Introducing Shakespeare

A train threads its way through the darkening suburbs of Liverpool as bright orange flames leap up from people's gardens. It's Bonfire Night, and my fellow drama students and I are going to see Macbeth at the Royal Court Theatre. I don't remember the details of our conversation exactly, but there was some excited chatter about the prospect of seeing Pete Postlethwaite in the lead role. The memories I have of that evening are blurry at best, hardly surprising when you consider that it was more than twenty-five years ago.

For anyone not familiar with English customs, Bonfire Night takes place annually on the fifth of November and commemorates the failed plot to destroy the Houses of Parliament in 1605. It is believed that William Shakespeare's play Macbeth was performed for the first time in 1606, so it's quite possible that the famous playwright was working on it when Guy Fawkes, a chief conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, was discovered in a cellar underneath Parliament along with dozens of barrels of gunpowder. Naturally, the king of England, who was also Shakespeare's patron, didn't think kindly of the man who had tried to blow him to smithereens, and Guy Fawkes was subsequently sentenced to death.

Throughout my years of teaching English, I have introduced both Guy Fawkes and William Shakespeare to my students with the intention of sharing something of the culture in which I was raised. Guy Fawkes was basically a terrorist, the likes of whom we often see on the television news nowadays. Shakespeare, on the other hand, left an indelible mark on the world with his poetry and plays, so he was a good guy, and most people have had at least some contact with his work. Romeo & Juliet stands out as one of his most popular plays, for instance.

So, how can we use Shakespeare in the ESL classroom? Obviously, there isn't much point examining the original text of his plays with students who are still getting to grips with modern-day English. Even native speakers like me struggle to read Shakespeare, although I find it interesting to see how English has changed since the Bard's time. While reading Hamlet, I came across the archaic word 'yesternight', whose meaning you can easily deduce, thanks to 'yesterday'. (I quite like the sound of 'yesternight', but I'll continue to say 'last night' as it saves me a syllable.) One way to get students engaged with Shakespeare is to give them a brief plot summary in simple English and get them to write a scene, which they can later perform if they choose to do so. Discussing the characters and the story is another option, e.g. How do you think Macbeth feels when he meets the witches?

I feel this blog post wouldn't be complete without including some links to useful resources. The British Council website elaborates on what I've written here. (https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-make-shakespeare-easy-english-language-learners)

Teachers will find more ideas at this address. (https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources/teaching-secondary/lesson-plans/intermediate-b1/shakespeare) 

And if you fancy reading Shakespeare in modern English alongside the original text, check out this website. (https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare)

Farewell!