Домашнее чтение. Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"
методическая разработка по английскому языку по теме

Stave 1 (part 1, p.p. 12-20)

I. Vocabulary: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the novel. Learn the words by heart.

1. ironmongery
2. simile
3. unhallowed
4. residuary
5. ramparts
6. entreaty
7. trifle
8. phantoms
9. intimation
10. morose
11. impropriety
12. resolute
13. homage
14. ominous
15. facetious
16. brazier
17. solitude
18. misanthropic
19. garret
20. congenial

II. Questions: Write 15 questions to ask your classmates in class.

III. Speaking: Look through the chapter again and expand on the following:

1. What is the simile in the second paragraph?

2. Why does the narrator make such a point of Marley’s being dead?

3. Why doesn’t the weather affect Scrooge? (paragraph 7 – paragraph numbers correspond to hyperliked text noted above)

4. How is Scrooge’s nephew different from Scrooge?

5. What do the “portly gentlemen” who come in after Scrooge’s nephew leave want?

IV. Writing: Write a short summery of the chapter.

Stave 1 (part 2, p.p. 21-30)

I. Vocabulary: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the novel. Learn the words by heart.

1. phenomenon (21)
2. irresolution (21)
3. balustrades (21)
4. transparent (23)
5. caustic (23)
6. waggish (24)
7. spectre (24-25)
8. remorse (26)
9. benevolence (26)
10. supernatural (29)
11. apparition (29)
12. dirge (29)

II. Questions: Write 15 questions to ask your classmates in class.

III. Speaking: Look through the chapter again and expand on the following:

1. How does the knocker change?

2. Why does Scrooge like the darkness? (paragraph 85, just after the incident with the knocker)

3. What has Marley’s ghost been doing since his death?

4. What is the warning that Marley gives Scrooge?

5. Why are the phantoms (three paragraphs from the end of the stave)         upset?

IV. Writing: Write a short summery of the chapter.

Stave 2 (p.p. 31-48)

I. Vocabulary: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the novel. Learn the words by heart.

1. opaque (31)
2. preposterous (31)
3. perplexed (32)
4. endeavoured(31, 32)
5. fluctuated (33)
6. in supplication (34)
7. vestige (35)
8. condescension (38)
9. decanter (38)
10. supposition (45)
11. tumultuous (46)
12. brigands (46)
13.  boisterous (46)
14. despoil (47)

II. Questions: Write 15 questions to ask your classmates in class.

III. Speaking: Look through the chapter again and expand on the following:

1. What was the strangest thing about the way the spirit looked? (paragraph nineteen – sentence beginning “but the strangest thing…)

2. What is Scrooge’s initial attitude toward the spirit?

3. What is different about Scrooge when he says “Remember it? I could walk it with a blindfold?” (paragraph 44)

4. Who is Scrooge talking about when he says “Poor boy!” (paragraph 58)

5. What does it tell us about Scrooge when Dickens observes“a rapidity of transition very foreign to his usual character.”? (same paragraph)

6. When Fan comes to pick Scrooge up, we learn a reason why Scrooge may have turned out the way he did. What is this reason?

7. What kind of people are the Fezziwigs?

8. Who is Belle and why was she important to Scrooge?

9. Why does Scrooge say “Remove me.” (paragraph 144, five from the end of the stave)

10. How does Scrooge try to "extinguish the light"? Does he succeed? What is the light a symbol of?

IV. Writing: Write a short summery of the chapter.

Stave 3 (part 1, p.p. 49-62)

I. Vocabulary: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the novel. Learn the words by heart.

1. apprehensive (p. 50)
2. consolation of (p.50)
3. predicament (p. 50)
4. capacious (p. 51)
5. artifice (p. 51)
6. on compulsion (p. 52)
7. facetious (p. 52)
8. demurely (p. 54)
9. conspicuous (p. 54)
10. officious zeal (p. 57)
11. tremulous (p. 58)
12. livid (p. 60)
13. heresy (p. 62)

II. Questions: Write 15 questions to ask your classmates in class.

III. Speaking: Look through the chapter again and expand on the following:

1. How is what Scrooge is thinking as he lies in bed waiting to see if the spirit appears different from the previous chapter?

