What the Dickens?

A Web Quest                                

Based on the Video

“The Muppet Christmas Carol”

 

Introduction:

Most of you have watched “The Muppet Christmas Carol” before you started looking at this website.  The movie, of course, is based on the book “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.  The book contains the same characters as the movie.  Emily Cratchit isn’t really a pig, of course, and Bob Cratchit isn’t really a frog.  However, Scrooge is still the meanest, coldest, cruelest, uncaring man anyone could ever imagine.  Tiny Tim is still crippled and almost dies because he is hungry.  The spirits are still just as scary or just as tame when you read about them.  Words and pictures, after all, work together to give us thoughts and ideas.  That’s what I want you to get when you read this web quest—thoughts and ideas.  I want to take you beyond what you’ve seen and get you to expand your understandings about characters and setting.  You’re going to travel back in time and learn about Charles Dickens.  You’re going to actually become a Dickens character.  Then, you’re going to become a director and decide what actor YOU want to play the part of Ebenezer Scrooge.  This web quest should be done in groups of three.  Work together on each task, and teach each other things that you learn.  This is really interesting stuff.  Above all, I want you have fun! 

 

 

Task #1—The Time Machine

 

You step into a time machine and go back in time.  Hang on—it’s bumpy!  You get out, and you discover that it’s 1843.  You land next to a bookseller in England, and you notice that Charles Dickens’s book “A Christmas Carol” is brand new.

 

You walk around a little bit, and discover that you’ve not only gone back in time, but that you have a job!  You’re a newspaper reporter, and your editor has just asked you to interview Charles Dickens about his book.  You sit down at your desk and try to decide what you’re going to ask Mr. Dickens.  Working together in your groups, come up with five questions that you might ask him.  Most of these links are resources that will tell you about the life of Charles Dickens, and what things were influencing him at the time he wrote “A Christmas Carol.”

 

Resources (try these links to help you with your task):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question:  What should we turn in when we’re finished with this task?

 

Answer:  When you’re finished, you will turn in five questions that you—a reporter—will ask Charles Dickens.  They can be questions about his life or his new book “A Christmas Carol.”  Turn in five questions, and make sure that the name of everyone in the group is at the top of the page.

 

 

Task # 2—You Become A Dickens Character

 

 Each person in your group should choose one of these characters and write from his/her perspective:

  1. You are Ebenezer Scrooge.  Write two paragraphs—one about what your life was like before the spirits visited you, and one about how your life has changed after the spirits visited you.  Describe how you feel, and what you will be doing in the future.
  2. You are Bob or Emily Cratchit (pick one or the other).  Describe your life before Scrooge changed, and after the spirits visited him.  Write a total of two paragraphs.
  3. You are Tiny Tim.  Write two paragraphs.  One should be about what your life was like before you had enough money in the house for food, and one should be about how life has changed for you since Scrooge changed.

 

Resources for this task:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question:  What should we turn in when we’re finished?

Answer:  Each of the people in your group should turn in two paragraphs when you’re finished.  Write the paragraphs from the perspective of the character you choose, and write about life before and after Scrooge’s change.  Each person in your group needs to write as a different character.

 

Question:  How will this be graded?

Answer:  I will be making sure that each person in your group has two well-written paragraphs.  I will mark the grammatical errors on your papers, but that will not detract from your grade.  This task is worth twenty-five points.

 

 

Task # 3:  Go to the Movies

 

Visit the sites listed in the “resource” section for this task.  Then work together in your groups to answer the following questions:

  1. Approximately how many versions of “A Christmas Carol” have been put on film?
  2. Have you (or has anyone in your group) seen any other versions besides “The Muppet Christmas Carol?  If so, which one(s)? 
  3. Did any of you see the Disney version, or read the Little Golden Book Disney version?
  4. Have any of you read the book or seen the play?
  5. If you were a famous director, what actor would you choose to play Ebenezer Scrooge?  Who would you want to play Bob Cratchit?  Explain your choices. 

 

Resources for this task:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question:  What should we turn in when we’re finished?

Answer:  Your group should turn in the answers to the five questions when you’re finished.  Make sure that everyone in the group has his/her name at the top of the page!

 

Conclusion: Congratulations!  You finished your tasks.  Did you learn a lot more about Charles Dickens?  Were you able to actually become a character in the story?  What did you feel when you were someone else?  Did you go back in time and actually imagine things, or did you just “feel,” your way through the writing?  Who WOULD you choose to play Scrooge if you were directing your own play?  I hope you had fun, and I hope you learned a lot.  Thanks for visiting!

 

Mrs. Daer

 

Resources/Inspirations:                          

In addition to all the websites above, most of my inspiration came from the following two sources:

 

Dickens, Charles.  “A Christmas Carol.”  London, 1843. 

 

“The Muppet Christmas Carol.”  Dir. Brian Hensen.  Perf. Michael Caine and the Muppets.  Walt Disney Pictures, 1993.