Great Expectations: read-along
Great Expectations as a read-along for the projector: 18 pages, 2790 words, level 17, beyond grade 8.
Page 1 of 18
My father's family name was Pirrip, and my Christian name was Philip, but my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip, so I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. I was an orphan, brought up by my sister, who was twenty years older than I, and by her husband Joe Gargery, a gentle and long-suffering blacksmith, magnanimous in disposition and extremely modest in his opinion of his own importance. On a raw afternoon toward evening, I was sitting among the gravestones in the churchyard on the lonely marshes, studying my parents' tombstones, when a fearsome, ragged man in coarse gray clothing, with a heavy iron shackle on his leg, sprang out from among the graves and seized me by the chin. The churchyard, the dike and the gloomy flat country beyond it lay in the damp, while the distant river was a leaden line and the cold wind rushed in from the sea.
Keys: ← → or Page Up and Page Down turn the page, Space starts and pauses the voice, Home and End jump, F fills the screen. Tapping the right side of a page goes on; the left side goes back.
How to use it
- Press Full screen (F) to put the book on the projector.
- Press Read to me (Space), or read it yourself and turn pages with the arrow keys or a tap. Pick the Pace that suits the class.
- After the last page, three questions come up to talk about.
About this book
- Level 17, beyond grade 8
- 18 pages, 2790 words, about 21 minutes aloud
- A classic tale, a little spooky
Related
About Great Expectations
A poor blacksmith's boy named Pip helps a frightened convict on the marshes, then comes into a mysterious fortune and learns who his true friends are. A short edition of the Dickens novel, told in Pip's own voice, with the ending the book actually prints.
Words to preview
- benefactor (BEN-uh-fak-ter)
- secret giver
- convict (KON-vikt)
- jailed criminal
- haughty (HAW-tee)
- proud, scornful
- apprentice (uh-PREN-tis)
- trainee
- forgiveness (fer-GIV-nis)
- pardon
Questions that fit any book
- What happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end?
- Which page was your favorite? Why?
- How did the main character feel at the end? What tells you?
Questions
How long does Great Expectations take to read aloud?
It has 18 pages and 2790 words, so about 21 minutes at the Steady pace and a little less at Quick. If you stop to talk on the way, plan for more.
What reading level is Great Expectations?
Level 17, beyond grade 8. The library numbers its levels from 0 to 18 and puts the level of a book on its cover; levels above 13 are beyond grade 8 and have no grade. A level is a guide for choosing, so look at the pages yourself.
Whose voice is it?
Your browser's own. Read to me uses a speaking voice already on the computer, so it sounds like that computer and works without a sign-in. Voices differ: some light each word as it is spoken, and some do not, in which case the highlight follows a steady pace instead. Some browsers use an online voice; if yours does, the browser, not us, sends the words of the page to its speech service. If no voice is installed, turn the pages and read it aloud yourself.
Do students need an account?
No. Nothing is asked of anyone and nothing is sent to us. Project the page, or share the link and let students open it on their own screens.
Is this the original text?
No. It is a retelling in Peabody's own words at this reading level, so it may differ from the edition you know.
Nothing you do here is sent to us. The voice is your browser's own. No sign-in, no ads.