This blog has come about because of a chance comment by one of my students. He said that he wished that there was somewhere he could go for ideas on how to teach Shakespeare to his class. I'm going to attempt one idea each day.

Friday, 2 September 2011

Romeo and Juliet 4, love and hate

Romeo and Juliet is a play about love because... 

Go around the class room asking students to finish off the sentence.  They should identify that there are different kinds of love demonstrated in the play.  Encourage the more able students to use Shakespeare's language to exemplify why the play is about love.

Then ask students to complete a snowball exercise, a mind map or a list to show that it is a play about hate.

1. Weighing activity- use a set of scales to balance out what is about love and what is about hate.  The scales should be the balancing variety.  Ask students to decide the merits of each action and see whether the play is about love or hate and which is stronger.

2. Love is... based on the old cartoons.  e.g. Love is climbing up onto a balcony.

3. Ask students to compose a verse for a Valentine's Day card using some of the imagery they encounter in the play.

4.  It is said that love and hate are flip sides of the same coin.  Create a coin with love on one side and hate on the other.  Ask students to flip the coin and say what love or hate is in their own words.



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