William Shakespeare for kids

Introduction

In this lesson plan, which can be delivered as one long  lesson or as shorter segments with project work, learners will be introduced to the life of William Shakespeare and some of his achievements through a short animated video. Learners  will develop their understanding of his legacy and discuss answers to a quiz in pairs and groups. Learners will develop their speaking and prediction skills as well as their knowledge of life in England 400 years ago.

The projects 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.

Learning outcomes

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

Age/ Level

Aged 9–12 and 13-17 years (CEFR B1)

Time

130 minutes. This could be done in three parts.

Materials

• Lesson plan
• The William Shakespeare video, worksheet (Print an activity), and other materials can be accessed here:https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short-stories/william-shakespeare
• An image of William Shakespeare.
• Cut ups - 1 per group
• Worksheet 1 - 1 per pair
• Paper/ card and pencils for project work or access to computers or tablets.

Part one (35 minutes)

Warmer (5 minutes)

• Show learners the picture of Shakespeare. Do they know who he is? Ask learners if they know what he is famous for or where he was from. 

Prediction (10 minutes)

• Tell the learners that they are going to watch a video called William Shakespeare, which tells us about his life. 
• Give learners the video worksheet and ask them to match the words and pictures (exercise 1) before they watch the video. 
• Learners compare their answers in pairs.
• Check answers as a class.

While watching (10 minutes)

• Play the video. Ask learners to order the sentences (exercise 2) while they watch to make a timeline of his life. 
• Ask learners to compare answers in pairs and then check as a class. 

Post watching (10 minutes)

• Now ask learners to try to choose the answers to complete the sentences (exercise 3). Tell them it doesn’t matter if they can’t remember everything, because they will watch the video again. 
• Play the video again and learners check or change their answers to exercise 3. 
• Ask learners to compare answers in pairs, while monitoring and checking their answers. Fast finishers can try the wordsearch (exercise 4). 
•  Ask learners if they enjoyed the video. What was the most interesting thing that they learned?

Part two (45 minutes)

Review (5 minutes)

• Ask learners if they can remember from the end of the video why Shakespeare is still very popular today (because he wrote wonderful stories about very interesting people). 
• •    If your learners have covered any of the plays, ask them which one(s) they liked the most or which characters they found the most interesting. 

Quiz (10 minutes)

• Put learners in pairs and tell them that they are going to do a quiz with fun facts about Shakespeare’s plays. If they don’t know the answer, they can just guess! 
• Give each pair the quiz (worksheet 1) and they complete it together. 
• Then put two pairs together to form a team of four. The pairs should compare their answers and decide on a final set of answers. 
• Check answers with the whole class.
  Answers:
  1.    at least 38
  2.    over 100
  3.    75 
  4.    1900 – a French version of Hamlet
  5.    410 – making Shakespeare the most filmed author ever in any language
  6.    about £6
  7.    a feather
  8.    hanging out flags – not a lot of people could read, so they hung different coloured flags to let people know when a play was going to be performed and what kind of play it was going to be 
  9.    a replica of the Globe Theatre – the first one burned down in 1613 when a special effects cannon set fire to the roof, and the second one was pulled down in 1644–1645 after it was closed
  10.    true – Shakespeare’s primary source materials were English and Latin histories, plays and poems

Project (30 minutes)

Project: research and write about (or make a timeline for) a famous playwright or author from their country. 

Written text procedure

• Learners work in groups – each group can study the same playwright or author, or you could encourage each group to choose a different one. 
• Each learner in the group takes one aspect of the playwright or author, such as their early life, their plays/books, their legacy or life during the period. 
• Either for homework or using computers or tablets if you have access to them, each learner researches their area and writes a short paragraph. They can also draw or print an accompanying image. 
•  Then, as a group, learners put together their work to make a wall display for the classroom. Learners should look at the other groups’ displays and say what they found the most surprising or interesting. 

Timeline procedure

• If you choose to make a timeline instead, learners can work in pairs or small groups
• Depending on your learners, you might like to first brainstorm some of the key facts that usually appear on timelines, such as birth, school, jobs, publications, marriage, children, death, etc. Use exercise 2 from the video worksheet for examples.  
• Give each group paper and pencils to draw the timeline and add relevant text.
•  Monitor and support.

Part three (50 minutes)

Brainstorming (10 minutes)

• Put learners into groups.
• Ask learners to imagine what everyday life might have been like 400 years ago in England. 
• Prompt them to share ideas on clothes, food, entertainment and school. Ask groups to write down their ideas. 
• Get some ideas from all of the groups.

Reading and categorizing (15 minutes)

• Give each group a set of the sentences (Cut ups). 
• Ask them to sort them into three columns: ‘Life for poor people’, ‘Life for rich people’ and ‘Both’.
• Check answers as a class. If different groups have put a sentence into a different column, ask them to explain why.
• Are there any facts about life in Tudor times that were surprising? Are there any aspects which they would like to have now? How different are the facts from their own ideas they initially brainstormed? 

Research project (25 minutes)

Project: research what life was like in their country 400 years ago. 

• Learners work in groups, and each group takes one aspect of life, such as clothes, food, entertainment or school. 
• Either for homework or using computers or tablets if you have access to them, each group researches their area. 
• Groups then work together to produce a list of interesting facts and draw or print accompanying images. 
• Then, as a class, put together all the facts and images to make a large wall display for the classroom or groups can make an online infographic.
• Learners should read the other groups’ facts and say which they found the most surprising or interesting. 

References

• http://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/fun-international-facts-about-shakespeare
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_William_Shakespeare_screen_adaptations
•  http://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/william-shakespeare
•  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/william_shakespeare/
• http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/playground

Useful links and resources

• Infographic maker: https://www.visme.co/templates/infographics/informational/ 
• BBC Bitesize – Information and short videos about Shakespeare: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z726yrd