English Department Homework Projects
Autumn Two: A Christmas Carol
Task One: Create a Collage pf pictures which represent some of the themes, ideas, characters and back ground to A Christmas Carol. You might want to
include pictures of Charles Dickens, The Victorians, Scrooge, the Ghosts, the poor, Christmas etc. The collage can be made on the computer or by cutting
images up, but it must cover a full page and you can even include key words you feel are important to the story. Make sure it’s beautiful.
Task Two: Below is an extract from the novel which mentions Workhouses and the Poor Laws. Design a leaflet telling younger students about the background
to the novel. You must include the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What were the workhouses like? Describe them and what the conditions were like.
What were the Poor Laws? Where did the 1834 Poor Law say the poor had to go?
What is the treadmill that Scrooge mentions? Type into a search engine ‘Treadmill punishment’ to see what you can find out.
Find out about Charles Dickens. What was his early life like? When did he write the book? Why did he write the book? When was he born? When did
he die?
You must write the leaflet using your own words and not just cut and paste from the internet. Make sure you research the conventions of leaflets and
include bullet points, headings and pictures as well as the facts you have found.
Task Three: Write a formal letter to Scrooge persuading him that Christmas is a good time of year and worth celebrating. You need to write it as a formal
letter and therefore need to think about how to lay a formal letter out. You need to write at least three paragraphs in your letter, each with a different
subject on Christmas. You should try to refer to the text and use persuasive techniques (PERFECTS) to persuade him to change. The PERFECTS are:
P-Personal Anecdote
E-Emotive Language
R-Rhetorical Questions
F-Facts and Flattery
E-Exaggeration
C-Connectives
T- Tri-Colon
S- Statistics and Satire*
Satire is… (Challenge chance)
Task Four: Imagine you are Scrooge and you have just been visited by the three ghosts. The visits have made you realise you need to change your ways and
you have decided to write a Christmas Card apologising for your faults and making amends in some way.
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Choose who you want to send the card to. This might be Bob Cratchit, Fred, Belle or another character in the novel.
Decide what you need to apologise for and write about this in your Christmas Card. Decide how you could make it better and promise to do so in your
card. Decide how you could make it better and promise to do so in your card.
Design your Christmas card- remember that Scrooge is from the Victorian times. Try to design a card using Victorian festive Images. Remember to
include a printed greeting (e.g. Happy Christmas) on the front. Inside-write your apology from Scrooge.
Task Five: Write the recipe for a good ghost story. Be sure to follow the recipe format i.e. ingredients and step by step commands telling the chef the steps.
Make sure you link your ideas to the discussions you have had in class.
Task Six: From your reading of Christmas carol, create a Christmas Acrostic Poem using the novels title. Make sure your poem captures the moral of the story.
The book I have been reading this term is ………………………………………………………….. I have included my review in my project and my Reading Passport is up
to date!
Your project is due: