The Tempest
TEACHIT KS3 INTERACTIVE PACK
SATs Update 2009: 2 Characters
Lessons 5 – 8
Worksheets/OHTs 10 – 13
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1
LESSON 5: Prospero at work
(This lesson has been adapted from Lesson 15 in your pack.)
Learning objective
To understand and explore the character of Prospero in the key scenes and also within the context
of the whole play.
ICT Activity 12
Starter


Divide the class into two halves. The first half should write down ten bullet points about Prospero
and his life before he landed on the island and, while on the island, up to the point when he
causes the tempest. The second half should write down ten bullet points about Prospero’s actions
and personality during the course of the play.
Take feedback and summarise them on the board under the headings:
As a father
As a duke
As a magician
As a tyrant
Other
Introduction


Display this question: is Prospero a strong, successful character in Act 1 Scene 2 and Act 3
Scene 1? How typical is this of him in the whole play? ICT Activity 12 of your pack, in which
students sequence Prospero’s qualities from most to least attractive, can also be used to stimulate
discussion.
Discuss students’ responses as a class. Ideas may include:
 Strong – his use of magic; control of Ariel; influence over Miranda and Ferdinand’s love;
imprisons Ferdinand
 Weak – has to rely on magic for power; Miranda defies him; has to bribe Ariel.
Development
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In groups of two/three, ask students to draw an annotated graph for the key scenes to show
Prospero’s times of strength and weakness. You may wish to use Worksheet 10.
To these graphs, add a label to his weak moments to explain what is making him weak – is it his
love? Is it emotion? Is it cruelty?
Also to these graphs, add quotations from the key scenes as evidence.
The completed graphs make excellent wall displays or revision material.
Discuss with the class whether, overall, Prospero is strong/weak in these scenes? How does this
compare to the rest of the play? What influences his strength/weakness? Students should
summarise in five concise bullet points
Plenary


Refer back to the plenary from lesson 4 (post-it notes on Prospero); can anything be added /
changed / developed?
In pairs, students write five bullet points for Prospero, offering advice on how to be a strong and
powerful man? (is it magic? Is it being a good father? Is it using bribery?) Share these around the
class, asking students to justify their views.
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2
weak
strong
Miranda likes what she
sees in Ferdinand/
Prospero’s plan is working!
Time
Ariel leads Ferdinand to
Prospero and Miranda under
orders from Prospero
Prospero’s brother, Antonio,
begins to erode his power.
Prospero is the reigning
Duke of Milan.
Prospero
Worksheet 10: The ups and downs of Prospero’s
life
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3
LESSON 6: Prospero and Miranda
Learning objective
To understand and explore the characters of Prospero and Miranda in the key scenes and also
within the context of the whole play.
Starter
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

Remind students of the work that they did on Miranda and Prospero during Lesson 4.
In pairs, ask half the class to write five bullet points summarising the good aspects of Miranda and
Prospero’s relationship, the other half write five bullet points summarising the bad aspects.
Ask each half of the class to feed back to one another and consider any overlaps. Remind them
that this has been a closed, intense relationship for a long time, and there haven’t been any
maternal influences on Miranda in this time. In what way can we explore the relationship between
father and daughter by considering how a mother figure could fill any gaps in their relationship?
Introduction
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

Consider that Prospero has just arranged for Miranda to meet a suitable husband – and she
seems fairly happy with his choice! If Miranda were trying to ‘fix her father up’ with a new wife,
what sort of a person would she choose for him? Use OHT 11 to display the prompt questions
copied below.
In pairs, students brainstorm all the qualities and attributes that she might consider and these can
include:
o What Prospero is like as a man – does he need taming? Supporting? Someone with similar
interests?
o What Miranda may secretly wish for in a mother figure – what hasn’t Prospero been able to
offer her? What do all girls need?
o Is this a wife for the island or for Milan?
o Age, appearance, status?
o What evidence in the play is there for each of your choices?
Pairs join together into fours and share ideas to make one good consolidated list. Feed this back
to the class.
Development
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
Give pairs a choice of tasks and let them choose which one to do (again, see OHT 11):
o Use images from magazines/photographs to create an image/collage of Prospero’s perfect
woman, annotated with key words and phrases.
o Many songs are used in the play; write a short song to lure a new wife to Prospero (you
could use the shape of Ariel’s song as a start).
o Write a short script between either Miranda and the new wife discussing what Prospero is
like OR between Prospero and the new wife discussing what Miranda is like.
Pairs should share with the class what they have worked on – an explanation of their collage or a
performance of their song/script
Plenary

Did Miranda need a mother figure on the island? Write YES and NO on the board and ask
students to share their ideas as you summarise them under the headings.
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OHT 11: Prospero’s perfect woman
Task a)
What sort of person might Miranda choose to be a partner to
Prospero?
In pairs, brainstorm all the qualities and attributes that she might
consider. You might like to think about:

What Prospero is like as a man – does he need taming?
Supporting? Someone with similar interests?

