ELT

Stage 1 A1
A1

Charles Dickens
Stage 1 A1

Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist is a poor orphan boy. He hasn’t got a
mum or dad and he lives in a terrible place called
the workhouse. One day, he makes the master of the
workhouse very angry and his life changes forever.

Oliver Twist
What happens next to Oliver? Where does he go? Does
he find a nice family to live with or do Fagin and his
gang of thieves make Oliver stay with them? Read this
exciting tale of life in 19th century Britain and find out!

In this reader you will find:

- Information about Charles Dickens

Readers
- Focus on sections: 19th century England, Modern
Britain
- Glossary of difficult words
- Comprehension and grammar activities including
A1 Movers style exercises and 21st century skills activities
- Final test

Teen
Tags
Friendship and hate | Social Issues

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STAGE 1 600 headwords Elementary A1 Movers

STAGE 2 800 headwords Pre-intermediate A2 Flyers/Key
STAGE 3 1000 headwords Intermediate B1 Preliminary
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 Oliver Twist
Book brief

1 Oliver Twist was the first of Dickens’ books

that shows the reader what life was like for the
poor in London in those days.

2 The novel is Dickens’ way to show he was

against the laws of 19th century London that
did nothing to help the poor.

3 Oliver Twist was immediately popular with the

public because they liked exciting stories about
crime and murder told in such a realistic way.

4 Some Victorian book critics didn’t like it and

called it a ‘Newgate Novel’. Newgate was a
Spazio
didascalia

prison in London and they gave the book this

name because they didn’t think it was socially
correct to write about things like crime and
murder.

5 Oliver Twist is still popular today for its

historical, social context and because it’s such
a good story to read.

1
www.eligradedreaders.com
In this reader:

21st To encourage students to

Century connect the story to the
Skills world they live in.

Movers A1 level activities.

Story A brief summary

Notes of the text.

Glossary Explanation
of difficult words.

Picture A brief explanation

Caption of the picture.

Audio These icons indicate start

the parts of the story
that are recorded. stop

To encourage students to develop

Think their critical thinking skills.

The FSC® certification For this series of

guarantees that the paper ELI graded readers,
used in these publications we have planted
comes from certified 5000 new trees.
forests, promoting
responsible forestry
management worldwide.
 Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist

Retold by
Sarah Gudgeon

Illustrated by
Maya Celija

Teen Readers
Contents

6 Characters
8 Before you read
10 Chapter 1 The Workhouse
18 Activities
20 Chapter 2 A New Family
28 Activities
30 Chapter 3 The Big House
38 Activities
40 Chapter 4 A Secret Brother
48 Activities
50 Chapter 5 Poor Nancy
58 Activities
60 Chapter 6 The End of the Story
70 Activities
72 Focus on... Charles Dickens
74 Focus on... 19th century England
76 Focus on... Modern Britain
78 Test yourself
79 Syllabus
 Main Characters

Mrs Sowerberry
She’s horrible to Oliver
and doesn’t give him
Oliver Twist any food
Born in a workhouse,
this poor little boy
has no home and no family

Mr Sowerberry
He wants Oliver
to work hard
in his shop

Mr Bumble Monks
He works in the workhouse An angry, young man
where Oliver was born who wants Oliver
to be a thief

Doctor Losberne
A kind doctor,
who feels sorry for Oliver

6
 Fagin
He uses boys to steal
things from rich people

Dodger Bill Sikes

A boy who steals This horrible man works
for Fagin with Fagin and steals from
people’s homes

Mr Brownlow
A kind, rich man who
helps Oliver
Mrs Bedwin
Mr Brownlow’s
housekeeper
Nancy
She loves Bill but
she also wants
to help Oliver

Rose Maylie
A beautiful, kind, young Mrs Maylie
woman who lives with She’s Rose Maylie’s aunt and
her aunt 7 is a kind woman who helps Oliver
Before you read

Reading and Writing MOVERS

1 These words are all in Chapter 1. Look at the pictures and

choose the correct word for each definition.

