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Ask for help > Please help me
Please help me
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sldiaz
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Please help me
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Hello Dear Colleagues
I am going to do an "author" type study about Shakespeare with my sixth grade students. Do you know about any movie about him and his life? maybe a "documentary film"?? a biography???
Thanks in advance,
Greetings from Panama 
Silka
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7 Mar 2011
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libertybelle
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Shakespeare in Love!! But to be honest - I never even studied Shakepeare until 8th grade!
I don �t think 6th graders are very interested in him or his language. You really have to be good at English to get anything out of "old" English and his writings. Even Romeo and Juliet is about love and 6th graders hate that!!! (what are they - 12 years old?)
My subjects for 6th graders are about:
Girl Things
guy things
Adventure
Schools in English speaking countries
Games, sports and the internet.
Friendship
The world of make-believe (I showed the film Eragon)
Short mysteries and spy stories. (the movie Spy Kids is perfect for this age group)
That �s my humble opinion and 25 years of teaching. You need to choose subjects that relate to that age group and Shakespeare, in my opinion, is far beyond their comprehension.
L
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7 Mar 2011
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mariamit
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How about " Shakespeare in love" . It �s about his younger life and the woman he falls in love with who ultimately inspires him to write some of his best plays. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes and Colin Firth.
Maria
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7 Mar 2011
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lshorton99
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I agree - Shakespeare in Love is a good film about Shakespeare.
You might also want to consider some of the teenage �versions � of Shakespeare �s stories - 10 things I hate about you (The Taming of the Shrew), She �s the Man (Twelfth Night) O, (Othello) - I �m pretty certain there �s quite a few more. While (10 Things I hate about you aside) they aren �t the best films I �ve ever seen, they do make Shakespeare more accessible to teens.
Also, I don �t know whether it �s a difference between British and US school systems but I remembering enjoying Shakespeare in 5th/6th Grade. I certainly didn �t appreciate his language as I would come to later on, but the dramatic aspect and the stories were a lot of fun. �A Midsummer Night �s Dream � is always a good starting point. Obviously, it �s in reality extremely dark, but for pre-teens, you don �t need to get into that and can focus on the humour, the characters and the magic. I think it �s great to encourage students to enjoy Shakespeare before getting bogged down in criticising him in literary terms. Again, not meant as a criticism of Libertybelle �s excellent points - of course they won �t be able to comprehend Shakespeare fully - I still find new nuances and meanings after years of study! I just feel that an introduction to his stories would not be a bad thing even at a young age. Also, they should be encouraged to learn at least something about the greatest English writer of all time! In terms of his work, however, stick to the comedies at that age!
Lindsey
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7 Mar 2011
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ueslteacher
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Here �s an online webquest on Shakespeare if you have the benefit of a computer in class. There�s a documentary called The Adventure of English (which actually has several parts) Here in part 4 some thirty min into the film you�ll find a portion about Shakespeare. Sophia
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7 Mar 2011
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libertybelle
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Lindsey - the difference is that we are native speakers and Shakespeare is part of our language heritage. It �s on every native speaker �s syllabus at school.
But for ESL 12 year olds - it can be pretty difficult if not impossible to understand.
Topic -wise; 12 year olds are psychologically not into love stories.
The best film I �ve ever shown made on a Shakespeare theme was West Side Story.
My 12 year olds loved the music, dancing and story because there wasn �t too much kissing in it!!!
I believe that topics and vocabulary should be age-appropriate.
I �ve written with Silka and she �s doing an introduction on Shakespeare not an analysis of his works.
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7 Mar 2011
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ueslteacher
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@Liberty: It �s absolutely true. I �d go with introduction too. I did use a matching exercise on some easy to guess Sakespearian English words with my 6th graders last year though. Just to show he used a different language. There are also adapted versions appropriate for that age group that would introduce the drama stories. I found this in older forum posts (Shakespeare�s works retold as stories) BTW there are BBC Shakespeare animated tales on YouTube.
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7 Mar 2011
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MoodyMoody
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I have also taught adult high school primarily for native English speakers. We studied Macbeth in my class. My students complained that they couldn �t understand it, so I showed a BBC video with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench. (Brilliant acting, although it was a stage production, not a movie.) One day I had a substitute teacher with an MA. She couldn �t understand it either.
The language has changed a great deal in the last 400 years. Be gentle with your 12-year-olds. Shakespeare is difficult even for native speakers. Go with adaptations for now, unless you have some really gifted students that want the original.
(Hey, I loved The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English in high school, and that �s even older than Shakespeare! "Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote/ The droghte of March hath perced to the roote..." From memory, not looked up or cut-and-pasted!) |
8 Mar 2011
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