My Creative Literature Lesson

The objectives of the lesson were to:

1)      Get students to relate better to the theme(s) of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol by providing them with the socio-historical context of the book and the writer’s background (i.e., childhood, financial status)

2)      Get students to always consider the underlying intentions and reasons for why any story is written, the underlying messages and authorial impetuses.

Introduction:

Lesson began with a recap of previous lessons in which they learnt about motif (and their different forms) and themes (and how to derive them) of the/a text, emphasising on trying to answer the questions “Why did Dickens write the story?” “What personal experience made him feel so strongly about the theme to take out 6 weeks of his time to write it?”

A short BBC Animation detailing Dicken’s life from birth to death was shown and discussed, followed by another clip providing information about the social context of the Industrial Revolution in London.

Discussion:

Students were then to discuss in pairs how they felt the children living in that social era felt or lived, what their childhood was like, and the kinds of families that existed then. Some pairs were picked to share their opinions.

Reflection:

Next students were asked to compare the modern social context, with Dicken’s social context of poverty, factory life, and severe working and living conditions. Guiding questions like – What is different? What difficulties do we face now? What are our most significant struggles now? What conveniences do we enjoy now? – were asked and reflected upon. Again students were picked to share their opinions.

Creation:

Finally, students were asked to readapt the plot to convey they type of problems/struggles faced now using characters in A Christmas Carol to tell their story. They could change traits of characters and the things they would potentially say.

Students then shared their creations.