Why should we teach Shakespeare?

1. Teaching
William
Shakespeare
5/2/2016
UNIVERSIDAD DE MONTEVIDEO
Stories and Poetry in Language Teaching

2. Why is he referred to as “The Bard”?
The word bard meant poet.
Bards were traveling poets in medieval times.
Since he is considered one of the greatest poets and
writers of all times he’s called THE Bard of Avon
(from Stratford-upon-Avon)

3. Why should we teach Shakespearean literature?
♠The themes and purposes of his plays can be applicable to today’s world.
Namely love, death, treason, murder, innocence, foolishness, guilt, jealousy,
rage, power, passion, etc.
♠Diversity of characters and the portrayal of life’s complexities, race, gender,
ethnicity, age, social status, etc.
♠He teaches us about the human condition, and invites us to reflect upon it.
♠Any culture or background students come from can be linked to his themes
and messages.It deals with universal human issues. “Universally constant”

4. More reasons...
♠Should we only teach and read authors that speak like us, come from the
same place and same time as us?
♠It challenges students and allows them to step out of their comfort zone.
♠He has a lot to do with the English we speak today!
I.e: Compounds like bedroom
♠The world is filled with Shakespearean references.
♠His plays were directed to all audiences, Kings and Queens as well as
servants and peasants.

5. Tragedies
Also:
Death of main
characters
Dramatic endings
Human beings at
their worst
Revenge
Catastrophe
Crimes
Vicious passon
Pain

6. Comedies
Also:
Love triangles
Marriage
Passion
Confussion
Misdirected love
Love obstacles
Satire
Lust
Disguises

7. Teaching Macbeth: How should we go about it?
Who are we teaching?
High school students
3rd form
Upper intermediate level
14/15/16 year olds

8. Teaching Macbeth: How should we go about it?
Pre-reading activities: Intertextuality
1♠ Brainstorm about Shakespeare’s tragedies’ themes
2♠ Show a series of Macbeth images and have students
identify symbols and predict the plot and possible
characters

10. Macbeth: A classroom activity
3♠ Teacher gives instructions. She will read a scene from Macbeth
which is written in Old English. (Act I. Scene III. A heath near Forres. Enter Macbeth
and Banquo)
SS should listen, take notes of characters they hear, vocabulary
they don’t understand and try to grasp as much as they can from
the scenario of the scene to later explain in their own words.
4♠ Teacher then gives ss the actual text and proposes a reading
comprehension activity composed of questions.

11. Macbeth: A classroom activity
4♠ Reading comprehension:
- Macbeth calls the day of the battle “foul and fair”. Comment on what you
think he means.
- What do the witches predict for Macbeth? And for Banquo?
- How do Macbeth and Banquo react to the predictions? Can you think of
reasons for the difference in reactions?
- Are the witches playing on Macbeth’s ambition and planting the idea of
murder in his head or actually controlling fate in some way?

12. Macbeth: A classroom activity
5♠ SS work on the questions in groups. Teacher goes around for help.
6♠ SS provide their answers orally.
7♠ Answers need to be justified with evidence from the text.
8♠ Teacher does not say if answers are correct or incorrect, instead she
guides a discussion with the whole class encouraging students to participate
supporting their opinions with quotes from the text.
9♠ Round up: Teacher asks students to come up with suitable titles for the
act/scene. Then, teacher guides a discussion to reflect on the purpose, the
bottom-line message of the play.

13. Macbeth: A classroom activity
10♠ It would be important to continue investigating the temporal
and spatial context in which 'Macbeth' was written, in order to
understand the vocabulary used and analyze the plot on a deeper
level.
11♠ Teacher proposes a task: SS in groups shoot a video
performing the scene as a homework task. They can adapt it with
modern vocabulary and expressions.

14. Bibliography
http://talklikeshakespeare.weebly.com/why-do-we-still-teach-shakespeare.html
http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/bard-of-avon/
http://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/education/english/types-of-shakespearean-plays
Mariana Dotta
Magdalena Lizarraga
Carolina Lautaret