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      Jeremy Harmer's answer to Dickens question:
      Submitted by Dickens 2012 on 1 February, 2012 - 14:58

      We are inviting people to answer the question:

      If you could have a cup of tea with a Dickens character, who would it be, and why? 

      Here is the answer from the ELT writer and Dickens fan, Jeremy Harmer:

      Mr Gradgrind (from Hard Times) - I'd like to tell him why I don't agree with his ideas about education.

      Perhaps someone could summarize what these ideas are?!

      Also, please feel free to answer the question for yourself....perhaps we can gather the most interesting answers together at a later date.

      Average: 5 (1 vote)

      Comments

      Dickens 2012's picture
      Dickens 2012
      another character....another cup of tea!
      Submitted on 1 February, 2012 - 18:57
      I would like to have tea with Sir Leicester Dedlock (sp?), he is a perfect gentleman!  Prof. Mobengeni Z. MalabaProfessor of English StudiesPietermaritzburg,South Africa.
      gulnur's picture
      gulnur
      Ebeneezer Scrooge
      Submitted on 1 February, 2012 - 23:09

      I would like to drink tea with Ebeneezer Scrooge from 'A Christmas Carol', to hear the change from him again. If he were lucky enough to live in the 21st century, would he change?

      I guess Mr Gradgrind (from Hard Times) thinks we need numbers, facts to become happy. Fancy is nothing. Success and happiness comes with facts, numbers not with imagination.

      gulnur's picture
      gulnur
      Audio-Lingual Method and Mr Gradgrind
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 00:02

      Mr Gradgrind (from Hard Times) wants his pupils to repeat things, to become calculating machines, so they are not allowed to be creative, imaginative, they have the rules to be releated. It reminds me of Audiolingual method in language teaching. Repetition accurs all the time, but it should be in teaching.

      What do you think?

      gulnur's picture
      gulnur
      Poor Tom
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 02:11

      What do you think of poor Tom in Hard Times. Doesn't he look like teenagers at school who are bored who tries to do something different in order to get rid of dullness? How could we help Tom, if we were part of the novel?

      Hills's picture
      Hills
      Tea
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 08:30

      I'd like to have tea with Miss Havisham just to find out how I would respond to such a freakish individual.

      Dickens2012's picture
      Dickens2012
      Hi there Tea Thanks for your
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 12:25

      Hi there Tea

       

      Thanks for your comment. Have you watched our short film here on the site about Miss Havisham ? 

       

      James

      Dickens2012's picture
      Dickens2012
      Hi Gulnur Thanks for your
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 12:25

      Hi Gulnur

       

      Thanks for your comment.

       

      Have you watched our short film on the site here about Ebenezer Scrooge ? 

       

      James

      mike.solly's picture
      mike.solly
      tea with scrooge
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 13:11

      Gulnur's choice of Scrooge as a tea companion would be interesting (so long as he didn't get you to pay the bill!).  Scrooge is an interesting - and the most obvious - example of Dicken's belief in the possibility of redemption.   Can anyone think of any other examples of Dickens characters who make a redemptive journey?

      mike.solly's picture
      mike.solly
      Mr Gradgrind's educational philosophy
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 13:14

      Yes, I think Gulnur hits the nail on the head when talking about the audio lingual method!   Mr Gradgrind, I think, also represents something that Dickens seems to hate.....a suppression of creativity mixed with a mechanical and soul destroying work ethic.....the age of the machine and repetitive tasks.

      gulnur's picture
      gulnur
      Mr Gradgrind
      Submitted on 2 February, 2012 - 13:43

      Hi Mike,

      Mr Thomas Gradgrind (from Hard Times) started to make a redemptive journey, when he realised that his daughter could not find a suitable husband for her even though she obeyed rules and facts and even though the statistics mention that younger ones find happiness with older men. Today statistics help us convince people of the way we think. While presentations if we want to persuade them to our arguments we/ our students can use statistics:)