A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Lesson plans and learning activities

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A Tale of Two Cities
Discussion questions and vocabulary practice.

Antonyms and Comma Splices
For Dickens' opening to his Tale of Two Cities , the author uses one of the longest series of comma splices in the history of literature. While Dickens did this for stylistic effect, student writers often overuse comma splices in reckless ways, with little knowledge of the conjunctions that can be put between two independent ideas. For this assignment, students create their own Dickens-like paragraph, but they are required to find (and punctuate for properly) appropriate conjunctions to sit between their opposites.

Direct and Indirect Characterization: Mr. Lorry
In this lesson students analyze the characterization of Mr. Lorry to understand how diction, syntax, and figurative language help the reader understand a character. Requires Adobe Reader for access.

A Tale of Two Cities
Text of the novel, downloadable in multiple formats, including EPUB, Kindle, and plain text.

A Tale of Two Cities audio files
The novel in MP3 format.

A Tale of Two Cities
Biography, background, graphic organizers, writing prompts, vocabulary: it's all here, along with suggestions for related reading. This 30-page document requires Adobe Reader or similar software for access.

Teaching A Tale of Two Cities