Christmas lesson

Did you know?

Read this extract from the introduction to the story in the reader.

During the Victorian period people began to sing Christmas carols again. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, introduced the tradition of decorating Christmas trees from Germany. And the first Christmas card appeared in the 1840s. But it was the Christmas stories of Charles Dickens, particularly his 1843 story A Christmas Carol that brought the joy of Christmas to Britain and America. People associated the name Charles Dickens with Christmas. On hearing of his death in 1870, a little girl in London said, “Mr Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die, too?”

Lesson steps

1 Talk about Christmas.

• What does Christmas mean to you?
• Do you know anyone who does not like Christmas?
• How do you celebrate Christmas?
• When and how do you decorate the Christmas tree?

2 Find out about the story.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean and lonely old man. But one Christmas Eve three ghosts come to visit him and scare him into changing his ways.

• Do you believe that it is possible to change? Can you become a better person?
• Do you know any stories, films, novels in which the main character changes in a positive or negative way?