Dickens Worksheets

Two worksheets to introduce your students to some of the works of Charles Dickens
 and the era in which he lived.

Worksheet 1

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Worksheet 2

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A Tale of two Cities - Dickens

Getting our students (B1 level) ready for the Dickens drama workshop..also it could be used as a stimulus for a CLIL lesson..

Instructions

1. Look at the book cover, describe it and discuss it. What information does the title and picture give you about the historic period and the country where this story takes place? What could its main theme be about?

2. Now watch these two videos and take some notes:
   

• Who are the main characters?
• When and Where is the story taking place?
• A brief summary of the plot (no more than 150w)
• What are the main ideas discussed in this story?

3.  This is a quote from the first chapter of the book. What do you know about
the historical era when the story takes place? Can you find any similarities to the present?

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
 it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
 it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, 
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
 it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, 
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
 we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, 
the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, 
for good or for evil,
 in the superlative degree of comparison only."

  Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book 1, Chapter 1

4. At the time in France...

The French Revolution

View more PowerPoint from wesleybatcheller

5. While in Britain....
 During the Victorian times there were special conditions of living for the children. Find out more here

CHILDREN AT VICTORIAN BRITAIN - BBC



TEACHER RESOURCES

• THE FRENCH REVOLUTION IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION: A TALE OF TWO CITIES

• The Movie (1958)

Dickens' LIfe (BBC)

Here is the script of the video.
We can use it with our students in different ways (jumbled sentences, gapped text etc)

1. • Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, on February 7, 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. He was the second of eight children.
2. • He moved to London in 2022
3. • At 12, Charles Dickens went to work at a blacking factory, labelling bottles for 11 hours a day
4. • His father was imprisoned for debts
5. • He began work as a solicitor’s clerk in 1827
6. • He began to collect names and characteristics of the people he saw
7. • He began a journalistic career in 1831
8. • Writing became his passion
9. • He was beginning to taste success
10. • His first piece of fiction was published in 1835
11. • The same year he met Cathering Hogharth, fell in love and got married
12. • The next few years resulted in much writing and many children
13. • As his writing became more popular and his fame more widespread, rumours were spread of his drunkenness and admission to an asylum
14. • He kept a pet raven
15. • In 1842 Charles and Catherine set sail for America with his family
16. • On landing in Boston they were mobbed by crowds
17. • He visited the unusual that inspired his writing
18. • In summer of 1844 he went to Italy
19. • Upon his return he started editing a new radical newspaper
20. • He founded a refuge for homeless women
21. • He performed his works at public readings
22. • Aged 44 he bought the house his father had pointed out at him years before
23. • It symbolised achievement
24. • Whilst he was organising a theatrical project, he met and was spellbound by a young actress, Ellen Ternan
25. • This relationship caused the end of his marriage
26. • In 1865, while Charles and Ellen were returning from Paris, their train crashed
27. • Only at the last minute did he remember to retrieve from the wrecked carriage the final part of “Our Mutual Friend”
28. • The incidence left Charles very shaken
29. • For a while he kept his busy itinerary, but then his health began to fail
30. • He died of a stroke in 1870, at the age of 58.
31. • He is buried at Westminster Abbey.