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Next update: December 2008

BritLit
Using literature in the ELT classroom

Clap hands, here comes Charlie
Beryl Bainbridge

Beryl Bainbridge's black comedy takes as its setting a noisy, argumentative working class family in Liverpool, getting ready to see a pantomime based on Peter Pan. The ever-youthful Peter Pan and Charlie - the father of the family, suffering from what appears to be indigestion - provide the basic ingredients.

Beryl Bainbridge is something of a doyenne of British letters. Born in Liverpool herself, and coming from a difficult and unhappy childhood, many of her stories and novels are based in or around Liverpool. She writes about one novel a year and has been nominated for the Booker Prize five times. In 2002 she was recognised in the Queen's Honours List and made a Dame.

Downloads

• Short story 84k Complete text of 'Clap hands, here comes Charlie'
• Introduction for teachers 24k
• Characterisation 262k Character based activities
• Context 963k Background information and exercises
• Word Work 322k Language activities
• After reading exercises 285k Follow-up and consolidation
• Answer key 224k Teacher's notes for activities

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