A Dickensian Christmas
18 December 2012
Christmas would not be Christmas without ‘A Christmas Carol’ or without Dickens. The British Council is celebrating one the greatest writers in the English language at the close of the bicentenary year, by holding a free seminar in London on Wednesday 19 December.
Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, the descendant of Charles Dickens will be joining this special event to commemorate two hundred years since the birth of her great-great-great grandfather. Lucinda will talk about the life and works of one of the UK’s greatest novelist and how he contributed to what we know as the English language today. The seminar will include a question and answer session with opportunities to ask questions on the floor or via Twitter.
The entire event will be live streamed globally which will enable lovers of Dickens and English language learners alike to interact with the seminar through polls, questions and chat via Twitter #DickensLive.
As part of this event the British Council will be launching its Dickens 2012 teaching materials including a DVD, CD-Rom and a legacy book full of resources, ideas and activities for English language students and teachers from across the globe.
Michael Carrier, Director of English Language Development at the British Council, said: “Charles Dickens continues to reach and inspire readers from all corners of the world as well as being a great teaching resource for English language teachers and students. We at the British Council are very excited about this event especially as we will be joined by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley who will be able to give a unique insight into the life and works of such an influential author.”
The seminar will be chaired by Mike Solly and will also include a workshop from Chris Lima on how to teach Dickens in the classroom. Other guests will include Jeremy Harmer, on film, on why Dickens is so special and just how Dickens has helped English language teachers from Argentina and Croatia. Students and teachers from both countries will also share how Dickens continues to inspire them.
Registration to attend the seminar in person can be found at: http://dickenslive.eventbrite.com/. Live stream registration is available at: http://dickenslive.modstreaming.com/.
For more information, please contact Nisha Pawar in the British Council Press Office on +44 (0)207 389 4967 or nisha.pawar@britishcouncil.org
Notes to Editors:
For more information on the event, visit http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/seminars.
The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We are a Royal Charter charity, established as the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.
Our 7000 staff in over 100 countries work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes.
We earn over 75% of our annual turnover of £739 million from services which customers pay for, education and development contracts we bid for and from partnerships. A UK Government grant provides the remaining 25%. We match every £1 of core public funding with over £3 earned in pursuit of our charitable purpose.
For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org. You can also keep in touch with the British Council through http://twitter.com/britishcouncil and http://blog.britishcouncil.org/.
