The document provides information about a meeting of foreign language teachers to promote teaching English in the language lab. The main aims of the activity are to provide opportunities for literary analysis, character description, critical thinking, and to familiarize students with the new language laboratory. The document also provides background information on Jane Eyre, including that it is a classic romance novel by Charlotte Bronte published in 1848 that was an immediate critical and popular success. It discusses some of the plot elements and stages of the novel.

1. “Radu Vlădescu” Theoretical High School
Pătârlagele
30th November, 2007
A foreign language teachers’ meeting to
promote:
• Teaching Main aims of the activity:
English in the - to provide an opportunity for
language lab literary analysis, character
description and critical
thinking;
- to familiarize Ss with the
new language laboratory.

2. Jane Eyre
From the novel to the movie
and into the classroom

3. “Jane Eyre”
by Charlotte Bronte (1816 - 1855)
The book is a classic romance
novel by Charlotte Brontë that was
published in 1848, being Brontë„ s
masterpiece and one of the most
famous of British novels.
Charlotte Brontë first published
the book as “Jane Eyre : An
Autobiography” under the
pseudonym Currer Bell.
The novel was an immediate
critical and popular success.

4. What kind of novel?
Jane Eyre is a first-person narrative of the
formative years of the title character, a small,
plain-faced, intelligent, and passionate English
orphan girl.
The plot follows the form of a Bildungsroman,
a novel that tells the story of a child's
maturation and focuses on the emotions and
experiences that lead to her maturity.

5. The plot
The novel goes through five distinct stages:
(1) Jane's childhood at Gateshead, where she is abused by her
aunt and cousins;
(2) her education at Lowood School, where she acquires
friends and role models but also suffers privations;
(3) her time as governess at Thornfield Manor, where she falls
in love with her Byronic employer, Edward Rochester;
(4) her time with the Rivers family at Marsh's End and at Morton,
where her cold clergyman- cousin St. John Rivers proposes
to her; and
(5) her reunion with and marriage to her beloved Rochester at
his house of Ferndean.
Partly autobiographical, the novel abounds with social criticism
and sinister Gothic elements.

6. THE MOVIE
Jane Eyre has been the
subject of numerous
television and film
adaptations.
The 1996
Hollywood version,
directed by
Franco Zeffirelli, is quite
similar to the original
novel.

7. The 1996 film adaptation of Jane Eyre
(portrayed as a child by Anna Paquin and as an adult by
Charlotte Gainsbourg) is the story of an independent and strong
minded young woman who eventually finds love and happiness.

8. Jane Eyre provides an accurate view of education in
nineteenth - century England, as seen by an 1840s educator.
The course of Jane's life in regard to her own education and
her work in education are largely autobiographical,
mirroring Charlotte Bronte's own life.

9. Activity 1 : Silent viewing
By adjusting the volume control, students are asked to watch a scene
from the movie (8:45-10:20) without sound and without the subtitle.
This is very useful. Students can focus only on the visual information as
a way of „previewing‟ the written text. They are asked to make
predictions, supply their own dialogue, or give a simultaneous
description of what they see.
Then, the teacher allows them to compare their predictions with the
actual scene.The teacher will make sure the students receive all the
information they need to understand it.
(Timing: 6 minutes)

10. New words:
Stool = a simple seat
without a back or arms
Scissors = a tool used for
cutting thin material which
requires little force
Vanity (amour propre) =
feelings of excessive
pride

11. New words:
cough = sudden expulsion of
air from the lungs that clears
the air passages
bonnet = a hat tied under the
chin

12. Silent viewing
“The stool. Place this child upon it. You
see this girl? Her name is Jane Eyre. Be
on your guard against her. Avoid her
company. Shut her out of your
conversations. This girl, take a good look
at her, this girl is a liar. Let her stand on
that stool all day. She shall have no food.
And let no one speak to her.”
“Alice. Pay attention. Back to your lessons.”

