 Hello and welcome back to yet another half-term GCSE revision lesson and today I'll be showing you how to write a full mark grade 9 response to a Christmas Carol or more specifically the question that appeared in this June 2021 exam now when it comes to answering the Christmas Carol my suggestion especially if you're aiming for a grade 9 is to Always begin with an introduction pick three things from the extract that you are given because you always get an extract then Consider two quotations taken from elsewhere in the novella before you end with a conclusion So let's get started and I'll show you how to write a perfect model response for the question that appeared in the 2021 exam Now remember when it comes to a Christmas Carol You're going to have 50 minutes that you should allocate to answering this part of the exam and as I mentioned I'm going to be looking at how to approach the 2021 exam question that appeared in this past question or rather this past exam Question now the extract that you are presented with from the 2021 exam is taken from chapter 2 and in this extract You get a description of Fezzy wigs and party Okay, so we're told that in this extra the ghost of Christmas past shows screws the Christmas party He attended at mr. Fezzy wigs warehouse when he was a young man now Of course in addition to reading this extract and how to manage that 50 minutes You should spend about 10 minutes reading this extract then of course approaching this question and considering Three points that you should take from the extract and then two points from elsewhere in the novella Usually writing this should take you around 35 minutes before you spend maybe five minutes at the end checking for any obvious spelling errors Okay, and the question itself is asking you to start with the extract and explore how Dickens presents ideas About joy and happiness in a Christmas Carol from the extract But of course remember that you also need to find quotations from the novel as a whole otherwise you limit yourself to just 15 marks Okay, you should always remember that you're taking at least three quotations or minimum two quotations from the extract and then two from elsewhere In the novella to show that you've obviously read and memorized key quotations now What I'll do is show you a model response that I've prepared for this exact exam paper Okay, and as you can see here I also highlighted all the points that I'm going to use So for example in this case this is describing how Fezzy wig was dancing how he looked You know to be illuminated and also Scrooge with a ghost of Christmas pass is witnessing all of this a ghost of Christmas pass is Sarcastic when he says oh, it's a silly matter to make these folks full of gratitude But Scrooge actually tells the ghost this made all the difference to him right now Going back to this question as I mentioned in terms of actually writing out a grade nine response I would suggest starting with an introduction writing two or three paragraphs based on the extract Okay, and of course my first paragraph will be in relation to this a positive light appear to issue from Fezzy woods calves They shone in every part of the dance like moon my second paragraph from the extract will be in relation to this Scrooge that acts like a man out of his wits heart and his heart and soul were in the scene And then my third pure point from the extract will be in relation to this where he says, you know Fezzy big has the power to make them happy or unhappy the service light or burdensome oppression pleasure or at all Before I then of course think about other points and two additional points from the novel as a whole So let me show you how to approach this and how to put together a perfect model answer Okay, a grade nine model answer. We're trying to go for gold So as I mentioned, you always want to start off with your introduction You're getting the exam on your on your site and your introduction this is where you foreground and you kind of really lay the foundation as to what you're going to discuss and Also, you show and use keywords from the question. Okay, the keywords being Joy adiz about joy and happiness, but you show that you have a really strong grasp what you're going to talk about Okay, already you're making good first impressions with the examiner and the Conceived from the outset in your introduction that you know what you're going to be talking about So this is the introduction for this particular exam paper Within the novella Christmas Carol Dickens effectively presents ideas about joy and happiness through vividly describing the jovial atmosphere in Fezzy big's party Jovial means happy We as readers are presented with an ideal businessman who deeply cares for his workers And he throws his poor apprentices a Christmas party in order to fill them with joy and happiness I keep on referring back to the keywords in the question showing the examiner clearly understand the assignment Elsewhere in the narrative We witness how pleased and thankful the quatchets are to spend Christmas together in spite of their poverty Now I'm talking about what I'm going to mention from elsewhere in the novella the second bullet point Scrooge also