Intro Quiz: Insight into Dickens' life

Video: Insight into Dickens' life

﻿Hi, how you doing? I hope you're well. Welcome to lesson two in English. I am Mr. Mba, and we are going to continue our study in A Christmas Carol. I'll give you a quick heads up about what we are doing this lesson. Our key question is what compelled Dickens to write A Christmas Carol. We've already begun to get some insight into the historical context. Today we'll look a little closer at Dickens personal experiences, and how this would have influenced him in the writing of A Christmas Carol. So we'll begin by looking at some key vocabulary before looking at some of the Context and Background. Followed by some reading and some questions. We'll apply our learning and then we will have a quiz at the very end. In this lesson, you will need a pen, something to write in or on, and an active mind. Pause the video now to make sure you have everything you need. Okay, lets get started. In this lesson we will be learning the words moral and exploitation. The definition of the word moral, is relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour. One example is, they decided that returning his wallet was the moral thing to do. Another example would be, the actions of the corrupt businessmen showed a complete absence of moral leadership and a lack of integrity. The second word that we're looking at this lesson, is the word exploitation. The word exploitation means, the improper use of something for selfish purposes. One example of this is, the exploitation of children in the workhouse was cruel. A second example is, the exploitation of the poor in Victorian London allowed many business owners to significantly increase their wealth. Let's apply our key vocabulary. On your screen you have two examples of the word moral being used. Which one is correct? The first sentence says, as an employee, she was the most moral person in the company. The second sentence says, the charity worker was full of honour and moral. Pause the video to write down the correct sentence. The correct answer is of course, the first sentence as an employee, she was the most moral person in the company. Let's look at our second word, exploitation. Again, look at the sentences and decide which one you think is the correct answer. The first sentence says, after listening to the exploitation, she understood each character. The second example says, the exploitation of the factory worker had occurred since he started working there. Pause the video to complete the task. The answer is of course, sentence number two, the exploitation of the factory worker had occurred since he started working there. In our last lesson, we focused on what life was like living in Victorian London. In today's lesson, we want to think a little bit more about Charles Dickens himself and find out about the experiences that influenced and shaped his writing on Christmas Carol. So Charles Dickens was born on the seventh of February 1812, and he spent most of his early life in Kent. He lived a fairly comfortable life in Kent before moving to London, at the age of nine. At age 12, Dickens' father was sent to prison due to accrue in a large amount of debt. Dickens lived alone outside the prison, working as a child labourer in an awful warehouse. A child labour was a child that was exploited for their work often in poor working conditions. And Charles Dickens experienced some of that. That experience would shape his work in the future. Dickens went on to become a law clerk and then a parliamentary reporter, writing about events in Parliament. This experience helped to shape his mistrust of politics as a means of fixing society's problems. As a Londoner, Dickens would take long walks around the city into the rougher, more sordid parts of the city. He saw first-hand the terrible conditions faced by the poor. Dickens believed it was moral to support the poor, but did not believe that the government or the church would solve their problems. He instead saw importance in the charity of wealthy individuals and the value of education for all. Answer the questions below in full sentences. Just pause the video now to give you time to answer those questions. Right, let's look at some answers. Question one, Dickens spent his early life in Kent. Question two, his father was imprisoned due to his large debts. Question three, Dickens' role as a parliament reporter shaped his views. Dickens felt that charity and education would help the poor. It's clear to see that Charles Dickens' early childhood, influenced and shaped his outlook. We can begin to see some of the reasons why he felt compelled to write a novella like A Christmas Carol. Throughout his life, Dickens campaigned for social change. His novels tackle issues like child poverty, the exploitation of the poor, and the inequality experienced by the poverty stricken in London. His experiences in the Ragged Schools had shown him there was work still to be done in providing the poor with education. His insight into the poor conditions in the schools and the hardship he experienced for a time when he was young, gave Dickens and an appreciation for the importance of childhood. Answer the questions below in full sentences. Just pause the video now to give you time to answer those questions. Okay, so let's look at some answers. Question one, Dickens campaigned throughout his life for social change. Question two, Dickens explored child poverty, inequality and the exploitation of the poor. Question three, Dickens' viewpoint was shaped by visiting the Ragged Schools. Question four, Dickens' this experience of hardship made him appreciate childhood. Over these last couple of lessons, we've been thinking about what was it that compelled Dickens to write A Christmas Carol. We've broken that bigger overarching question into smaller bite size questions. What we are hopefully seeing, is that both the historical and social context of Victorian London, as well as Dickens' personal experience of hardship, worked together as powerful catalysts to compel him to write A Christmas Carol. So let's apply our learning. How did Dickens' experiences affect his attitudes towards the poor? Write a short response to the question above. Spend at least 15 minutes writing, you may wish to mention, the imprisonment of Dickens' father, the fact that he had a job at the awful warehouse, his experience of working in Parliament, as well as his attitudes towards the poor. Words to include our words like hardship, child poverty, exploitation, and moral. Pause the video so you can complete this task. Let's have a look at an example response to this task. Dickens' own personal childhood experiences of hardship gave him an insight into what it was like to be poverty stricken. He did not trust the government or the church to fix society's problems. Dickens believed that it was the moral duty of wealthy individuals to provide charity to help improve the living standards of the poor. He wanted to see social change and an end the exploitation of the most disadvantaged in society, especially children. Let's look at a slightly more developed response. The motivations for Dickens stem back to his own personal childhood experiences of hardship. His father's imprisonment meant that Dickens had to learn to look after himself. His experience as a child influenced his attitudes towards the poor, and his sense of moral duty towards them. Dickens believed that the charity of wealthy individuals and the value of education for all would help to improve living standards. Dickens wanted to see social change and bring an end to the exploitation of the poor, especially children. His experiences in his early life developed his appreciation for the importance of childhood. I'd love to see some of the responses that you came up with. Remember, you can always share your work with Oak National. If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter tagging @OakNational, @iammistermba and #LearnwithOak. Next lesson we will meet the man himself, Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge. But before we finish our lesson today, you need to complete the quiz for this lesson and I know as always, you will smash it. And I look forward to seeing you next lesson. Take care, Bye bye.

Exit Quiz: Insight into Dickens' life

Completed: Insight into Dickens' life

In this lesson, we will begin to explore how Dickens' personal life and experiences influenced his writing of 'A Christmas Carol'.

English

Insight into Dickens' life

Introductory Quiz

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete