HIGHERCharles Dickens Worksheet
HIGHERCharles Dickens Worksheet
HIGHERCharles Dickens Worksheet
Charles Dickens
Reading and Listening
A The video is called “Dickens and London”. Choose the statement that best
summarises the clip.
B Watch the video. Mark the statements True / False / Not Given.
6. People are often surprised when they find out what Dickens thought about London.
7. Dickens had a happy childhood that got worse when he moved to London.
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myClub
Charles Dickens
Reading and Listening
4. He writes about it warts and all. A. Dickens wrote about warts and other things.
B. Dickens didn’t try to make London sound better
than it was.
C. Dickens wrote only about the disadvantages of
London.
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Charles Dickens
Reading and Listening
Look at the headings around the room. Write the correct one above each paragraph.
A ________________________________________________
Charles Dickens is much loved for his great contribution to classic English literature. He was
the quintessential Victorian author. His epic stories, vivid characters and exhaustive depiction
of contemporary life are unforgettable.
B ________________________________________________
His own story is one of rags to riches. He was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812, to
John and Elizabeth Dickens. The good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was
short-lived because his father, inspiration for the character of Mr Micawber in 'David
Copperfield', was imprisoned for bad debt. The entire family, apart from Charles, were sent to
Marshalsea Prison. Charles was sent to work in a factory and endured appalling conditions
as well as loneliness and despair. After three years he returned to school, but the experience
was never forgotten and became fictionalised in two of his better-known novels 'David
Copperfield' and 'Great Expectations'.
C ________________________________________________
Like many others, he began his literary career as a journalist. His own father became a
reporter and Charles began with the journals 'The Mirror of Parliament' and 'The True Sun'.
Then in 1833 he became parliamentary journalist for The Morning Chronicle. With new
contacts in the press he was able to publish a series of sketches under the pseudonym 'Boz'.
In April 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of George Hogarth who edited
'Sketches by Boz'. Within the same month came the publication of the highly successful
'Pickwick Papers', and from that point on there was no looking back for Dickens.
D ________________________________________________
E ________________________________________________
He was estranged from his wife in 1858 after the birth of their ten children, but maintained
relations with his mistress, the actress Ellen Ternan. He died of a stroke in 1870. He is buried
at Westminster Abbey.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml
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Charles Dickens
Reading and Listening
FACT LANGUAGE
A Dickens is not a modern writer.
D He liked acting.
He had an affair.
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