butcher’s porridge clothes kitchen

church toys carrots baker’s

These vegetables are orange. carrots

_________
1 You can buy bread in this shop. _________
2 You wear these. _________
3 You can cook in this room. _________
4 Some people eat this for breakfast. _________
5 Children play with these. _________

Vocabulary
2 Match each verb with the correct definition.
d cry
■ a two or more people are angry and hit
each other
1 ■ run away b someone walks behind another person.
2 ■ fight c you get money from someone who dies.
3 ■ follow d something you do when you’re sad.
4 ■ hide e a man or woman legally makes a child
5 ■ inherit their son or daughter.
6 ■ adopt f you leave a place you don’t like.
g you go to a place where no one can see you or
put things in a place where no one can find them.
8
3 Read the crossword clues and complete the words in the
puzzle.

Down
1 Something you walk over to cross a road or river.
2 Something you use to shoot things.
3 Someone who you like spending time with.
4 Someone who is not a girl.

Across
5 A dish that you eat soup from.
6 Something you wear on your body.
1
B
2
P 3
H A N D K E R C H I E F

E I
4
5 B L
D
6 J W R

21st
Speaking Century
Skills

4 Oliver Twist is the story of a poor boy in 19th century England.

Answer these questions about your country in the 21st century.

1 Do all children in your country go to school?

2 Do you like school? Why/ Why not?
3 Do you prefer doing lessons online or in the classroom? Why?
4 Do most people in your country live in cities or in the
countryside? Why?

9
 Chapter 1

The Workhouse 1

2 England
Oliver Twist is nine years old. He’s got blond
hair and big sad blue eyes. He’s sad because he
hasn’t got a mum and he hasn’t got a dad. Oliver
is an orphan2. He lives in a workhouse in a town
near London and he hasn’t got any friends. The
workhouse is a bad place to live because it’s very
cold and dark.
Life in the There are a lot of orphans in the workhouse and
workhouse is
they don’t receive3 a lot of food. All the orphans
very hard for
Oliver and the are sad and hungry. They have porridge4 every
other orphans. day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They don’t
like porridge but one day they’re very hungry so
they want Oliver to ask for more porridge.
‘We’re hungry, Oliver,’ they say. ‘You must ask
for more porridge.’
Oliver is afraid5 but he’s very hungry too. He
takes his porridge bowl6 and walks slowly to the
front of the dining hall.
1
workhouse a place where children with no mum or dad and no
money lived in England in the nineteenth century
2
orphan a child with no mum or dad
3
receive get
4
porridge traditional breakfast food
5
afraid
6
bowl you can eat soup from this
10
 Oliver Twist

Oliver doesn’t want to ask for more porridge

but the other children push him forward.
The hall is silent1 as Oliver walks to the front.
He goes to the big table where the master2 of the
workhouse is having his dinner and quietly asks
him for some more porridge.
‘Please, Sir, can I have some more?’ asks Oliver.
The master is very angry. He stops eating his
chicken and potatoes and stands up. ‘More?’ he
shouts. ‘No, you can’t!’
The master thinks that Oliver is a bad boy
and he calls for Mr Bumble. Mr Bumble is a very
important man. He’s very angry and agrees3 with They put
Oliver in a
the master. ‘Oliver Twist, you’re a bad boy,’ he
cold, dark
says. He throws Oliver in a cold, dark room and room because
locks4 the door. he asks
for more
Poor Oliver stays in the cold, dark room for porridge.
many days. He’s so cold that he can’t sleep and
he’s very hungry. The master doesn’t give him
porridge for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In fact,
sometimes he doesn’t give Oliver any porridge.
Oliver is very tired and thin and he’s very lonely5
because he hasn’t got anyone to talk to.
1
silent very quiet
2
master a man who has people working for him
3
agree when you think the same as another person
4
lock to close something with a key
5
lonely sad because you haven’t got any friends
11
 Charles Dickens

Oliver cries1 every day. After one week,

Mr Bumble goes to the workhouse. He goes to the
cold, dark room and unlocks2 the door. Oliver is
sitting in the corner of the room. He’s very white.
‘Get up!’ shouts Mr Bumble. Oliver stands
up and runs to the door. ‘You must leave the
workhouse,’ says Mr Bumble.
Mr Bumble wants Oliver to leave the
workhouse immediately3 so he speaks to
Mr Sowerberry. ‘Mr Sowerberry,’ says Mr Bumble,
‘Here’s five pounds4 . I want you to take Oliver
Oliver has Twist to live with you. He can work in your shop.’
to leave the
Mr Sowerberry agrees, but not because he’s a
workhouse
and work kind5 man. He wants Oliver to work very hard in
for Mr his shop. ‘Come with me, Oliver,’ he says. ‘I’ve got
Sowerberry in
his shop. a lot of work for you to do.’
Poor Oliver. He doesn’t want to live with
Mr Sowerberry but he must leave the workhouse.
He hasn’t got any clothes or toys to take with him
to Mr Sowerberry’s house.

1
2
cry >
Poor Oliver is
unlock to open something with a key
3 cold, sad and
immediately at that moment
4
pounds British money hungry in the
5
kind nice, good dark room.
12
 Charles Dickens

It’s grey and rainy when he leaves the

workhouse and the other orphans don’t say
goodbye to him.
Mr Sowerberry lives with his wife, Mrs
Poor Oliver, Sowerberry. Mrs Sowerberry is fat and ugly and
he has to
she’s got a horrible1, mean2 face. She doesn’t like
stay with
Mr and Mrs Oliver. She’s making a big dinner when he arrives.
Sowerberry. She’s cooking beef and carrots but she doesn’t
Mrs Sowerberry
doesn’t like make any dinner for Oliver. ‘There’s no dinner for
him and treats you,’ says Mrs Sowerberry. ‘You’re a bad boy so
him in a very
bad way.
you can eat with the dog.’
Oliver is very Mrs Sowerberry’s dog is a big black dog. It
sad.
eats all the food and so there’s nothing for Oliver.
Oliver is hungry and tired. He wants to go to sleep
but Mrs Sowerberry doesn’t give him a bed. ‘We
haven’t got a bed for you,’ says Mrs Sowerberry.
‘You must sleep on the floor.’ Oliver goes to sleep
on the cold, hard floor. He’s very sad.
The next day, Oliver meets Noah in the kitchen.
Noah works in Mr Sowerberry’s shop.
He’s a big boy and he’s got a horrible, mean face
too. He doesn’t like Oliver and he says horrible
things about Oliver’s mother.

1
horrible not nice
2
mean not kind
14
 Oliver Twist

‘Your mother didn’t love you,’ he says to Oliver.

Oliver didn’t know his mother but he’s sure1 she
loved him. Oliver is angry.
‘That’s not true! She did!’ he shouts.
‘No, she didn’t,’ shouts Noah.
‘Stop it! Be quiet,’ shouts Oliver but Noah
continues2 to say horrible things.
Oliver becomes angrier and angrier. Suddenly3,
he hits Noah on the head and then Noah hits him
on the nose. The two boys start to fight4 and they
make a lot of noise.
Mrs Sowerberry hears the noise. She runs into
the kitchen and sees Oliver and Noah fighting on
the floor. ‘Stop fighting immediately!’ she shouts.
Oliver and Noah stand up. Mrs Sowerberry
doesn’t like Oliver but she likes Noah. ‘Come
here, Noah,’ she says. ‘Are you okay?’ Noah runs
to Mrs Sowerberry. He tells her that he’s got a
headache because Oliver hit him on the head a
lot of times. ‘I don’t know why Oliver hit me so
many times. My head hurts5,’ says Noah. Mrs
Sowerberry is furious6.

