board any interesting/relevant phrases or lexis that emerges.
Listening
Activity 1: Explain to the students that they are going to hear a British officer
describing an incident that happened when he was stationed in Haiti and was on night
patrol duty. Divide the class into 3 groups to listen the first time for one set of specific
information each:(A) the general social situation in Haiti at that time, (B) the police
compound that the officer goes to and (C) the actual incident he has to deal with that
night.
After the first listening, students share the information within their group. Then play
the tape again to get more details and to confirm their responses.
Activity 2: Re-group students so that there is at least one member from groups A, B
and C to share the information they have noted from the story. (Give them 5 minutes
to do this.)
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Teacher s notes
Activity 1: Key
A. The general social and B. The police compound in Haiti C. The incident the British officer
work environment in Haiti is involved in
- scary - heavily fortified - patrol approached the police
- complete breakdown in - sandbag emplacements at compound
law and order the gate - the guard scared so, pulled
- gangs running wild - sandbags piled on top of out a gun
- not many people on the each other - patrol dived for cover behind
streets at night / after - tall fence with barbed wire on car nearby
dark top - Haitian interpreter called for
- looters breaking shop - Interpreter calmed police
windows, stealing goods guard down
- people scared - patrol was safe
- everyone had a beer
Vocabulary work
Activity 1: Matching
Give students the table of vocabulary items from the tapescript (below) and ask them
to work individually to match A  J with the definitions 1  10. (Key is below)
A. (show) a night capability 1. special steel material used in fences or on top of walls
B. (be) heavily fortified 2. military procedures to be followed while on duty
C. (have) a professional presence 3. powerful energy or capacity to kill
D. (put up) barbed wire 4. small bags of sand or gravel used to form a defensive wall
E. (follow) rules of engagement 5. behave in an unfriendly way towards someone
F. (build) sandbag emplacements 6. zone or district controlled or policed by a specific unit
G. (have) an area of operation 7. the ability to patrol and maintain the peace at night
H. (show) hostile intent 8. work as part of a professional team in the community
I. (serve in) an infantry platoon 9. well-defended (building, entrance or location)
J. (use) deadly force 10. a military unit of approximately 30-40 persons
Key:
A = 7; B = 9; C = 8, D = 1; E = 2, F = 4, G = 6, H = 5; I = 10; J = 3
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Teacher s notes
Writing activity: to be done in class or as a follow-up homework task
Ask students to write an incident report for their commanding officer using the form
provided in the student copy. They should base this report on:
" general notes on patrolling
" their own notes from the story they created earlier
" lexical items from the tapescript
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Student copy
Speaking
Activity 1: Brainstorming
What do you know about military patrols? Make a note below of any words or phrases
you associate with patrolling. Think of patrol types, equipment, manning and so on.
Eg. border
PATROLLING
Activity 2: Describing an incident
Imagine you and your partner were on night patrol (where? when?) and an interesting
incident happened to you (what? who? why?) - You had to solve a problem (what?
how? end of story?) Work together to create your story, using the space below for
your short notes. You have 10 minutes for this. When you are ready you will tell your
story to another pair.
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Student copy
Listening and Note-taking
Activity 1: You are going to hear a British officer describing an incident that happened
when he was stationed in Haiti and was on night patrol duty. He is going to talk
about:(A) the general social situation in Haiti at that time, (B) the police compound that
he goes to with his patrol and (C) the actual incident the patrol deals with that night.
Your teacher will allocate you to one of these areas to listen to and take notes on. Use
the relevant column in the box below (A, B, or C).
A. The general social and work B. The police compound in Haiti C. The incident the British
environment in Haiti officer is involved in
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Student copy
Vocabulary work
Activity 1: Matching
Look at the key phrases A  J below which have been taken from the tapescript. They
are examples of formal military specific language which you may find useful.
Work individually to match the phrases with their definitions.