changes as he feels joy happiness and gratitude when he has another chance to redeem himself So I'm also talking about the final stage when Scrooge knows that you know He has a second chance and he becomes a much better person So now I'm going to go into and I'm going to dive into my first peel paragraph Start in with my point and of course when I say peel I mean point evidence explanation links So here's my opening point Firstly within the extract Dickens reveals the joy and happiness Fezzy big felt as he threw the Christmas party for His poor apprentices at his own cost we can see that he is extremely pleased to share the Christmas spirit With his workers and his happiness seems infectious. That's my opening point relating it clearly to the extract and the question Here's my evidence There was a positive light that appeared to issue and it's shone like moons. That's my evidence. I've embedded it really well Dickens uses the noun light as well as a simile like moons That's technique to convey how feziwig seems to embody happiness and light In fact, feziwig seems to be illuminated as this is Dickens's way of Celebrating wealthy businessmen who selflessly cared for their workers Contextually feziwig is used to represent rich industrialists who are generous. Okay, so here now I'm really developing context points. I've started off by talking about technique the use of simile and so on But now I'm moving into context. This is really really important. This is now the extra bulk of marks where you're going into analysis Rather than being miserly and hoarding all of their profits They kindly gave back to their workers and made them happy Dickens uses him to teach his rich readers how to be more charitable towards their employees Now as you can see in my explanation and remember in your explanation in your pill paragraph That's where the bulk of marks are that's the analytical depth and I've gone No need to depth in identifying techniques that Dickens has used but also I've now mentioned context So I'm showing an awareness of context now. I'm going to link back my first pill point Thus feziwig embodies drawing happiness and his jovial aura in this extract is used to show how giving to his workers made him happy In fact throwing a party for his workers added to his happiness in my link I've simply linked it back to the ideas of joy and happiness keywords Here's my second pill paragraph one small pill stands for point evidence explanation link. Here's my point Secondly as the extra progresses we can see scrooge reliving the immense joy and happiness that he felt as an apprentice at feziwigs party Indeed scrooge's sullen and brooding appearance transforms and he grows cheerful as he witnesses the party That's my second point. Here's my evidence He acts like a man out of his wits as his heart and soul were in this scene. That's my evidence with crates embedded Dickens, so here's my explanation employs a simile as well as hyperbole to reveal how scrooge's former boss made him feel so elated With such a small and minor gesture elated means happy. I am using ambitious language In fact the relatively minute act of throwing a christmas party brought scrooge so much happiness and joy That several years later. He can still vividly remember how much he enjoyed the party Dickens uses scrooge's reaction to allude to the theme of generosity and charity as Feziwigs generous act of throwing a party impacted his poorer workers positively This theme is used by Dickens to show his rich readers how a small token of kindness to the poor goes far Now here i'm adding theme discussion In fact generosity and charity can transform the sad and miserable lives of the poor in a way that the rich bosses can never imagine So here not only have I talked about technique, but I've equally tied it to themes So here's my link back to the question Thus Dickens uses scrooge's surprising reaction of elation to show how small acts of kindness can bring people so much joy and happiness Scrooge is still able to remember feziwigs parties due to feziwigs act of charity That's my second pill paragraph. Still i'm talking about the extract Now i'm moving on to my third and final pill paragraph for the extract before I then look elsewhere in the novel And obviously this is a memorized quotes Thirdly as the extract draws so close scrooge defends feziwigs decision to throw his work as a party He reveals that even if his party seemed minimal This genuine act of kindness from his former employer was crucial and the rich must not underestimate the joy and happiness The kind acts bring to the poor. That's my third point. Here's my evidence Scrooge tells the ghost that feziwig had the power to rend us happy unhappy light or burdensome That's my evidence. Now. Here's my explanation. Dickens employs a series of oxymorons to convey the immense power feziwig had over the lives of his workers Yet rather than exploiting them he used his power positively as he deeply cared about his employees joy and happiness This alludes to the theme of social injustice and now adding in another theme discussion And poverty because many wealthy Victorian businessmen had great power over the workers Yet rather than paying them