William Shakespeare for kids

This lesson introduces learners to the life of William Shakespeare with the support of a short animated video.

Author
Rachael Ro

In this lesson plan, which can be delivered as a 45-minute lesson or as shorter segments with optional projects, learners will be introduced to the life of William Shakespeare and some of his achievements through a short animated video. If learners do stage 2, they will develop their understanding of his legacy and discuss answers to a quiz in pairs and groups. If learners do stage 3, they will develop their speaking and prediction skills as well as their knowledge of life in England 400 years ago.

The optional projects in stages 2 and 3 will allow them to develop their research and collaborative working skills by finding out about a famous playwright or author from their country, or about life in their country 400 years ago.

Aims

  • Learners will develop strategies for watching and understanding a short video about the life of William Shakespeare (stage 1).
  • Learners will develop their understanding of Shakespeare's legacy by completing a quiz, and (optional) research a famous playwright or author from their country (stage 2).
  • Learners will develop their knowledge of life in England 400 years ago during Shakespeare's time and (optional) in their own country through completing research (stage 3).

Age

Older primary (9–11 years)

Time

1 x 45-minute lesson (you can choose to do stage 2 or stage 3 or both)

or

3 x 15-minute segments (longer if you choose to do the optional projects in stage 2 or stage 3)

Materials

The lesson plan and worksheets can be downloaded in PDF format below. 

The William Shakespeare video, worksheet and other materials can be accessed here:

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short-stories/william-shakespeare

You will also need an image of William Shakespeare, and optionally access to computers or tablets.

Downloads
Lesson plan333.68 KB
Worksheet 1264.37 KB
Worksheet 2274.29 KB
Language Level

Comments

Submitted by Shuhub on Fri, 06/30/2023 - 21:36

Thank you for everything you give us.

Submitted by Lliana on Thu, 05/18/2017 - 19:53

... I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about Shakespeare with my 6th graders this year. We used the material about Shakespeare's life and Midsummer Night's Dream. My ... super energetic groups in grade 6 are absolutely mixed ability and therefore, difficult to teach. However, they liked these lessons as I included extra information about Shakespeare's works, life and times with pictures, videos and flashcards. One of the groups actually acted out Midsummer Night's Dream, based on the simple sentences included in the B.C. transcript. It was their decision and they were so happy! :-) At the moment I am planning to prepare some simple props and involve all students in the performance. Thank you again for the excellent, inspiring material! Liana Kokkaliari, Athens - Greece

Thanks for your comment. We also have a number of lesson plans about Shakespeare for teenagers (secondary) that you can find here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-teens/uk-culture Thanks, Cath TE Team

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Thu, 04/14/2016 - 14:27

Hi Delara Normally the primary materials on LearnEnglish Kids are graded by age rather than by level, but this lesson plan is aimed at CEFR level A2 more or less. Hope that helps, Cath TE Team

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