A Christmas Carol - Marley's Ghost - teaching resource

KS4 GCSE English Teaching Resources: A Christmas Carol – Marley’s Ghost  

(34-slide PowerPoint with 6 worksheets)

This two-lesson resource explores how Dickens presents Marley’s Ghost in Stave One of A Christmas Carol.

The first lesson focuses on the arrival of the ghost and covers the passage from ‘Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern…’ down to ‘…I won’t believe it’. It enables learners to examine how Dickens hints at the impending arrival of Marley’s Ghost, from the appearance of Marley’s face in the door knocker to the sound of clanking chains in the cellar.

Learners will undertake:
A differentiated ‘Do Now’ starter activity which encourages revision of the main ideas in Stave One so far.
A reading of the specified passage, with challenges to stretch more able learners.
A creative task in which learners produce Scrooge’s ‘Vinstagram’ (Victorian Instagram) newsfeed, focusing on the five signs of Marley’s Ghost’s impending arrival. The templates for this activity have been differentiated for higher, middle and lower ability learners.
This first lesson concludes with learners reflecting on the significance of Marley’s ‘heavy chain’.

Lesson two focuses on how Dickens portrays Marley’s Ghost as being in Purgatory. It enables learners to explore Dickens’ vision of the third realm, separate to Heaven and Hell, in which Marley’s Ghost exists.

Learners will undertake:
A differentiated ‘Do Now’ starter activity in which learners will examine a flowchart depicting the three pathways of the immortal soul, according to Catholic teaching. On a basic level, learners will think about whether Scrooge could enter Heaven, whereas at a higher level, they will consider the difference between mortal and venial sin.
They will then read from, ‘His colour changed, though…’ down to ‘…the comprehensive ocean of my business!’ As they read, learners will be encouraged to think about why and how Marley is suffering and the moral message inherent in his situation. They will then relate the ideas in the passage to the flowchart from the earlier ‘Do Now’ activity.

After this, learners will undertake a differentiated task in which they focus in more detail on five quotations from the passage.  
The lesson concludes with learners summarising the events of the passage in no more than 20, 15 and 10 words.  

To preview GCSE English Teaching Resources: A Christmas Carol – Marley’s Ghost please click on the images form the PowerPoint presentation.

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A Christmas Carol
KS4 / GCSE Prose

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