Lesson video

Hi there.

My is Mr Byrne Smith, and in today's lesson, we're going to do some reading together.

Now this is lesson three of five on A Christmas Carol.

If you haven't yet watched lessons one and two, please go and do that first.

In today's lesson, we're going to be engaging with the text.

So we can engage with the Christmas Carol's story properly for the first time.

So let's make a start.

Here's the agenda for today's lesson.

First, we're going to recap what we've learned so far.

Then we're going to look at some pre-vocabulary that will help us in today's lesson.

After that we'll read the text and get an understanding of the story.

And finally, we'll summarise what we've learned today.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil and of course your brain.

If you need to go and get any of these things, pause the video now.

Okay.

Let's have a quick introduction and recap of what we're learning today.

So here is Ebenezer Scrooge, the character that we've now analysed in quite some detail.

He's the main character of our story.

Now I've come up with some statements about Ebenezer Scrooge and I'd like you to see what you think about them.

Perhaps you agree, perhaps you disagree.

Here's the first one.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a weak old man.

We should feel sorry for him.

I like you to have, have a think.

Do you agree, disagree and why? Pause the video now.

Okay.

This is an interesting one because I think we discovered that he is an old man, we don't know necessarily that he's weak.

But then this idea of feeling sorry for him, well so far, it's not much to feel sorry about.

We've seen him be unkind to people and that's about it.

So it's quite hard at this point to feel sorry for him.

I think we need to get to know him a bit better before that might be possible.

Next statement, Ebenezer Scrooge is not generous.

He keeps all his money to himself.

Have a think about that.

Agree, disagree and why? Pause the video.

Okay.

This is slightly easier to answer.

So far all the evidence suggests that this is true.

Suggests that he is not generous.

We've seen him be really quite unkind and unwilling to give even the an extra pound here or there.

He's been unkind and he certainly hasn't been generous to Bob Cratchit.

And we've also seen in the original text a description of Scrooge which suggests that he does not go out his way to be kind and generous to people.

Next statement.

Christmas is Ebenezer's favourite time of year.

Agree, disagree, why? Okay, so we've discovered so far that he's generally quite a grumpy unkind person and it happens to be Christmas.

So you could say, I think at the moment, you could say that he is not keen on the Christmas period.

However, maybe he just behaves this way all the time.

I think we need to find a bit more about him to be able to say for sure that Christmas is or is not his favourite time of year.

I think so far, it seems as though it's something he's not keen on.

Okay, let's do some pre-vocabulary which will help us understand today's text.

The first word is quill.

My turn your turn, quill.

So, I'll put the word quill in a sentence.

She picked up the quail from the ground.

The first step is to see if we can figure out this word's word class.

We have four options.

Adjective, noun, verb or adverb.

An adjective describes a noun.

A noun is a person, place or thing.

A verb is a doing or a being word.

And an adverb describes a verb.

In this instance, what is the word quill.

She picked up the quill from the ground.

I'll let you have a think.

Pause the video if you need to.

Okay, quill is a noun.

If it's something that you can pick up, then it's a thing.

If you can actually put your hands on it, it's definitely a thing, it's an noun.

She picked up the quill from the ground.

But what is it? What type of thing is a quill? He asked his teacher for a quill to write with.

Mmmmm, he asked his teacher for a quill to write with.

Now things are becoming clearer and clearer.

I wonder if this gives you an extra clue.

Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so quill is a noun it's a thing.

And from this sentence, we can tell that it's a thing with which you write.

So it's an implement, an object with which you write.

Probably a bit like a pen or a pencil, two other things with which you write.

I wonder if you know what a quill is, maybe you've seen one before.

There's a picture.

So before pens were common, the pen as we know it today, people wrote with a quill.

Now a quill was made using a feather.

You used it to write with a pot of ink and you can see that the quilt is sitting in a pot of ink.

The quill would soak up some of the ink and the sharpened end of the quill would allow you to write on paper, quite scratchily but at the time they were the best thing going when it came to writing.

The next word we're going to look at is miserly.

Miserly.

So let's see if we can figure out the word miserly.

Now, the first thing we're going to do is have a look at this word and consider whether or not there were any other words that you know, that look or sound similar.

Miserly, have a careful think.

Are there any other words that look or sound similar? I have come up with miserable and misery.

