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I always debate on adding Shakespeare to my curriculum but I teach 5th and 6th grade. When I do my Jobs in the Theatre Lesson I have students watch Julie Taymor Behind the Scenes. It shows The Tempest and they always beg to know what happens at the end.
I’ve taught HS drama in the past and my biggest struggle with Shakespeare is how hard the language is to understand for the students. When I’ve done the shows in the past, I’ve made sure to spend a couple of weeks just reading it and working on the language. Something that worked really well was have students work on small groups on scenes from Shakespeare in which they rewrote the language and made it modern and then did a compilation show with all the rewritten scenes. Name calling translated from Shakespeare to modern language can be hilarious. The big thing is letting the students know that they need to know what the original play or scene was saying so the modern adaptation is right or if they are doing the original, so they get across the true meaning of the words through the action and vocal inflection. I love Shakespeare myself so this was something I always pushed for in class or a production. Good luck and have fun with it.