Intro to Romeo and Juliet for Junior Drama Classes

I'm a Drama and English pre-service teacher (student teacher). We've been looking recently at individual exercises we can use in our classrooms and build into bigger unit of learning. For example, a game in which some participants are called 'master' and some are called 'slaves' can begin to recall students' prior knowledge about slavery in the USA, which can lead into a devising exercise about this.

In class at university last night we looked at exercises which build up to a Year 9 or 10 unit on Romeo and Juliet. The first exercises were based around the Shakesperean Insult Kit, which can introduce students to Shakespearean language in a fun and interesting way. We worked on vocalising insults both in the way it should be said (as an insult) and 'playing against' (as a compliment to someone you don't really like). THe same phrase was used as a confession of a mistake made, a declaration of undying love, etc. This teaches students to look for clues in how something is said as well as what's said.

A 'story woosh' was performed, where the teacher narrates a story and students volunteer to get up and perform parts during the narration. A great way to quickly run through a storyline of a complicated play and have students see what's going on and participate.

I learned that teaching about Shakespeare doesn't have to start with a static and complicated reading of a text. Instead, an introduction to the context, language, and storyline is a great way for students to gain some prior knowledge before reading the full play. It's hard for students to be faced with Shakespearean language. Even I struggle with the language and often have to find other ways into it for myself.

In fact, it could be an advantage that I struggle with Shakespearean language. If I am having to 'dumb it down' for myself, I can hopefully come up with strategies to help students get into the language and know how to perform it. Because Drama is all about movement, we don't have computers and dictionaries waiting at the side to look things up. We need to learn how to explore and work out the intricacies for ourselves.

Students, as developing actors, need to make Shakespeare accessible for their audience and in doing so make it accessible for themselves.

I'd recommend to other Drama PSTs to look into alternative ways to introduce their students to Shakespearean texts. This will mean you don't immediately lose students when they are faced with the language.