1
to be sure when you believe something
2
continue not stop
3
suddenly when something happens quickly
4
fight Oliver hits Noah and Noah hits Oliver
5
hurt when something hurts it makes you say ‘Ouch’
6
furious very angry
15
 Charles Dickens

Oliver tells Mrs Sowerberry that Noah said

horrible things about his mother but she doesn’t
>
Mrs
Sowerberry
listen to him. She throws him in a cold, dark room.
is very angry
She closes the door but she forgets to lock it. with Oliver.
Oliver stays in the room for many hours. It’s
very late and the house is silent. Mr and Mrs
Sowerberry are asleep. Oliver doesn’t know what
to do. He didn’t like the workhouse and he doesn’t
like Mr and Mrs Sowerberry and Noah. Then, he
has an idea.
He decides to run away1. He slowly opens
the door to the room and quietly walks to the
kitchen. Then, he opens the kitchen window and
jumps out into the street, but he doesn’t know
where to go. He can see the church and the
baker’s and the butcher’s in the town centre.
Then, he sees a big road. He runs down the road,
away from the town and Mr Sowerberry’s shop
and the workhouse.
Think
After fighting
with Noah,
Oliver runs
away from the >
Oliver is
Sowerberry’s
house. Do fighting with
you think he Noah because
did the right Noah said bad
thing? things about
1
run away to leave a place you don’t like Oliver’s mum.
16
After-reading Activities • Chapter 1

Reading
1 Read the sentences and tick True or False.
T F
Oliver Twist is ten years old. 3
■ ■
1 The orphans love porridge. ■ ■
2 Mr Bumble locks Oliver in a cold, dark room
for one week. ■ ■
3 Mr Sowerberry has got a lot of work for Oliver to do. ■ ■
4 Mrs Sowerberry likes Oliver. ■ ■
5 Noah hits Oliver on the nose. ■ ■
6 Noah has got a headache. ■ ■
7 Mrs Sowerberry forgets to lock the door. ■ ■
8 Oliver jumps out of the living room window. ■ ■

Grammar
2 Read the sentences and write is/are in each gap.
is
Oliver Twist ________ an orphan.
1 All the orphans ________ sad and hungry.
2 We ________ hungry.
3 Mr Bumble ________ a very important man.
4 You ________ a bad boy.
5 Mrs Sowerberry ________ fat and ugly.
6 Mrs Sowerberry’s dog ________ a big black dog.

3 Read the sentences and circle the correct word.

Oliver live / lives in a workhouse
1 Oliver have / has got blond hair.
2 They have / has porridge every day for breakfast, lunch
and dinner.
3 He can work / works in your shop.
4 Mrs Sowerberry’s dog eat / eats all the food.
5 Mrs Sowerberry don’t / doesn’t listen to Oliver.

18
Speaking
4 Answer these questions.
1 Oliver feels sad and lonely in the cold dark room.
When do you feel sad?
2 Oliver gets angry when Noah says bad things about his mother.
When do you get angry with people?
3 Oliver hits Noah. Do you think it’s right to hit people?
Why/why not?

21st
Century
Skills

Before-reading Activity
5 Choose the correct word for each sentence.
down the big road but he’s very tired.
Oliver continues running _______
under down by

1 _______ two hours, he stops to sleep under an enormous tree.

Before During After

2 When he wakes up, the _______ is shining.

sun moon road

3 He _______ a sign for London.

looks sees watches

4 Oliver decides to go _______ the city of London.

for on to

5 He hasn’t got _______ food or water.

any some no

19
 Focus on...

Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
1812
Born on February 7th
1812 in Portsmouth,
England.

Home - First in
Portsmouth near Family
the sea, then Kent
and finally London.
Father, John, an office worker.
Mother, Elizabeth, housewife.
He had five brothers and two
First job
sisters.
In a factory. He worked
very hard in this horrible
place and hated it. He was
sad and lonely without his Family problems
family and only saw them Dickens went to school from 9
on Sundays. to 12 years old, then he had to
stop because his father had no
money to pay the bills. All the
family, except Dickens, went to
Better times
prison, too because they didn’t
After a few months John
have a place to live and had no
Dickens came out of
money to buy food.
prison and, with some
money he inherited, he
paid his bills. The family Early works
had a home again and First story – A Dinner at Popular
Charles went back to Walk (1833). First book – Sketches
school until he was fifteen. by Boz (1836).
Then he went to work
as a journalist for 1833
a newspaper.

72
 Personal life
He was married to Catherine
Hogarth from 1836 to 1858 and
they had ten children. Then, he
left his wife and had a girlfriend
for many years, the actress, Ellen
Ternan.

• 1836 • 1858
1839 1849 1851

Famous stories
Oliver Twist (1837-1839)
David Copperfield (1849)
Hobbies
Travelling and the theatre.
He wrote travel books
and plays for the theatre.
He even performed for
Queen Victoria in a play
at the theatre in 1851.

The first edition Great Expectations

of Oliver Twist. 1861
(1860-1861)

Success
A great contribution to English
literature. His books and stories
about poor people and all their
problems were very popular.
He always remembered his
difficult years as a child and
used these ideas in his books.
Tomb
He died in 1870 and is
buried in Poets’ Corner 1870
in Westminster Abbey,
London.

73
 Focus on...

19th century England

Queen
Victoria
marries
Prince
Albert.

Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria was the Queen and ruled over many countries
of the United Kingdom when including Australia, Canada, India,
Charles Dickens was a young New Zealand and some parts of
man and she enjoyed reading his Africa.
books. She was born on 24th May
1819 in London and lived with her
family at Kensington Palace. She
became Queen in 1837 when she
was 18 years old and went to live
in Buckingham Palace. Queen
Victoria led the country until her
death on 22nd January 1901. She
was married to Prince Albert, who
was her cousin, and they had nine
children together. Queen Victoria
helped to build the British Empire

74
 The poor
Nineteenth century England was
a great place for rich people but
a bad place for the poor. Rich
people made a lot of money
from industry and used the
trains to go on holiday to the
seaside but many poor people
and their children worked in the
factories and coal mines.
They worked all day for little
money. Many children didn’t go
to school because they had to
Workhouses
They were not good jobs but
people preferred to work in these
places and live at home with their
families. Because of the Poor Law
of 1834, people who didn’t have
jobs went to live in workhouses.
Workhouses were terrible places.
They were cold and dark and
the people had to work harder
than in the factories and coal
mines. Mothers, fathers and their
children couldn’t live together
and they never saw each other.
Everybody had a uniform to wear
and a job to do, like working in
the bakery, the laundry or the
vegetable garden. There was a
school in the workhouse but the
children didn’t learn to read or
75
work for many hours every day.
Boys and girls as young as seven
started work in the factories at
six o’clock in the morning and
didn’t finish until seven o’clock
in the evening.
write. Everybody slept in big
dormitories and ate the same
food every day.
There were a lot of orphans in
the workhouses and everybody
was very sad. Orphans who didn’t
live in the workhouses had to
steal food from the market and
this was very dangerous because
often the police sent them to
prison.
Some organisations were formed
to try and help poor people and
in 1867 William Booth and his wife
Catherine started the Salvation
Army.
This charity still exists today,
helping homeless people and the
very poor.
Focus on...
Modern Britain
The Government
Most British citizens in the 21st
century have a good life because
governments have tried to help
them. After World War II, in 1948,
Sir William Beveridge wrote a
report and the government then
established the welfare state. They
introduced some new laws to help
protect the poor, the old, the sick
and of course, the young.
Money
Poor people who don’t have
a job receive money from the
government every week. The
money is to help them pay for
paper, envelopes and stamps
so that they can send letters to
76
companies to try and find a new
job. The money is also to help
them pay for bus or train tickets
or petrol so that they can go to
companies for job interviews.
Sometimes people who don’t have
a job don’t have anywhere to live,
so the government tries to find a
place for them and their families.
Unfortunately, there are still some
people who don’t have a home
and they live on the streets or in
hostels.
Old people who stop working
also receive money. This money is
called a pension and they receive
it every week. They can also get
extra help from the government if
they don’t have enough money to
pay all their bills.
Hospitals
In Britain there is the National
Health Service, so when people
are sick they can go to hospital and
they don’t have to pay any money.
They receive treatment or have
operations to make them better
but sometimes people have to
wait a long time to see a specialist
doctor and to get well again. The
government also gives people
money every week if they’re too
sick to work.
A typical British family
in the front garden

