Developing comprehension skills

7.2.1 Lesson 2
Worksheet with the 19th-century novel

Activity 1:
Look back at the passage with your partner and organise the information about Tom into:

• things you think would make him cry

• things you think would make him laugh.

You could use a table like the one below.

Things that might make Tom cry Things that might make Tom laugh
Climbing the dark flues Tossing halfpennies with the other boys
rubbing his poor knees Playing leapfrog over the posts
Having raw elbows Bowling stones at the horses legs as they went by
Getting soot in his eyes
When his master beat him
When he had not enough to eat

Activity 2:
What do we learn about Tom’s life as a chimney sweep in Victorian England?

• Work together to create two clear statement sentences in response to

the question.
• Once you are happy with your sentences, find a supporting quotation to
back up each one.
• Finally, add in your inference for each supporting quotation.

1. Statement sentence: It was a very miserable time.

Quotation: ‘As for chimney-sweeping, and being hungry, and being beaten,’

Inference:

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020 36 Year 7, Project 2: Child Labour

2. Statement sentence: He didn’t let the conditions get to him.

Quotation: ‘then shook his ears and was as jolly as ever;’

Inference:

Activity 3:
As we read on in the text, we find out more about what it was like to be the ‘master sweep’.

• What inferences can you draw from the quotations below? Note down
your inferences alongside the quotations.
• Use the following questions to help you.

1. Who do you think the master sweep was?

2. Does he pay his sweeps fairly?

3. Do you think he treated the child chimney sweeps well or badly?

4. Do you think Tom’s ambition to be a master sweep is a good one? Why? Why not?

‘plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend’

Any money Tom would earn his master is cruel and would take his money.

‘when his master beat him, which he did every day in the week’
The master didn’t treat them nicely and would beat them often.

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020 37 Year 7, Project 2: Child Labour

 ‘How he would bully them, and knock them about,
just as his master did to him’

He wanted to feel in charge because all he's gone through. He wanted to get
revenge and treat all the other people how he was treated however that
doesn't mean he would be a good master.

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020 38 Year 7, Project 2: Child Labour