13. Activity 2
Students are asked to watch the scene (14:00-16:32).They
are asked to answer the following questions:
- Who taught Jane to draw?
- Why does Helen say Jane is lucky?
- Why does Jane ask Helen to take off her bonnet?
- Why is Mr. Brocklehurst offended?
- Is long curly hair really a “sin”?
- What do you think will happen next?
(Timing: 4 minutes)

14. Activity 3: Fill in while listening
“The girl‟s hair shall be cut off.” / “No.”
“Did someone speak?”
“Why should you punish her for the way God made her
hair?”
“Fetch the scissors. You, Jane. Did you hear what
I said? I will not ask you again.”
“Your hair will grow again soon. And if it is cut off
again, it will grow again. And it will be even more
beautiful than it was before. Does it hurt you when you
cough? Come, into bed. I‟m sure you feel very sorry
about yourselves. I‟m sure you all envy other girls who
seem to‟ ve been blessed with happier lives. But you
have all been blessed with intelligence. Intelligence
and a proper education will give you independence of
spirit and that is the greatest blessing of all.”

15. Activity 4
After the students watch the scene (16:32-18:58),
in groups, they are asked to do one of the following tasks:
1. Characterize Jane‟s attitude.
2. Describe Miss Temple (the teacher).
3. Explain the meaning and the importance of the term
“independence of spirit”.
4. Identify the symbol(s) in the scene.
5. Speak about punishments in relation with discipline.
(Timing: 10 minutes)

16. AT LOWOOD SCHOOL
Once at Lowood School, Jane finds that her life is far from
idyllic. The school‟s headmaster is Mr. Brocklehurst, a cruel,
hypocritical, and abusive man. Brocklehurst preaches a
doctrine of poverty and privation to his students while using the
school‟s funds to provide a wealthy and opulent lifestyle for his
own family. At Lowood, Jane befriends a young girl named
Helen Burns, whose strong, martyrlike attitude toward the
school‟s miseries is both helpful and displeasing to Jane.

17. AT LOWOOD SCHOOL
Lowood School is an accurate representation of a
charity school in the 1820s: bad health conditions, the
system of a master teacher, under teachers,and
monitors as well as the cruel discipline implemented by
Mr.Brocklehurst…All these make it a terrifying place.
Jane is mortified when she must stand on a stool and is
accused of being a liar. Most of the punishments at
Lowood are for minor infractions such as having dirty
nails when the wash water was frozen.
Jane sees these punishments as generally just being
mean, and thinks that such mean people do not
deserve to be obeyed.
Jane explains to Helen Burns her view that obeying
mean people encourages them to be mean:

18. “ If people were always
kind and obedient to
those who are cruel
and unjust, the wicked
people would have it all
their own way; they
would never feel afraid,
and so they would
never alter, but would
grow worse and worse.
When we are struck at
without a reason, we
should strike back
again very hard; I am
sure we should-so hard
as to teach the person
who struck us never to
do it again.”
(89-90; ch. 6)

19. Victorian education
Victorian attitudes toward education differed considerably
from those prevalent in modern times.
The level of one's schooling was determined by social class
and also by gender. At all levels of society boys and girls
were taught separately.
The children of poor or workingclass families were taught in
local schools. Such children would rarely progress
beyond learning basic skills; most learning was by rote.
Most of these children would have left school
by their early teen years to work on farms or in factories.

20. Victorian education
Upper and upper-middle-class families, on the other hand,
used to enroll their sons in exclusive private schools
(known paradoxically as public schools). In truth, however,
conditions in these schools were often as harsh as those in
schools for orphans and the poor such as Lowood
Institution in Jane Eyre. But a public school education
would serve as an entree into good society.
Women were excluded from universities until the 1870s.
The first women did not graduate from an English university
until 1874, when four women received degrees from
Cambridge University.

21. Evaluation
1.”Jane Eyre” was written by….
a. Charlotte Bronte b. Currer Bell c. Franco Zeffirelli
2. The novel is….
a. an autobiography b. a bildungsroman c. a historical novel
3. The main character is…
a. vain b. beautiful c. dignified
4. Mr. Brocklehurst (the headmaster) is…
a. abusive b. sympathetic c. respectful
5. Miss Temple (the teacher) is….
a. patronizing b. gentle c. humble
6. Helen Burns is….
a. vicious b. proud c. obedient
7. Lowood School is…
a. a charity school b. a catholic school c. a private school
8. The novel describes the educational system in…. century England.
a. 17th b.18th c.19th
(Timing: 5 minutes)

22. Emilia Frînculeasă thanks you all
for being here!!!
And wishes you
all a beautiful
day!!!

23. See you next time!