Tom Brown's School Days

Tom Brown's School Days

is an 1857 novel by Thomas Hughes. The story is set in the 1830s at Rugby School, an English public school. The author attended Rugby School from 1834 to 1842.

Multiple Choice

Tom Brown is energetic, stubborn, kind-hearted and athletic, rather than intellectual. He follows his feelings and the unwritten rules of the boys.

What school did he attend?

• It was a Rugby school. Young gentlemen of all ages from nine to fifteen were to be found there

• It was a dual school where a girls' school side and a boys' side were under one roof in 1889.

Let's look at the gloassary to undersatand the text

read carefully the definitions and the new words

corporal /ˈkɔː.pər.əl/

 relating to the body

acceptable /əkˈsept.ə.bəl/

satisfactory and able to be agreed to or approved of

capable  /ˈkeɪ.pə.bəl/

having the ability or skill to do something

tough /tʌf/

a tough way of life or period of time is difficult or full of suffering;

if you describe someone as tough, you mean that they are rough and violent;

a tough person is strong and determined, and can tolerate difficulty or suffering.

tough meat = not easily chewed

"her steak was so tough that she suggested the waiter use it as a hockey puck"

"tough weather conditions on the top of the mountain all year long"

lower school /ˈləʊə skuːl/

the classes of a school in Britain that are for younger students, between the ages of 11 and 14

caning

​the act of hitting somebody with a cane as a punishment

Victorian Child Labor and the Conditions They Worked In (victorianchildren.org)​

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Thomas Hughes (1822-1896)

...is a famous British novelist, is remembered mainly for his novel Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1857). The novel is set at Rugby School where Hughes himself was educated. Conditions were tough.

Corporal punishment was acceptable and bullying became an everyday part of life with less capable boys being made fun of and clever ones treated unfairly. In this extract, Tom is slowly transformed from a quiet, innocent youg boy, to a noisy and rather badly-behaved one... 

Multiple Choice

Was caning acceptable in the Rugby school?

• Yes, it was

• Definitely not

Multiple Choice

Teachers in Victorian times can be described in two words:

• kind-hearted and courteous.

• strict and scary.

Multiple Choice

Children were expected to do what the teacher asked, otherwise they would get _____________

• a punishment.

• an award.

Multiple Choice

^{http://victorian-era.org/childrens-education-in-victorian-era.html}

Punishment could be for any of these: being rude, answering back, speaking out of turn, ______________ work.

• excellent

• poor

Who can you see in the picture?

Victorian era

(1837-1901)

• in the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901

• it was the time of the world’s first Industrial Revolution, political reform and social change, Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, a railway boom and the first telephone and telegraph

dunce's hat (cap)

/ˈdʌn.sɪz ˌkæp/

• a tall, cone-shaped hat worn by slow or lazy students as a punishment (sodīšana) in school

• Although this seems cruel to modern minds, in Victorian times it was thought that all pupils were capable of learning equally and that a slow or backward pupil was being deliberately lazy or reluctant to learn. The dunce would remain in the corner, sometimes standing on the stool, until the end of classes.

The word "cane" has different collocations...One of them is "cane sugar"...

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or it collocates with "furniture"...a cane chair

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...a gentleman’s cane is a finishing touch to his wardrobe

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Men were likely to have several canes, to be used on different occasions‚ at the office, going out in the evening and at the weekends...

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It was 19^th century.

And there was a very harsh collocation..."birch cane". Cane was used for hitting! Terrible! Where? Now you will know...

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Multiple Choice

("cane" - nūja, spieķis)

A cane given on the hand or the bottom was used by teachers to punish _____________ children.

• manageable

• naughty

• obedient

How were Victorian pupils punished if they misbehaved?

• Teachers often beat pupils using a cane. Canes were mostly made out of birch wood.

• Victorian pupils who couldn’t keep up in lessons were often made to wear a ‘dunce’s cap’ (usually made of newspaper) or told to put on an armband or badge with the word ‘dunce’ written on it.

