Reading and teaching Shakespeare doesn’t have to be daunting.
I loved reading and learning Shakespeare in high school. It’s one of the few things I remember enjoying about my time in public school. We read Romeo and Juliet in 9th grade and Julius Caesar and Midsummer Night’s Dream in 10th grade.
One of my favorite university courses was Shakespeare. We read lots of tragedies and history plays and sonnets in just a few short weeks. My teacher was passionate about Shakespeare and it was contagious.
When I taught public school, I loved teaching Shakespeare! I taught all levels of students the plays: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Macbeth. We didn’t use kids’ versions or easier modern language texts. We read the real Shakespeare. I taught to middle school and high school students. We read aloud and performed scenes in class. Our school had a Shakespeare society and one year I sponsored the team, we won for the county with a scene from The Taming of the Shrew!
Many teachers and parents treat the language of Shakespeare like something foreign and many students are intimidated by that and it shows in their approach to learning something new and a bit unusual.
As a homeschool mom, I teach Shakespeare all the time to my kids of all ages.
How I take the fear out of Shakespeare:
I expose my very young kids to Shakespeare very early on, so they’re familiar with the stories. As they get older, they can read Shakespeare plays and poetry on their own.
We learn about William Shakespeare along with history. We read biographies about Shakespeare and how important he was to developing our English language and his place in history.
I begin with the KJV Bible when my kids reach the level of independent reading, at about age 6 or so. We love reading this version of the Bible. The language is so beautiful and poetic. Being familiar with the spelling and writing of Shakespeare’s time period makes reading the literature easier.
We’re familiar with mythology. The stories are fun and important to literature. Shakespeare makes a lot of references to the Bible and mythology. It helps to understand what he’s referring to in his writing. Shakespeare was very educated in the Greek and Latin plays and refers to them often in his plays.
We read the plays aloud because they make more sense when we can hear it. I don’t kill the lesson with busy work like vocabulary lists, comprehension questions, or analytical essays. We read for fun. We discuss characters, plot, setting, scenes, how they would have been performed. My kids have been taught to think critically and narrate since they were in preschool, so this is natural for us.
We watch the plays performed on film and live on stage whenever we can. I love how the plays are timeless and can be updated with modern twists.
We took a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London!
I bought a Shakespeare’s Globe tour online with Viator.
It was easier than booking directly at the Globe website, especially since they showed no availability.
I chose the day I wanted the tour and we showed up early. We were ushered right on in to join the first tour of the day.
The theatre is a replica of the original Globe.
Our guide was delightful. They’re all actors at the Globe and he was funny. The kids loved him.
We toured the whole theatre and he told us history and stories about the opening performance of the new Globe in 1997.
There’s a lovely exhibition – a not to miss museum that’s fun and educational for the whole family.
Tori even got to experience traditional clothing. It was so heavy with all the layers, and the farm girl costume was more lightweight than the costume of a noblewoman!
The kids even said this was the highlight of our London trip. They love Shakespeare.
My job is done here.
Shakespeare can be fun for all ages!
Resources:
- We LOVE Notebooking Pages in our homeschool!
- Homeschool Share Shakespeare Unit
- A Gentle Approach to Shakespeare from Homegrown Learners
- We Are Teachers Shakespeare Activities
- Shakespeare from Activity Village
- Shakespeare Notebooking Pages from Mama Jenn
- Words and Expressions from Shakespeare Pages by Notebooking Fairy
- Shakespeare Lapbook by Homeschool Helper Online
- Star Wars and Geek Shakespeare by Ian Doescher
- Shakespeare Words from Notebooking Fairy
- Currclick Shakespeare list – Some FREE and some $
Love the way you have tied disciplines together to create relevancy and make it interesting!
Great article! I LOVE your point about reading the KJV Bible – I grew up with it, and it made reading Shakespeare MUCH easier in high school.
A couple of summers ago, we took our homeschool co-op to a free summer production of Shakespeare in the Park. I expected the kids to get bored and have to leave mid-performance, as many of them were quite young. I read my daughter a short summary (that I had found on the internet) of the play we were going to see before she went – she was 6 at the time. ALL of our Co-op kids – ages 6 MONTHS to 14 years – were glued to the performance the entire show and didn’t take their eyes from the actors and actresses. It was quite the thing to see!
I think that Shakespeare was written to be *watched* (performed) not read- and going to a well-done performance makes all the difference! : )
(I dropped by from “Teaching What is Good” btw : )
Way to go!!
I’d like to join your class! Sounds so fun and interesting. I’m afraid I’m one who saw the language as foreign. I went to a play and had difficulty understanding it. As an adult I’ve listened to audio books and enjoyed them.
WOW! I am a retired teacher of young children but was raised by a mother who loved Shakespeare and all other plays. So when we moved to San Diego, CA, she took us to the Old Globe Theatre for our Shakespeare plays. We were not homeschooled back then, but the theatre was of prime importance to Mama. So we had the Balboa Park version of London’s theatre and went often….could see the exterior of the theatre often when we went to Balboa Park for many other things. I love the detail you have displayed here for others to be able to introduce and teach Shakespeare. The involvement with your children is fine too. Great teacher and great mom!
I wish I had an English teacher who was passionate about literature like my History teacher was about History. Funny, that History teacher is now a playwright and teaches college level preforming arts. You have a great list of resources, Jennifer. Thanks for sharing with Thankful Thursdays.
Thanks for linking up with Literacy Musing Mondays! As a homeschool mom, I’ve probably dropped the ball with Shakespeare. This is a super great resource, though. Need to check into some of these books. :) Would love to pin, but I’m not seeing a pin button?
I’m not sure why you can’t see a pin button. Try hovering over an image. I also list them above and below my text in the share buttons. Thanks!
I grew up with my mother reading the King James Version each morning to me and my brother and sister. I can see how the Bible would help those studying Shakespeare for the first time. Your tour sounds lovely and the children are the right ages to appreciate the adventure. Thank you for sharing with us here at Tell me a Story.
You made me excited just reading your post! I doubt there is a trip to London in our future, but it would be fun. Our family also read Shakespeare plays aloud. My kids had fun trying to use different voices for the characters. Sounds like you have a fun, integrated way to homeschool. I’m sure your kids enjoy it! Blessings to you! I’m your neighbor at #FreshMarketFriday.
This is so awesome!! I was thinking of introducing Shakespeare to my kids this year. Thanks for the great resources!
Thanks for sharing with us at Traffic Jam. My daughter loves Shakespeare since early on as well I just can’t get past the language and give up every time I give it another try. Congrats on giving your kiddes such a great head start.
I sure wish I could have learned it your way in school – that would have been so much more fun! :) Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty
I love Shakespeare too. Have since high school like you.
Have you seen the Shakespearean Insult Generator?
Try googling it if you’re game – it’s good fun.
Cheers!
I still remember when I recieved my very own Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It remains a favorite of mine.
Ooooh, you have shared some great ideas and tips here! Makes me kind of excited to dig into Shakespeare myself!
Thanks so much for sharing (and for linking up to the last SHINE Blog Hop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
I totally agree about reading the KJV. It does help Shakespeare make more sense. I’ve never been big on Shakespeare, but your enthusiasm makes me what to give it another try. ;) ~Jeannie The Mom Fairy
An experience that your kids will be talking about for a long time!