'A Christmas Carol' Stave 3: the Cratchits' Christmas
I can understand the role of the Cratchit family in 'A Christmas Carol'.
'A Christmas Carol' Stave 3: the Cratchits' Christmas
I can understand the role of the Cratchit family in 'A Christmas Carol'.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The Cratchits embody the values of Christmas: family; community; empathy; gratitude and Christmas spirit.
- Bob Cratchit’s name reflects that he is underpaid and impoverished.
- Tiny Tim was allegedly inspired by Dickens’ nephew, Harry, who was also disabled, but sadly passed away.
- Tiny Tim is a symbol of Scrooge’s selfishness and cruelty, as well as hope for his transformation.
- Dickens uses the Cratchits to humanise the poor and illustrate the direct (and personal) consequences of selfishness.
Keywords
Theme - A theme is a central idea or message that is explored through a literary work.
Gratitude - If someone demonstrates gratitude, they are thankful for what they have.
Resourceful - Being resourceful means finding clever ways to overcome difficulties or challenges.
To exemplify - If a character exemplifies a theme, they are an example or representation of it.
To humanise - If you humanise something, you present it as a human being, so that people can empathise with it.
Common misconception
Students often believe that Bob Cratchit represents the most poor group of people in society.
Whilst Bob Cratchit certainly struggles for money and has to be resourceful to feed his family, he still has a job and a home.
To help you plan your year 10 english lesson on: 'A Christmas Carol' Stave 3: the Cratchits' Christmas, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 english lesson on: 'A Christmas Carol' Stave 3: the Cratchits' Christmas, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 english lessons from the A Christmas Carol: Scrooge's redemption unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
This lesson requires a copy of Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended