Romeo & Juliet in a Few (English)
Words!
By Belle Badell
Summer 2013
English 1 Though ESOL
• Most students were level 1 ESOL – very
limited English proficiency.
• About 20% arrived in the country after winter
break.
• Small groups of 4 – Higher proficiency level
student volunteer to help. Only those willing
students helped with language, assignments,
reading/translating.
Building Background
I knew very little or nothing about:
• Renaissance
• Shakespeare
And in addition to that…
It was my first year teaching ESOL at the high
school level!
Asked for help!!!
Reach Out!
• Curriculum Specialist in your Bilingual/ESOL
department
• History teachers
• English teachers
• Colleagues in your department
Renaissance
Shakespeare
Building
Background
Shakespearean Theater
Shakespearean Drama
Renaissance PowerPoint
• Give students printed material (Ex: The
Spread of the Renaissance word document)
• Show/discuss PowerPoint – students take
notes
Two sources of information – CCSS!
Shakespeare
• Shakespeare’s life
• Shakespeare as a writer
– Universal themes
– Reached all sorts of audiences
• Shakespeare’s influence in the
English language
• Characteristics of the
Shakespearean drama
Key Ideas
• Is love stronger than hate? Debate activity in
textbook
• Love quote activity
Shakespeare’s love quote
Love is a smoke and is made with
the fume of sighs
Shakespeare love quote 11:
Romeo & Juliet – Act 1, Scene 1
From:
http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/shakespeare-lovequotes/
Key Ideas
Characteristics of the Shakespearean drama
Introducing Romeo & Juliet
Romeo & Juliet - Characters
Prologue - [Enter Chorus.]
Two household, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventure piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love,
And continuance of their parent’s rage,
Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage,
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
[Exit]
Listen – Use online audio summary
[Enter Chorus.] Lines 1-4
1 Two households, both alike in dignity,
2 In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
3 From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
4 Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
3-4 ancient… unclean: A new outbreak of fighting (mutiny) between
families has caused the citizens of Verona to have one another’s blood
on their hands.
Teaching the play
•
•
•
•
•
Combination of summaries and graphic novels
Small group discussions
Students created concept maps
Discussed with entire class
Read and discuss selected parts of the play
(Use online audio)
Follow up Projects
• Create a different version:
– Modernize the play
– Different plot or ending
• Design Romeo & Juliet’s Wedding
• Create a movie poster
• Create a FaceBook page
• Act out a part or rewrite and act
Here is an example…
Performance Based Rubric Sample
22
Performance Based Rubric Sample
Creating a Poster
23
Follow Up
Have fun!!!
Romeo & Juliet Links (new finds!)
•
Canadian Shakespeare... Interactive folio:
http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/folio/folio.html
(Plot synopses are great.)
•
Prologue with music background & Act 1 audio:
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Theater/artifact/28201/
•
Letters of heartbreak to Juliet in Verona:
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/16/177027206/letters-of-heartbreak-find-some-love-in-verona-italy
•
Soundtrack-Music activity:
http://www.folger.edu/edulesplandtl.cfm?lpid=704
•
Pick up lines activity:
http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/primary/casestudy2.html
•
Anticipation guide-Romeo & Juliet:
http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/RomeoAndJuliet/Anticipation%20Guide.pdf
http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/RomeoAndJuliet/Anticpation.pdf
Resources
• http://www1.ccs.k12.in.us/teachers/esalona1/
Elizabethan
• http://www.tudorhistory.org/
• Animated Tales of Shakespeare
• “Shakespeare in Love”
• “Romeo & Juliet” Zeffirelli’s version (1968)
• Discovery Education
• www.grammarly.com