Many students are intimidated with the idea of reading Shakespeare. They think reading Shakespeare in Middle English is boring. However, as soon as you tell students that Shakespeare plays are filled with sex and violence, then you get the students' attention! In the following tips, I encourage students to gradually become acquainted with the plot of a Shakespeare play.
1. Show them that Shakespeare has sex and violence just like their favorite video game or favorite TV show.
2. Encourage students to first read Shakespeare without Fear version of any Shakespeare play first because Shakespeare without Fear publishes Shakespeare plays in modern English that students can understand.
3. Have students watch those hilarious BBC version of many Shakespeare plays.
4. Then have students watch the Shakespeare play on Youtube.
5. Finally, have the students read the original. By the time they get to step 5, they will already know what is going on and will be stoked to read and get to know Shakespeare in his original language.
6. Finally, have different groups of students perform different scenes from Shakespeare in class.
7. Or have students make Youtube videos of themselves performing Shakespeare.
8. Take students to a Shakespeare performance if there is a theatre nearby your school.
Yvonne Ho, ABD, MA
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