Shakespeare Month: Weeks Two and Three Round-Up
It’s Shakespeare Month on my Facebook page.
Week One was all about Shakespeare as a wordsmith which was such a fun topic.
Weeks Two and Three were all about introducing our kids to the language and plays of Shakespeare.
Come on over and join in the fun for week 4!
If you only introduce your kids to the words and phrases of Shakespeare while they are in elementary school, then you are on the right path to laying the foundation.
Of course, once you are ready to dig in a bit deeper with you kids, it might be time to tackle one of Shakespeare’s plays and take a look at the language a bit more.
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Studying Shakespeare: Play with Famous Passages
Take some time to introduce your kids to some of the famous passages found in Shakespeare’s plays.
This website is an excellent resource for finding famous scenes. You can search for scenes with male/male, female/male, or female/female dialogue.
How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig is an excellent resource for introducing your kids to passages from Shakespeare’s plays. This book includes memory work as well as details about individual plays and passages. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite resources.
Seven Ages of Man
Watch Morgan Freeman performing this well-known scene. You can compare it to a dramatic rendition performed by Benedict Cumberbatch featuring his scenes from his acting career.
{*Parental Discretion advised for the Benedict Cumberbatch performance – the lover scenes are quick but explicit and the soldier scenes have violence.}
To Be Or Not To Be
Watch a hysterical skit as famous actors argue about the delivery of this famous line. {*Parental Discretion: at the 3-minute mark, a man remarks that the female actor can’t play Hamlet because she lacks a pen*s} Then you can watch
Then you can watch a skit on Sesame Street that uses this famous line.
Then there are five different interpretations of this scene from five different movie versions. Ethan Hawke has his own interpretation as he walks around a Blockbuster Video during these famous lines.
Studying Shakespeare: Introduce The Plays
I always start with a story version when I am introducing my kids to Shakespeare’s Plays. There are many choices available. We own the Usborne title: Stories from Shakespeare. I selected this version because I enjoyed the illustrations and it contained the title I needed at the time.
But there are many great options on the market, including the version we own:
I have an entire blog post dedicated to introducing Shakespeare’s Plays to children. You can find detailed information and resources there.
Studying Shakespeare: Try a Graphic Version
My kids find graphic novels much less intimidating than a chapter book. Shakespeare’s plays are no different. Check out a few of the choices for graphic versions of Shakespeare.
Graphic Shakespeare is a book we own in our house. It isn’t my favorite, but the kids do reading it and the stories introduce them to Shakespeare.
This graphic version of a Midsummer Nights Dream caught my eye. It is written using the original text. There is another graphic version of A Midsummer Nights Dream that appears to be written in a modern translation.
This Romeo and Juliet graphic novel also stays true to the original text.
My favorite (No Fear Shakespeare) has a series of Graphic Novels based on the modern english translations.
In general, kids are much less intimidated by a graphic version of Shakespeare. See if you can find one to check out and enjoy.
Studying Shakespeare: Facebook Live Video Week Two
If you want to watch some details about the information I shared on Facebook during Shakespeare Month, Week Two then this video was my Friday summary of the week:
Hope this fun introduction to the Bard leaves you feeling less intimidated and more inspired to tackle a Shakspeare play! There is still one week left to join in the fun on Facebook. Week Four will be all about sonnets! Follow my Facebook Page to keep up.
I also have a Pinterest board for Shakespeare. Follow all of my boards or just Teaching Shakespeare.
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She believes that creativity, laughter, and fun are the backbone for engaging and inspiring homeschools. You can find her encouragement and tips on this blog, Mary Hanna Wilson.
She is an enneagram 7 and an extrovert. She enjoys traveling, tea (iced or hot), good conversations, and books. You can connect with her on Instagram and Facebook.
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