Help Work and Leisure

British residents pay taxes and Many mothers and fathers work in
National Insurance to help pay factories or offices for eight hours
for all of these government every day. They receive their
services. There are some money every week or month and
charitable organisations such as they use this money to pay for
the NSPCC (National Society their home, to buy food, clothes
for the Prevention of Cruelty to and to go on holiday. Some
Children) and Barnardo’s which people go on holiday in in the UK
also help young people who are in but a lot of people travel to other
difficult or dangerous situations. European countries and other
parts of the world, such as the
Homelife USA, Australia and Canada.
Most children live with their
families in houses or flats in cities
and the countryside. They’re
usually very nice with one
bedroom for the parents and
another for the children. Some
brothers and sisters sleep in the
same bedroom but some have
separate rooms.
The children have a lot of toys
and games and they spend a lot
of time playing.
77
Test Yourself

1 Read the sentences and choose A or B.

Oliver was born in
A ■
3 a workhouse.
B ■ a hotel.

1 The orphans always eat 4 Mr Bumble thinks Oliver is

A ■ soup. A ■ a good boy.
B ■ porridge. B ■ a bad boy.

2 Mrs Sowerberry gives Oliver 5 Noah and Oliver are

A ■ a bed. A ■ friends.
B ■ no bed. B ■ not friends.

3 Fagin’s boys steal 6 Bill falls off

A ■ handkerchiefs. A ■ a roof.
B ■ money. B ■ a tree.

2 Match each character to the phrase they said in the story.

b ‘Please, Sir, can I have some more?’
■ a Fagin
1 ■ ‘You’re a bad boy so you can eat
b Oliver
with the dog.’
2 ■ ‘Stop thinking and come with me.’ c Rose
3 ■ ‘You must not tell anyone what’s in
d Mr Brownlow
my special box.’
4 ■ ‘He must be a thief.’ e Dodger
5 ■ ‘Fagin is a bad man who uses young f Bill
boys to steal things from rich people.’
6 ■ ‘Fagin sent one of his boys to g Mrs Sowerberry
follow you.’ h Monks
7 ■ ‘We must find Monks before something
i Nancy
terrible happens to Oliver.’
8 ■ ‘This is a picture of my sister, Agnes.’

78
Syllabus

Topics
Family and friends
Life in 19th century London
Crime and poor people

Grammar and Structures

Comparative and superlative adjectives
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Can for ability and requests / permission
Determiners
Have got
Infinitive of purpose
Must for obligation
Nouns
Prepositions (place, time)
Pronouns
Question words
Relative clauses
There is / There are
Verb tenses; present simple, present continuous, past simple
Verb + infinitive / + ing
When clauses
Would like

79
 Teen Readers

Stage 1
Maureen Simpson, In Search of a Missing Friend
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
Janet Borsbey & Ruth Swan, The Boat Race Mystery
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Angela Tomkinson, Great Friends!
Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children
Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Stage 2
Elizabeth Ferretti, Dear Diary…
Angela Tomkinson, Loving London
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mary Flagan, The Egyptian Souvenir
Maria Luisa Banfi, A Faraway World
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
Elizabeth Ferretti, Adventure at Haydon Point
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Angela Tomkinson, Enjoy New York
Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy
Michael Lacey Freeman, Egghead
Michael Lacey Freeman, Dot to Dot
Silvana Sardi, The Boy with the Red Balloon
Silvana Sardi, Scotland is Magic!
Silvana Sardi, Garpur: My Iceland
Silvana Sardi, Follow your Dreams
Gabriele Rebagliati, Naoko: My Japan

Stage 3
Anna Claudia Ramos, Expedition Brazil
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
Mary Flagan, Val’s Diary
Maureen Simpson, Destination Karminia
Anonymous, Robin Hood
Jack London, The Call of the Wild
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Gordon Gamlin, Allan: My Vancouver