better or giving charitably during christmas Many wealthy people turned a blind eye to the poverty of the working classes They did little to alleviate the dreadful suffering the poor of the poor unlike feziwig in my explanation As you can see i've layered in firstly technique then i've added theme That's how you really start adding and developing a grade nine paragraph So now this is the link back to the question Consequently dickens uses feziwigs party as well as scrooge's explanation to the ghost to indicate how much power the rich had when impacting the poor They could bring much joy and happiness to the lives with very small acts of kindness That's a link back to the question However, i'm not done because i now need to consider elsewhere in the novel how the ideas of joy and happiness are presented So now this is my fourth peel point, but now this is the elsewhere point Additionally elsewhere in the novella Dickens presents the immense joy and happiness that family can bring when we witness the cratchets and drawing a family dinner together Indeed, even if the dinner is quite meager for how large the family is We can see that they are still thankful This reveals that family brings more joy than money That's my fourth peel point and of course this is the first point for elsewhere in the novel They are grateful to have a wonderful pudding So this is my evidence now i'm going to go into my explanation This is in spite of the fact that this is a small pudding for a large family Oops, so that's the second bit of evidence Okay, so i'm still in evidence i've added two separate bits of evidence Okay, so here you've got the first bit of evidence which is They have a wonderful pudding and also this is in spite of the fact that it's a small pudding for a large family That's the second bit of evidence now here is the explanation Dickens uses an oxymoron coupled with an exclamatory sentence So i've mentioned language technique as well as structure technique to illustrate how much the cratchet family enjoys spending time together over Christmas Contextually i'm layering a context point They are used to represent the poor underclass in victorian england underclass means poor people They were underpaid and they lived in crowded conditions Yet the cratchets were still able to experience joy and happiness as the family unity made their struggles easier to bear Here's my explanation adding in and factoring in context now I'm going to link it back to the question Hence Dickens reveals the immense joy and happiness that family can bring to the poor in spite of the struggles they face We can see that the cratchets have immense happiness which eludes scrooge who is obsessed with wealth Right so while scrooge is really sad the cratchets are quite happy even if scrooge has more money than them So now i'm moving on to my fifth and final pill paragraph before i conclude my essay Finally we observe scrooge undergo a dramatic transformation From being a miserable and greedy miser to being a joyful and happy man by the end of the novella Scrooge has a chance to redeem himself and he learns that being giving and generous is the path to being joyful and content That's my final pill point. So this is the opening pill point Here is the evidence our first scrooge was a solitary as an oyster Nevertheless, he promises to live in the past the present and the future when the novella concludes So i'm juxtaposing how he's described at the beginning versus how he's described in the final stave Now here's the explanation Dickens reveals how scrooge has learned that the path to joy and happiness is through being generous and charitable He realizes the value in using his wealth to help the destitute and society destitute is a good word to use to describe poor people In fact, he seems fulfilled when he realizes how gratifying it is to use his money to help the cratchets as well as tiny tin That's my explanation. Here's now my link Consequently Dickens presents ideas about joy and happiness through the character of scrooge As we witness how he changes and becomes jovial. He becomes happy He transforms into being similar to feziwig and he teaches dickens's rich readers about how giving can fill them with joy So that's my link back to the question. Of course, this is my final pill paragraph So i'm now going to wrap it up with the conclusion tying it up really really nicely and of course, hopefully really impressing my examiner In conclusion dickens uses the characters of feziwig as well as the cratchets to present ideas about joy and happiness Whilst we can see that feziwig seems more joyful as a result of freely giving to his workers The cratchets experience fulfillment due to spending christmas together as a family In spite of the poverty we learned that family provides us with joy Scrooge also transforms and he grows elated when he realizes that being charitable and kind can fill him with joy And happiness and that's how to put together a grade nine model response particularly for this particular Exam question which is to do with how ideas about joy and happiness are presented in this extract taken from stave two So that's all for this lesson and thank you so much for listening