2. What does the spirit look like?

3. What is this ghost’s personality like?

4. How has Scrooge’s attitude toward his being escorted by a ghost changed? (paragraph 17)

5. What is the point of the long description beginning The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker (paragraph 21 ) and continuing on for several pages through paragraph 24 which begins, “But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their gayest faces.”

6. What are three significant things we learn about the Cratchit’s (paragraphs 51-85)?

7. How is Scrooge affected by seeing the family (paragraphs 71-76)?

IV. Writing: Write a short summery of the chapter.

Stave 3 (part 2, p.p. 63-73)

I. Vocabulary: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the novel. Learn the words by heart.

1. penitence
2. rebuke
3. odious
4. stingy
5. plaintive
6. desolation
7. cultivate
8. contortions
9. credulity
10. execrable
11. confidential
12. prostrate
13. perversion

II. Questions: Write 15 questions to ask your classmates in class.

III. Give brief answers to the following questions:

1.What does the Spirit mean when he says But they Know me. See!” about the miners (paragraph 91)

 2. What is the point of going to the lighthouse (paragraphs 93-94)? to the ship (p95)

 3. What is the great surprise to Scrooge in the next paragraph (96)?

4. What would Fred think would be a positive outcome of his Christmas invitation to Scrooge (p. paragraph 114 – the sentence beginning, “if it only…”)?

5. What happens to Scrooge’s mood as the party goes on? Why do you think this happens?

6. Describe the game called “Yes and No” Scrooge witnesses at his nephews Christmas party.

7. What does it mean to say the boy and the girl (Ignorance and Want – the last paragraphs of the stave) are “Man’s children (paragraph 144)”?

IV. Speaking: Look through the chapter again and expand on the following:

1. List three of the places that the Ghost and Scrooge visit after leaving the Crachits and before arriving at Scrooge’s nephew’s house.  What activities does Scrooge witness in all these places?

2. Describe the scene in Scrooge’s nephew’s house.  Who is present?  List three of the things they do as part of their Christmas celebration.  Tell how Scrooge reacts to what he sees.

3. List ten words that Dickens uses to describe the two children discovered beneath the Ghost’s robe.  What does the ghost say are their names?  Explain their symbolism.

4. In Stave Three, the word spirit can be used to refer not only to the ghost but also to the attitudes that the various characters have toward Christmas.  Make a list of five or more words and phrases from this section that you think express the spirit of Christmas.  

5. The Ghost twice quotes Scrooge’s own words to him.  Identify these two instances, and explain the Ghost’s reason for quoting Scrooge.

6. Both Bob Crachit and Scrooge’s nephew drink toast to Scrooge.  Explain how their families and friends react to their toasts.  What do the toasts reveal about Crachit’s and the nephew’s character?

V. A Creative Response:  

Writing a Letter:  Pretend you are Bob Crachit.  You have found a better job, and you are writing a letter to your replacement in Scrooge’s office.  In two paragraphs, tell the new clerk about a typical workday at Scrooge and Marley.  Discuss the hours and the working conditions and suggest ways to get along with the boss, Ebenezer Scrooge.  Be honest, but remember to write as kindly Bob Crachit would.

IV. Writing: Write a short summery of the chapter.

Stave 4 (p.p. 74-88)

I. Vocabulary: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the novel. Learn the words by heart.

1. shroud
2. pendulous
3. excrescence
4. skaiter
5. latent
6. resolutions
7. slipshod
8. cesspools
9. offal
10. defiance
11. obscene
12. repress
13. successor
14. foreshadow
15. intercourse

II. Questions: Write 15 questions to ask your classmates in class.

III. Speaking: Look through the chapter again and expand on the following:

1. Describe the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  What aspect of the Ghost’s behavior scares Scrooge the most?

1. Tell what Scrooge overhears the merchants at the Exchange discussing.  Who in particular does Scrooge hope to see there?

