CHARLES DICKENS

The last two lessons before Christmas holidays we have been working on a biographical text about Charles Dickens in class. My 3^rd ESO students have learned about one of the most relevant English writers, they have read about his childhood, his life and his prolific literary work. The main goal was to make them aware of the author of Christmas Carol, his time and some of his most famous titles. The final task was the creation of a time line to sum up all the facts they had learnt using the tool TimeToast.

First lesson was devoted to present the author and his time, reading the text aloud and answering some comprehension questions. Then, they were asked to individually make a time-line draft on paper using information from the text. During the second lesson they worked in pairs. They compared, improved and drew a definite version of their time lines and provided a digital version with TimeToast. They loved working online, looking for pictures to illustrate their concepts and synthesizing ideas. They found TimeToast a very easy and intuitive tool to work with. After this task, my students are able to point Charles Dickens’ times, to mention two or three facts of his life and remember the name of at least one more title besides Christmas Carol. TimeToast is definitely a great ally when you want your students to organize and remember data which follows a chronological order.

Here you are some examples of my students' work:

Charles Dickens 1 

Charles Dickens 2 

 Charles Dickens 3

Charles Dickens 4 

 

 

 

Curiosity did not kill the cat

I have always had memories of myself reading. I was barely six years old and I can still clearly see my father with a comic under his arm when he came home from work.  It was without a doubt the best of gifts. I remember reading and re-reading it many times, without losing any of my enthusiasm or excitement. Then a few books came and went through the same process, until finally my feet entered a public library. What a paradise that was! I could not describe how grateful I felt to be able to borrow books and read them for free.  I could not afford it, yet the world was now at my feet.

And so my teenage years passed and I got to university. My reading habits were torn between the Spanish novels of my free time and the articles and texts in English that my studies demanded. One of my best allies at that time was the college librarian, it could not have been any other way. It was awesome of him to let me in and choose the books by myself. Me, high, overcrowded shelves and a notebook and pen as my only weapons. There were no photocopies, just a huge willingness  to learn and to find the right information.

Later the internet and new technologies  turned up, but deep down I will always be a paper geek. I have never read a book unless it is on paper. For me a book is a treasure, and I love to treasure books on my shelves, in a nostalgic evocation of my feelings inside a public library. And although nowadays my pace of life does not allow me to read  as many novels as I would like, I am still the curious cat, eager to learn and I do not pass up the opportunity to inquire information on any subject I hear or see that sparks in my mind. The Internet is now my personal "paradise", but I will never stop expanding my traditional library.

 Hi there!

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