A. (show) a night capability 1. special steel material used in fences or on top of walls
B. (be) heavily fortified 2. military procedures to be followed while on duty
C. (have) a professional presence 3. powerful energy or capacity to kill
D. (put up) barbed wire 4. small bags of sand or gravel used to form a defensive wall
E. (follow) rules of engagement 5. behave in an unfriendly way towards someone
F. (build) sandbag emplacements 6. zone or district controlled or policed by a specific unit
G. (have) an area of operation 7. the ability to patrol and maintain the peace at night
H. (show) hostile intent 8. work as part of a professional team in the community
I. (serve in) an infantry platoon 9. well-defended (building, entrance or location)
J. (use) deadly force 10. a military unit of approximately 30-40 persons
Key: ______ _______ ______ _______ _______
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Student Copy
Writing: Incident Report
Go back to the notes that you made on patrols and the story that you created. Uses
these and the language from the tapescript to write an incident report for your
commander. The report form below may help you.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
INCIDENT REPORT
TO:
FROM:
INFO:
REPORT No:
REPORT DTG:
INCDIENT DTG:
INCIDENT GRID:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
INCIDENT:
PARTIES INVOLVED:
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CASUALTIES:
ACTION TAKEN (own forces):
FUTURE
ACTION/RECOMMENDATION:
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Tapescript Student Copy
Night Patrol
Did I tell you about the time I was out in Haiti? No. Well, I was out there with the Americans.
Well, Haiti was really scary. There was a complete breakdown in law and order. Gangs
running wild everywhere. I was just a Lieutenant then. I was in charge of an infantry platoon
at the time. They were good blokes in that platoon. Lots of laughs.
We were out one night on a patrol. We were doing night patrols to  show a night capability
and a professional presence , or so our commander told us. Which basically means we had
to show the local population that we could patrol at night, that s  show a night capability
and that they were safe because we were professional soldiers looking after them, that s
 showing a professional presence .
Well, night patrols were usually quite easy. Not many people are around in Haiti late at night.
Anyone travelling around after the hours of darkness were treated as suspect. They were
thought to be looters, breaking shop windows and stealing goods, or terrorists or something
like that. But, you had to be careful when you did come across people at night. They are
likely to be a bit scared themselves and  well, they could do anything.
I ll tell you about one incident, one thing that happened to me in Haiti. We were out on patrol
one night in our AO, that s area of operation to you, it wasn t completely dark because there
were some street lights on. Well, we were out on patrol when we approached a police
compound, a place where the police worked and slept. Well, it was heavily fortified I can tell
you. Sandbag emplacements at the gate. You know what I mean. Those sort of little
houses made out of sandbags piled on top of each other. And there was a tall fence with
barbed wire on the top. A really heavily fortified police compound.
Well, as we approached this police compound the guard suddenly jumped up. I think we
really startled him. He must have been half asleep or something. And he pulled out his gun
and pointed it at the patrol. Well, for a moment I was really scared. I could have killed him for
that, the rules of engagement, that s the laws about the things we can and can t do, well, the
rules of engagement say that if I feel my life is being threatened, or think that any of my
colleagues lives are under threat, then I can go for it  you know  use deadly force, which
basically means I can kill the person threatening me.
Well, I happened to know that the Haitian police are a bit jumpy, you know a bit
nervous, but they don t really want to shoot soldiers, so I got the patrol to dive for
cover. Luckily there was a car standing close by and we all managed to get behind
that. Well, I called forward the linguist, a local Haitian we employed, and his English
was really good, and he started to talk to the policeman, and calmed him down and
that was it really. We came out from behind the car and ended up having a beer with the
guy.
But I could have killed him you know. Well within my rights. He was pointing a gun at me. He
was, as they say, showing hostile intent, and he was threatening the lives of the platoon.
But I knew he wasn t really going to shoot us. He was a bit panicked that s all  and lost it a
little. He was lucky he pulled his gun on me and not some raw kid just out of military
academy and straight into Haiti.
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