Romeo & Juliet in a Few (English) Words!

By Belle BadellSummer 2013

English 1 Though ESOL

• Most students were level 1 ESOL – very limited English proficiency.

• About 20% arrived in the country after winter break.

• Small groups of 4 – Higher proficiency level student volunteer to help. Only those willing students helped with language, assignments, reading/translating.

Building Background

And in addition to that…It was my first year teaching ESOL at the high

school level!

I knew very little or nothing about:• Renaissance• Shakespeare

Asked for help!!!

Curriculum SpecialistMDCPS Bilingual

department:Mrs. Maria Cueto

Reach Out!

• Curriculum Specialist in your Bilingual/ESOL department

• History teachers

• English teachers

• Colleagues in your department

BuildingBackground

Renaissance Shakespearean Theater

Shakespeare Shakespearean Drama

Renaissance PowerPoint

• Give students printed material (Ex: The Spread of the Renaissance word document)

• Show/discuss PowerPoint – students take notes

Two sources of information – CCSS!

Shakespeare

• Shakespeare’s life• Shakespeare as a writer– Universal themes– Reached all sorts of audiences

• Shakespeare’s influence in the English language

• Characteristics of the Shakespearean drama

Key Ideas

• Is love stronger than hate? Debate activity in textbook

• Love quote activity

Love is a smoke and is made with the fume of sighs

Shakespeare love quote 11:Romeo & Juliet – Act 1, Scene 1

From:http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/shakespeare-love-quotes/

Shakespeare’s love quote

Key IdeasCharacteristics of the Shakespearean drama

Introducing Romeo & Juliet

Romeo & Juliet - Characters

Prologue - [Enter Chorus.]Two household, both alike in dignity,In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,Whose misadventure piteous overthrowsDoth with their death bury their parents’ strife.The fearful passage of their death-marked love,And continuance of their parent’s rage,Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage,The which if you with patient ears attend,What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. [Exit]

Listen – Use online audio summary

[Enter Chorus.] Lines 1-4

1 Two households, both alike in dignity,2 In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,3 From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,4 Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

3-4 ancient… unclean: A new outbreak of fighting (mutiny) between families has caused the citizens of Verona to have one another’s blood on their hands.

Teaching the play

• Combination of summaries and graphic novels• Small group discussions• Students created concept maps• Discussed with entire class• Read and discuss selected parts of the play

(Use online audio)

Follow up Projects

• Create a different version:– Modernize the play– Different plot or ending

• Design Romeo & Juliet’s Wedding• Create a movie poster• Create a FaceBook page• Act out a part or rewrite and actHere is an example…

Performance Based Rubric Sample

22

Performance Based Rubric SampleCreating a Poster

23

Follow Up

Have fun!!!

Romeo & Juliet Links (new finds!)• Canadian Shakespeare... Interactive folio: http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/folio/folio.html

(Plot synopses are great.)

• Prologue with music background & Act 1 audio:http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Theater/artifact/28201/

• Letters of heartbreak to Juliet in Verona:http://www.npr.org/2013/04/16/177027206/letters-of-heartbreak-find-some-love-in-verona-italy

• Soundtrack-Music activity:http://www.folger.edu/edulesplandtl.cfm?lpid=704

• Pick up lines activity:http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/primary/casestudy2.html

• Anticipation guide-Romeo & Juliet:http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/RomeoAndJuliet/Anticipation%20Guide.pdfhttp://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/RomeoAndJuliet/Anticpation.pdf

Resources

• http://www1.ccs.k12.in.us/teachers/esalona1/Elizabethan

• http://www.tudorhistory.org/• Animated Tales of Shakespeare• “Shakespeare in Love”• “Romeo & Juliet” Zeffirelli’s version (1968)• Discovery Education• www.grammarly.com