A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Marley's Ghost - A Christmas Carol (1843), opposite 25 - BL.jpg
By John Leech - Image taken from
A Christmas Carol in prose. 
Charles Dickens
We will learn about Charles Dickens and about the living conditions for the poor during the Victorian Era in London.

Homework week 45
Read this text about Charles Dickens and listen to at least one of the audio files about the Victorian era.

A Christmas Carol
We listen to and read A Christmas Carol by Dickens. The goal is to learn new words and to understand, discuss and analyze the text. You work in your own tempo and you can choose in what way you do this:
If you want to you can switch between the different levels, for example one week you listen to a recoding and next week you read the original text. 

Word work & homework
The teacher will start each lesson with some word work and discussion to each of the episodes of the BBC School Radio version, see discussion questions below.

Thereafter you work in you own tempo with the short story and your homework words.When you read and listen to each episode you write down important words you don’t know and you can also choose words from ”the teacher’s words”. In the BBC School Radio version there is a synopsis (summary) of each chapter and from these your teacher will put together word-exercises, see below.

Week 46, 47, 48 and 49 you choose at least 20 new words to learn as homework. These words you hand in to your teacher via Google Classroom at the latest the day before the day the homework is due.

Episode 1: Marley’s Ghost
  1. Listen carefully and gather some words that are used to describe Scrooge.
  2. Compare: How are the other characters described?
  3. In what order are the characters introduced?
  4. What is a workhouse?
  5. How does Dickens build up the tension with the arrival of the ghost?
Link to the teacher's words episode 1
Link to extracts from the text
9a: Those who forgot to listen to audio clips: Who listens to what clip?

Episode 2: Meeting with Marley
  1. Listen to the description of the ghost and draw a picture of it. Annotate with phrases from the story.
  2. Do you think it is scary?
  3. Dickens used many words for ghost. Name some synonyms used inte the text. Why do you think Dickens did so?
  4. At the end: How has Scrooge’s feelings changed from the ending of the first episode?
  5. What failures do Marley and Scrooge have in common?
  6. Can you identify Dicken’s viewpoint about Christmas and helping the poor?

Episode 3: The first of the three spirits
  1. Discuss how time appears to have stood still or maybe even reversed. How does Dickens use this to keep the story moving?
  2. How does the Ghost of Christmas Past look and behave and what does this tell us about the character?
  3. What is revealed about Scrooge’s childhood in the three Christmas scenes? Can this explain why Scrooge is the way he is?
  4. In one place Scrooge feels regret and says quietly ”I wish…”. What do you think he wishes?



Episode 4: Master Fezziwig
  1. Make a comparison of Mr Fezziwig and Mr Scrooge as employers; how do they treat their employees? What effect does the employers’ behavior have on their employees?
  2. In the scene of the fifth Christmas: What is the problem in the relationship between Scrooge and his fiancé. 
  3. Look back at all six scenes and reflect on why Scrooge has become they way he has. What events have happened to him and what has been of his own making?

Episode 5: The second of the three spirits
  1. Look at the description of the ghost of Christmas Present. Does he remind you of someone?
  2. How is this spirit different from the first ghost? How does this affect Scrooge?
  3. Do you find any signs of Scrooge beginning to change?
  4. Look at the description of the Cratchit family’s celebration. What is good and what is poor about their Christmas?
  5. How does the description of Tiny Tim make us feel? What do you think Scrooge is feeling?
  6. How does Scrooge react to Mrs Cratchit's response to the toast to him?
  7. What do you think of Mr Scrooge now compared to how you found him in the beginning of this short story? Why?

Episode 6: Scrooge's nephew
  1. What do the three settings of the miner, the lighthouse keeper and the ship’s crew have in common?
  2. What do you think the songs and singing symbolize?
  3. The scene in Fred’s home: Do you agree with Fred’s forgiveness of Scrooge and reasons? Or does he deserve his loneliness?
  4. Why is the ghost of Christmas Present dying?:
  5. The boy and the girl are symbols of Ignorance and Want. What do you think; should they be punished or is there some other way to help them?
  6. Who does the final ghost remind us of?

Episode 7: The last of the three spirits
  1. Gather clues on who the dead man is.
  2. What do the different characters feel about the deceased man?

Episode 8: An end to the haunting
  1. How is the spirit of Christmas Yet to Come different compared to the two easier ghosts?
  2. Compare this scene of the Cratchit family to the previous of how they celebrated Christmas Day.
  3. What are your feelings now that the story nears its end? How are Scrooge’s feelings?
  4. Why does the spirit begin to disappear at the end of the episode?

Episode 9: The end of it
  • How does Scrooge show regret and make up for previous bad behaviour?
  • Find evidence in the text to prove that Scrooge has changed for the better.
  • How is Scrooge’s dramatic change received? What might be the characters’ reservations and suspicions?

Concluding questions:
In what way can you relate this story to the world around you today?
Why is this story called A Christmas Carol?
In which places are Christmas songs mentioned?

(This plan is constructed mainly with material from the BBC School Radio; Teacher's Notes to Dickens A Christmas Carol)

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