1. List the four people at the junk dealer’s shop. What are three of them trying to sell?  Where and from whom did they get the goods?  Tell how Scrooge reacts to what he witnesses at the shop.

1. Explain why the young man and his wife Caroline feel relieved that the unnamed businessman had died.  What is Scrooge’s reaction to this scene?

1. List three details that alert you to the fact that Tiny Tim has died.  In what ways has Scrooge’s nephew shown “extraordinary kindness” to the Cratchit family?

1. What does Scrooge finally discover in the churchyard?  What assurance does he beg the Ghost to give him?  What resolution does Scrooge make?

1. The climax of a story is the point when the main character’s conflict reaches an intense turning point.  Identify the climax of A Christmas Carol.  What is the result, or resolution, of Scrooge’s conflict?

1. At the end of Stave Four, Scrooge pleads to learn whether he can alter the future that the Ghost has shown him.  The Ghost does not answer in words, but gives a sign.  Identify this sign, and explain what you think it means.

IV. Writing:

1. At the end of Stave Four, Scrooge resolves to honor Christmas all the year and to “live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.”  Considering the previous staves, list three or four specific things Scrooge could do on Christmas day to put his resolutions in action.  Then write a paragraph Scrooge might have composed, in which he expresses his plans for Christmas.  Write from the first-person point of view, using the pronoun I.

1. In two paragraphs, compare and contrast the deaths of Scrooge and Tiny Tim.  How are their deaths alike?  How are they different?

1. Write a short summery of the chapter.

Stave 5 (p.p. 89-95)

I. Vocabulary: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the novel. Learn the words by heart.

1. extravagance
2. illustrious
3. courage
4. array
5. feign
6. alteration
7. malady

II. Questions: Write 15 questions to ask your classmates in class.

III. Speaking: Look through the chapter again and expand on the following:

1. What does Scrooge conclude when he sees that his bed curtains have not been torn down?  What day is it when he wakes up?
2. What errand does Scrooge hire a boy to do?
3. Scrooge meets the “portly gentlemen” who visited his office in Stave One.  In your own words, explain what Scrooge tells this man.
4. Tell how Scrooge is welcomed at his nephew’s house.  What four wonderful things does Scrooge enjoy there?
5. What joke does Scrooge play on Bob Cratchit? What is Bob’s first reaction to the new Scrooge?
6. Explain how Scrooge’s relationship with the Cratchit family changes.  Tell what happens to Tiny Tim.
7. In Stave One, the atmosphere in Scrooge’s house is dark and gloomy.  What is the atmosphere like in the house in Stave Five?  Include two or three details to support your analysis.
8. At the end of Stave Five, Scrooge does not mind that some people laugh at him for being generous.  What does this attitude tell you about how deep his change of heart is?
9.  Scrooge’s personality changes a lot over the course of A Christmas Carol.  Do you think many people in real life undergo such great changes after enduring very emotional experiences?  Or do people usually stay pretty much the same?  What makes you feel the way you do?

Summarize A Christmas Carol using no more than 15 sentences.  Be sure to answer the following questions in your summary.

1. What is the basic situation at the opening of the novel?
2. What is Scrooge’s main external conflict, or conflict with other characters?
3. What is Scrooge’s main internal conflict, or conflict between opposing feelings and emotions in his own mind?
4. What complications arise as the story unfolds?
5. What is the climax of the story?
6. What is the resolution of the story, that is, how are the novel’s problems solved and the story brought to an end?

IV. Writing: Write a short summery of the chapter.

V. Summarize A Christmas Carol using no more than 15 sentences.  Be sure to answer the following questions in your summary.

1. What is the basic situation at the opening of the novel?
2. What is Scrooge’s main external conflict, or conflict with other characters?
3. What is Scrooge’s main internal conflict, or conflict between opposing feelings and emotions in his own mind?
4. What complications arise as the story unfolds?
5. What is the climax of the story?
6. What is the resolution of the story, that is, how are the novel’s problems solved and the story brought to an end?