“If they would rather die”: Scrooge, Malthus and revision that works

Between the Lines — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 13:27:34 +0000

One line from A Christmas Carol, read three ways. Hannah, an English teacher, takes Scrooge's “decrease the surplus population” through what it says, how Dickens says it and why he wrote it, with Thomas Malthus, the New Poor Law and Dickens's own plans for the book along the way.

Then we read between the lines of a 2013 paper by John Dunlosky and colleagues that rated ten ways of studying, and why rereading and highlighting feel like revision when they aren't doing much of it. We finish with two questions from the mailbag: two weeks to a mock on An Inspector Calls, and the difference between a theme and a message.

Chapters
0:00 Cold open: A Christmas Carol, Stave 1
0:19 Welcome
2:20 Section 1: between the lines of a set text
2:43 Read 1: what it says, and who says it
4:53 Read 2: the methods
7:21 Read 3: context, through to the message
14:09 In between
14:58 Section 2: between the lines of the research
23:32 Mailbag
24:08 Two weeks to the mock
26:12 Theme or message?
28:12 Hannah's final thought
29:08 Send us your questions

The paper: Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. and Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1).

Free GCSE English guides and resources: btl.education
Send us a question about a set text, an exam paper or a revision habit that isn't working: hello@btl.education

Music: original, made for Between the Lines.

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