A Tale of Two Cities Lesson Plan | Unit Objectives

1. Through reading Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, students will learn about Paris and London, and they will also take a fresh look at their own cities or towns.

2. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the text on four levels: factual, interpretive, critical and personal.

3. Students will be exposed to a bit of world history and learn about the French Revolution.

4. Students will examine the themes of revenge, rich versus poor, coincidence, and being "recalled to life."

5. Students will use logic to put together pieces of the plot to resolve the relationships and motives in the novel.

6. Students will be given the opportunity to practice reading aloud and silently to improve their skills in each area.

7. Students will answer questions to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the main events and characters in A Tale of Two Cities as they relate to the author's theme development.

8. Students will enrich their vocabularies and improve their understanding of the novel through the vocabulary lessons prepared for use in conjunction with the novel.

9. The writing assignments in this unit are geared to several purposes:

a. To have students demonstrate their abilities to inform, to persuade, or to express their own personal ideas Note: Students will demonstrate ability to write effectively to inform by developing and organizing facts to convey information. Students will demonstrate the ability to write effectively to persuade by selecting and organizing relevant information, establishing an argumentative purpose, and by designing an appropriate strategy for an identified audience. Students will demonstrate the ability to write effectively to express personal ideas by selecting a form and its appropriate elements.

b. To check the students' reading comprehension

c. To make students think about the ideas presented by the novel

d. To encourage logical thinking

e. To provide an opportunity to practice good grammar and improve students' use of the English language.