Multiple Choice

This is a victorian school

• desc.

• desck.

• desk.

Would you like to live and to go to school in the Victorian Era?

Poll

If you could... Would you like to study for a day in the Victorian era school...?

• Yes, with pleasure.

• Never. No way!

• I'm in two minds about it...

Open Ended

The question was...if you could...Would you like to study for a day or two in the Victorian era school? Why "YES" ? or Why ''NOT'' ? Can you explain?

hand out

constituted

endeavour

Multiple Choice

Find the meaning for the underlined word:

hand out

constituted

endeavour

• to try to do something

• to form or make something

Multiple Choice

Choose the meaning for the underlined word

efforts

pushes

specimens

• a typical example

• physical or mental activity needed to achieve something

Multiple Choice

Find the meaning for the underlined word:

mischievous

reckless

• doing something dangerous and not worrying about the risks and the possible results

• behaving in a way, or describing behaviour, that is slightly bad but is not intended to cause serious harm or damage

obedient /əˈbiː.di.ənt/ - paklausīgs

doing, or willing to do, what you have been told to do by someone in authority

"Students are expected to be quiet and obedient in the classroom."

"an obedient dog"

Multiple Choice

Which word is an opposite for "manageable" ?

• controllable

• obedient

• disobedient

Multiple Choice

The word "Master" in the text means ...

• any well-educated man in town who taught reading, writing, and ciphering

• a person who is very skilled in a particular job or activity

Multiple Choice

The underlined word

SHUDDER

CEASE

means...

• to shake suddenly with very small movements because of a very unpleasant thought or feeling

• to stop an action or condition

Multiple Choice

The underlined word

WRATH

PROVOCATION

means...

• extreme anger

• an action that is intended to cause a reaction, esp. anger or annoyance

Read carefully this passage...

'' ...The boy who was called up to be examined first was a clever, merry boy and a great favourite of the Doctor, who asked him to translate a Latin passage. On common occasions the boy could have translated the passage well enough, but now his head was gone and he made some terrible mistakes. A shudder ran through the whole form and the Doctor's wrath fairly boiled over. He made three steps up to the boy, and gave him a good box on the ear. The blow was not a hard one, but the boy was so taken by surprise that he fell back over the bench onto the floor behind...''

Multiple Choice

The word "BOX" in the passage means...

• a square or rectangular container with stiff sides and sometimes a lid

• a box with a number in a post office to which your letters can be sent and from which you can collect them

• hit someone hard with a fist

BULLYNG at SCHOOL in the 21 century...

• pushing and hitting

• taking money from other students

• destroying students' property

• verbal abuse

• ridiculing others

• threatening behaviour

• trollying

Multiple Choice

BULLYING at VICTORIAN SCHOOL also existed (from the text - Tom Brown...)

Which phrase means "destroying someone's property"?

• pointing out students' mistakes

• laughing at them and lives made difficult

• getting kicked or being shoved

• making fun of one another

• having jackets whitened and books stolen or written on

Let's see how the words are used in other sentences...

Do you know this person?

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Multiple Choice

The person you've just seen is...

• Benedict Cumberbatch

• Justin Timberlake

• Alex Pettyfer

• Jude Law

Right. It was Alex Pettyfer.

Did you know?

Alex Pettyfer starred with Justin Timberlake in

"In Time" (2011) which is an American science fiction action film ...

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Did you know?

"Tom Brown's Schooldays" (2005) is a British television film directed by Dave Moore and starring Alex Pettyfer...

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The links:​​

I SUED THE SCHOOL SYSTEM (2021) - YouTube

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Don't Stay in School - YouTube

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Victorian Child Labor and the Conditions They Worked In (victorianchildren.org)

Try Me (Mark Angel Comedy) (Episode 229) - YouTube

Tom Brown's Schooldays (2004) - Stephen Fry - YouTube

(an episode)​

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Draw

Can coconut make you cry?