What Miranda may secretly wish for in a mother figure – what
hasn’t Prospero been able to offer her? What do all girls
need?

Is this a wife for the island or for Milan?

Age, appearance, status?

What evidence in the play is there for each of your choices?
Task b)
Now choose from one of the options listed below.

Use images from magazines/photographs to create an
image/collage of Prospero’s perfect woman, annotated with
key words and phrases.

Many songs are used in the play; write a short song to lure a
new wife to Prospero (you could use the shape of Ariel’s song
as a start).

Write a short script between either Miranda and the new wife
discussing what Prospero is like or between Prospero and the
new wife discussing what Miranda is like.
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5
LESSON 7: Miranda and Ferdinand
(This lesson is Lesson 19 in your pack.)
Learning Objective
To explore and understand the characters of Miranda and Ferdinand.
ICT Activity 16
Starter

Play the Hot Potato game. Split the class down the middle to create two teams. One team focuses
on Miranda, the other on Ferdinand. Give the Hot Potato to a player in Miranda’s team – they
have to think of an adjective that describes Miranda, then lightly throw the Hot Potato to someone
in Ferdinand’s team. That player then thinks of an adjective to describe Ferdinand and throws the
Hot Potato back to Miranda’s team. Continue until one team cannot think of any further adjectives
– you need to decide in advance whether conferring is allowed. Record the adjectives in two
columns on the board.
Introduction
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
Working individually or as a class, ask students to write a ‘lonely hearts’ advertisement for
Miranda and Ferdinand, imagining the characters’ thoughts before they meet. (It is a good idea for
those on Miranda’s team to write her advert and those on Ferdinand’s team to write his.)
You may wish to model the activity on the board using typical language of the genre (i.e. single,
unsophisticated girl seeks… etc.).
Development
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Play Mini-Chess. Divide the class into groups of 4; each group then divides itself into pairs, one
pair representing Miranda, the other Ferdinand. Provide each group with Worksheet 12 (a chess
board) and Worksheet 13 (a set of chess squares).
Each pair then has to find evidence from the play to support the adjectives on the squares and
write it down.
As students complete each square, they stick it onto the chess board (white squares for Miranda,
grey squares for Ferdinand). The first pair to complete their eight squares and have their answers
checked by the opposing pair wins.
You can vary the game according to students’ abilities:
o Provide higher achievers with the chess board only, so that the group has to think about the
adjectives they wish to use as well as find the evidence for them.
o Lower achievers can write a brief summary of the evidence on each square rather than finding
specific quotations from the play
Plenary

Either as a class, in groups or in pairs, choose the three adjectives that best sum up Miranda and
Ferdinand. Students should select from the adjectives collected in the Starter activity and used in
Mini-Chess. They must be able to justify their choices, ideally with reference to the text. (ICT
Activity 16 from your pack can be used here.)
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6
Worksheet 12: Chess board
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7
Worksheet 13: Chess squares
Miranda is:
Naïve
Beautiful
Compassionate
Generous
Passive
Loyal
Emotional
Patient
Handsome
Kind
Loyal
Patient
Strong
Determined
Impulsive
Passionate
Ferdinand is:
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8
LESSON 8: Directing love at first sight
Learning objective
To understand how the key scenes can be dramatised to various effects.
Starter


Drama warm-up. Discuss how different types of love can be shown through body language alone
– model some examples of different emotions (anger, happiness, sadness) and ask students to
say what each is.
Play some romantic music (Debussy’s Clair du Lune?) and ask students to relax first, then create
statues of the following types of love: maternal/paternal with young child, love at first sight, being
dumped, being proposed to, getting married, lust.
Introduction
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

Re-read Act 3 Scene 1 in which Miranda and Ferdinand declare their love for one another.
Focus on Miranda’s phrase (lines 26–28): ‘If you’ll sit down, I’ll bear your logs the while. Pray give
me that; I’ll carry it to the pile.’
Ask for two volunteers and get the class to direct them as Miranda and Ferdinand, based purely
on the dramatic clues from these lines, and feel free to try different approaches/styles until you
find one you’re happy with as a class.
o Does she force him to sit down?
o Does he refuse to sit down?
o Does she touch him at all?
o Does she grab the log?
o Does he refuse to give her the log?
o What tone/s of voice does she use?
Development
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

Divide the class into groups of three: one to be Miranda, one Ferdinand and one to be the director
(the director can also read the dialogue leaving the actors to focus on acting).
Allocate each group of three a section of Act 3 Scene 1 to dramatise, focusing on looking for
dramatic clues in the dialogue and considering how to show the love between Ferdinand and
Miranda.
Teacher should visit each group and assist in eliciting explanations from the groups as to their
reasons for acting/performing in a particular way.
Plenary


Ask each group to find a phrase from their extract that best sums up Miranda and Ferdinand’s
love at that point in the scene. The director should read the line while the actors perform it.
Ask students to comment on different ways of interpreting the same characters/scene depending
on how you want the characters to come across.
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9