Now miserable is an adjective which means really quite unpleasant and nasty.

Misery is a noun which it kind of means a kind of state of discomfort of mental of physical discomfort.

Now these are both linked to the word miserly and they're both quite negative.

They have really negative undertones.

So miserly, let's try it in a sentence.

The miserly child wouldn't share a single crumb of food.

Okay now, how is miserly being used here? Let's see if we can figure out the word class.

The miserly child, miserly child.

Well, I know child is in noun and the word miserly is being used to describe it.

Now what describes it noun have a think.

What describes a noun? Aha! Adjectives.

Adjectives describe a noun.

The miserly child wouldn't share a single crumb of food.

Ah so this child is not generous.

They're not willing to share.

So this is an adjective describing somebody who's not willing to share.

So I think miserly will have something to do with that.

A lack of generosity.

Hmm, let's have a think.

Aha, so it's an adjective.

It means mean and lacking in generosity.

It comes from the noun miser.

That's a nice little bonus.

So there's a noun, a miser.

So a miser is somebody who is mean or lacking in generosity.

Somebody who is not at all generous with their things.

Quite selfish with their things.

Okay.

We have a new word here and it's an interesting one.

My turn your turn, meagre.

Meagre.

Let's see it in a sentence.

He wasn't happy with his meagre lunch.

Okay, I'd like you to have a think about the word class.

What type of word is meagre? What's it doing in this sentence? He wasn't happy with his meagre lunch, meagre lunch.

But I know lunch is a noun, it's a thing.

Meagre sitting right alongside it and it seems as though it's describing it.

Meagre lunch.

Or what describes a noun? We know this from the last slide an adjective, an adjective describes a noun.

So meagre is an adjective.

Their meagre earnings meant they couldn't afford much.

Hhmm, so he wasn't happy with his meagre lunch.

Their meagre earnings and they couldn't afford much.

I like you to have a think.

What do you think word meagre means? Pause the video if necessary.

Okay, meagre means not much of something.

If you have meagre earnings then you don't earn a lot of money.

If you have a meagre lunch, then you have barely any.

Imagine you just had a few crumbs on your plate, you might describe that as a meagre lunch.

Really, really lovely adjective.

Okay.

Next word is shilling.

My turn your turn, shilling.

Shilling.

Okay, let's try in a sentence.

She found a shilling in her pocket.

Hhmm, so it's something that she found in her pocket.

A thing she found in her pocket.

Now one of these word classes is perfect for things.

Which one? Adjective, noun, verb or adverb? It's noun.

Shilling is a noun, it's a thing.

What type of thing? Well, we need another sentence for this.

He paid for his shopping with two shillings.

So what's he doing with his shillings? He's paying for something with them.

So what do you think a shilling is? Pause the video and have a think.

That's a shilling.

A shilling is a coin.

It's a type of currency used in Britain until, well not that long ago, it was used in the Victorian era.

We can see the date on this one 1834.

So pretty close to the reign of Queen Victoria just before.

Though they were used the whole way through her reign as well.

Okay, let's read the text.

Now we're going to be reading Tony Mitton's modern day adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

So it's still set in the past, but it was created fairly recently.

It's a beautiful text with lots of illustrations.

So if at any point you'd like to look for longer at a picture, just pause.

It's retold by Tony Mitton and it's illustrated by Mike Redman.

Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol." "In London Town, there lived a man.

His fortune, it was huge.

But he was mean and miserly, old Ebenezer Scrooge.

Our story starts on Christmas Eve as day was dying down, Old Scrooge sat checking his accounts as ever with a frown.

His clerk Bob Cratchit sat nearby scratching with his quill.

From time to time, he rubbed his hands to warm them from the chill.

For Scrooge being mean and miserly would keep his chamber cold.

The way he measured out the coal you'd think that it were gold.

The office clock chimed closing time.

Bob Cratchit gave a cough, 'Tomorrow's Christmas Day sir.

So may I take it off?' Scrooge gave Bob a narrow look.

'A day off? If you must.

But I won't pay you for that day.

' His voice was dry as dust.

Poor Cratchit nodded nervously, 'Sir, Merry Christmas then.

' 'Christmas? Humbug!' Scrooge replied.

'A feast for foolish men' Scrooge closed up his office.

He went back to his room.

He ate his bowl of lonely gruel, surrounded by the gloom.

