A Christmas Carol: a ghost story
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Threads
Why this why now
This unit uses and builds on pupils' understanding of the novella's plot, themes, ideas and characters from their first reading of 'A Christmas Carol' in the unit 'Scrooge's redemption'. This unit develops their thinking and gives them a more nuanced understanding of how Dickens conveys his ideas and moral outlook in the novella. This enables them to write about the novella with greater confidence and subtlety. This unit builds towards the second deep dive, 'A Christian parable', where pupils will see how Dickens' message of social responsibility interacts with Victorian religious ideas.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils have read the full novella 'A Christmas Carol'.
- Pupils can recall key plot and character information: they know which ghosts appear and how Scrooge changes.
- Pupils know that Dickens was a Victorian writer and social campaigner.
- Pupils are able to write analytical essays and know how to structure an introduction, conclusion and analytical paragraph.
- Pupils can offer detailed inferences about key quotations from the novella.
- Pupils can explain why Dickens wrote the novella, using appropriate context.
Threads
Why this why now
This unit uses and builds on pupils' understanding of the novella's plot, themes, ideas and characters from their first reading of 'A Christmas Carol' in the unit 'Scrooge's redemption'. This unit develops their thinking and gives them a more nuanced understanding of how Dickens conveys his ideas and moral outlook in the novella. This enables them to write about the novella with greater confidence and subtlety. This unit builds towards the second deep dive, 'A Christian parable', where pupils will see how Dickens' message of social responsibility interacts with Victorian religious ideas.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils have read the full novella 'A Christmas Carol'.
- Pupils can recall key plot and character information: they know which ghosts appear and how Scrooge changes.
- Pupils know that Dickens was a Victorian writer and social campaigner.
- Pupils are able to write analytical essays and know how to structure an introduction, conclusion and analytical paragraph.
- Pupils can offer detailed inferences about key quotations from the novella.
- Pupils can explain why Dickens wrote the novella, using appropriate context.
Literature
A Christmas Carol: a ghost story
In this unit, pupils consider how and why Dickens presents 'A Christmas Carol' as a ghost story. They look at the novella as a gothic text and then the ghosts in detail. They then write a critical response about how Dickens uses the ghosts to deliver his message about social responsibility.
7 lessons in unit
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