Should police use facial recognition technology?

Advanced lesson plan (B2 and above): Should police use facial recognition technology? - BUY ME A COFFEE if you like my FREE ESL content 

Ever noticed Facebook is able to identify the people in your photos, even before you've tagged them? Facial-recognition algorithms compare features against vast databases and return matches. 

But, in the hands of police, is the technology disturbingly intrusive and even racist? Or is it an indispensable tool for catching society's worst criminals? 

In this B2+ worksheet, students will study the difference between "like" vs. "as", learn lots of face-related phrases and watch a video about facial-recognition technology being used by London police.

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 Lesson objectives:

1) To match six face-related phrases to the appropriate pictures (face lift, to face down, to face off, poker face, to face away, in your face!).

2) To study the difference between "like" and "as", using a fill-the-gaps exercises linked to the topic of faces.

3) To understand nuance and puns with three face-related jokes, about a horse, a buffalo and Lady Gaga.

4) To explain differing points of view on a topical issue, using information gathered from a short news segment about facial-recognition technology deployed by UK police.

5) To expand the students' repertoire of idioms, matching six face-related idioms/phrasal verbs with their definitions. 

6) To practise reading comprehension by studying an article about a US government study on facial-recognition algorithms, which concluded the technology suffered from racial biases.