But then the mournful ghost appeared of Marley, his dead friend.

'I warn you Scrooge to mend your ways before you meet your end.

' Scrooge merely muttered, 'Humbug! You're just a puff of smoke.

Don't talk to me of kindness and Christmas cheers a joke!' He changed into his nightgown and tucked himself in bed.

And as he blew his candle out, 'Christmas? Bah!' he said.

But as the darkness gathered, a figure with white hair came shining straight towards him.

Scrooge murmured, 'Who goes there?' 'I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.

And you must come with me for I have things to show you.

Things that you must see.

' They floated through the chilly air till Scrooge let out a groan.

He saw his boyhood self so sad sitting quite alone.

The other boys had all gone home to family Christmas cheer, leaving poor young Scrooge at school so silent, cold and drear.

And then he saw his young-man self, rejecting hour by hour the chance of love and happiness to gain more wealth and power.

'Oh, Ghost,' the miser murmured.

'These memories bring me pain.

I pray you leave them in the past.

Oh, take me home again.

' Scrooge felt himself transported to such a startling scene.

His room was full of festive fare and a jolly giant in green.

'I am the Ghost of Christmas Present, come to show you more.

I bring you Christmas here and now for folk both rich and poor.

' They flew through many a bustling street, where cheerful people shopped.

They came upon Bob Cratchit house and there that giant stopped.

Although the scene was bad and poor, it shone with care and love.

Scrooge felt a tug upon his heart while gazing from above.

Bob Cratchit's crippled son was there.

So pallid, frail and ill.

'Will Tiny Tim recover?' Scrooge whispered, 'Say he will.

' The giant, silent, flew him on to view the working poor who grimly toiled by night and day to swell the rich folks' store.

Scrooge witnessed how they laboured.

They had no choice.

They must.

They worked their bitter lives away to earn a meagre crust.

Then as the vision faded, Scrooge found himself in bed.

A hooded shape approached him, which filled his heart with dread.

'The Ghost of Christmas Future,' within his mind he heard.

The silence spirit took him with neither look nor word.

They floated to Bob Cratchit's house where sorrow filled the air for Tiny Tim lay dying, a site Scrooge could not bear.

The silent spirit led him on to a corpse beneath a veil.

'Oh, whose is this cruel spectre?' Scrooge trembled and group pale.

The spirit told him nothing but led pour Scrooge away to a drear deserted graveyard where a lone and plain grave lay.

And there upon the gravestone Scrooge saw his name shown clear.

'I beg you Spirit, tell me, does my own death draw near?' The ghost stayed still and silent as light began to rise.

It merged into his bedpost before his very eyes.

'Then was this real, or just a dream? Who cares? For I'm still here.

I have a chance to make amends and spread some Christmas Cheer.

' Scrooge ran to pull the window up.

A boy was passing by.

'Say, what's today?' He shouted.

The boy gave this reply.

'Why.

Christmas Day, of course, sir.

' Said Scrooge, 'I'm not too late to put some Christmas turkey on poor Bob Cratchit's plate.

' He paid the boy a shilling to take a turkey there.

And then he went to buy some gifts for all the Cratchits to share.

And later when he called on them to spread some Christmas fun, Tiny Tim cried heartily.

'God bless us, everyone!' Then as they sat to dinner, Scrooge made a Christmas vow to be a better boss to Bob and pay him well from now.

But more than that, he'd use his wealth to help the sick and poor.

For what's the point of money that gathers dust in store? And that's how Scrooge the Miser was changed to Scrooge the Man who keeps as kind a Christmas as any person can.

So let's us do like dear old Scrooge as Christmas time draws near and fill the world with peace and love, with kindness and good cheer." Okay, that's the end of the story.

Now, let's summarise what we've learned today.

What I'd like you to do is, if you had to break the story down into five key events, what would they be? Now this is hard and I've done this on purpose.

It's hard to pick only five.

So what I'd like you to do is think of the five, what would they be? And write them down.

And you might want to change them around and you might want to tweak them and that's absolutely fine.

Pause the video and Okay, well done.

That's the end of the lesson you've done really well.

It's nice to have heard the story.

I think we're in a really good position now.

Today we've done an introduction, we've done some pre-vocabulary, we've read the text and we have summarised.

So well done for your hard work.

You've completed your lesson.

Bye.