5 Effective Ways to Understand and Learn Shakespeare in Class

Shakespeare's works, with their complex ideas, rich language, and universal themes, provide an abundance of chances to engage and challenge students. But, for the same reasons, Shakespeare may be intimidating to understand at first. Here are 5 effective ways teachers can use in class to help their students understand and learn Shakespeare.

Read Shakespeare's plays in all their brilliance and understand what every word means with comprehensive "No Fear Shakespeare" books. These books can make studies more accessible and enjoyable for all students, regardless of their skills or performance.

Every “No Fear Shakespeare” book contains the complete text of the original play, a line-by-line translation that puts the words into everyday language, a complete list of characters, with descriptions and plenty of helpful commentary.

Some words may be difficult to understand for modern readers due to their lack of regular usage or changing meaning. Some archaic terms, such as thee, thou, thy, and thine, are immediately understood, whilst others, such as betwixt, cause a little pause. If not for the annotations in a Shakespeare book, obsolete terms could be an issue; words like beteem are rarely seen in student dictionaries. In these cases, however, a brief look at the book's line-by-line translation will answer the problem.

Words that are familiar but have changed definitions, can also confuse students. Readers disregard the notes because they believe they already know the word. In Much Ado about Nothing, Act I, Scene 1, the word "an" refers to "if": That’s why “No Fear Shakespeare” books come with helpful commentary to address all these issues and help readers to understand better.

People often treat Shakespeare like a membership of an exclusive club. If you don't "get" him, if you don't go to see his plays, you're not truly educated or literate. No Fear Shakespeare: A Companion gives you the scoop on everything you need to know about Shakespeare, including: What's so great about Shakespeare? How did he get so smart? The five mysteries of Shakespeare's life – and why they matter as well as his world, theatre, language, five greatest characters and so much more.

Unless you're teaching a specific sonnet or a passage analysis, it's more important to focus on the play's general meaning rather than a literal interpretation. Otherwise, readers may miss the story's main concepts, motifs, and character development. Have students write descriptions at the end of each scene. Depending on the goal of your unit and year level, not every scenario must be thoroughly explored to obtain a meaningful comprehension. For one act of a play, divide students into groups and assign scenes for each group to summarise and teach the rest of the class.

Use students' prior knowledge of a Shakespearean play to build the major plot and characters as a class. Give kids an outline of the play to make them feel confident. There's no better method than to do a Whoosh. This is one of many process play approaches developed by The Royal Shakespeare Company to help actors prepare for a performance. In a 'Whoosh' the class forms a circle, with the teacher on the outside reading a shortened text version. This activity allows you to outline the plot and essential concepts while students playfully portray the various characters and items using facial expressions and body language.

Perspective-taking exercises assist pupils grasp characters' motivations and allow them to write more insightfully. Freeze frames are an excellent technique for attaining this goal and motivating students to collaborate. In this practice, students are given a pivotal moment from a play and encouraged to work in groups to make frozen photos of their facial expressions and body language.

Each scene then unfreezes for a few seconds when the characters interact or exchange lines of Shakespearean dialogue. Activities like freeze frames can also be followed by a writing assignment. Students could write from the perspective of a character, a letter between characters, or a reflective article about their frozen scenario.

A ‘Compass Points Thinking Routine’ is another method for helping pupils grasp the issues that characters encounter in Shakespeare's plays. In this assignment, students draw a compass and consider four different points on a proposal. The four compass points ask students to assess the proposition's advantages, flaws, and missing information. Finally, they must conclude or provide advice to the character. These activities break down complicated topics for students and allow them to evaluate a section of the book in phases.

Exploring the setting of the play is critical to helping students into the world of the text. The Royal Shakespeare Company recommends 'Guided Imaginary Journeys' as a means to bring the setting to life. This is an exercise in which students work in pairs. In this scenario, one individual is blindfolded and led around the room by their partner as the text is placed.

For example, a student may be guided through the sights, smells, and sounds of Macbeth's heath, where we first meet the witches. Props and costumes are not required for this practice. Students employ language, imagination, and in-depth knowledge of the book to transport their companion into the play's universe.