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Three Innovative Ways to Kick-off the School Year
#3
It's Elementary, My Dear Shakespeare
Recommended for grades 2-5
“Who is Shakespeare?” Lois Burdett asked her second-grade students more than thirty years ago.
One student guessed, “A boxer.” Another said, “I don’t know any of the big kids.”
At that time, Burdett was teaching in Stratford, Ontario—a Canadian city named after Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. Naturally, she was shocked that her students lived in Stratford, which hosts an annual theatre festival, yet had no idea who the Bard was. The next day, and for years afterwards, she formally introduced her students to the complex yet satisfying works of William Shakespeare.
She would begin by focusing on his life. Students would have to find England on a globe; trace what may have been Shakespeare’s boyhood route to school on a map; and write a news report about the unfortunate death of Hamnet, Shakespeare’s son who died from the Bubonic plague. One girl was so inspired, she took it upon herself to write Shakespeare’s last will and testament.
Next, Burdett would introduce her students to Shakespeare’s plays. She would first rewrite a play using modern terminology and read segments aloud to the class every day. For example, Act 2, Scene 2 in A Midsummer Night’s Dream was changed to:
"You've got to be kidding!" Helena cried,
"I know, it's Hermia, you want for your bride."
"Not a chance!" said Lysander, "It's you I love!
Who will not change a raven for a dove?"
"Give me a break!" Helena scoffed in dismay,
"Do you think I was born yesterday? *
Then she would have her students participate in a variety of comprehension activities that included writing a research report on court fools, drawing a picture of their favorite scene, and writing a letter from one character to another.
“The more the kids interacted with the story, the more they got used to the language,” Burdett says.
For instance, while reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream, they had to scribe a friendly letter from Lysander to Hermia. One student wrote:
Dearest Helena,
My heart bleeds for you…. I am in a deep love spell for you.
Your eyes are like sparkling ice shimmering over me.
You are all my dreams come true!
Lysander *
By the end of the school year, the students would be so comfortable with Shakespeare that they would enthusiastically select and perform one of Burdett's adaptations of his plays. Adult audience members were often amazed at the 7- and 8-year-olds’ command of Elizabethan language.
Burdett has since retired from teaching and is now the author of a book series entitled "Shakespeare Can Be Fun!" She also conducts educational seminars to pass on the tradition of introducing younger children to the Bard. She advises teachers to not assume Shakespeare's writings are too complex for elementary students.
“Don’t underestimate their delight of new and difficult words,” she says. “They grasp it! Not a day goes by that I’m not amazed.”
* Source: Burdett, Lois. A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Kids. Ontario: Firefly Books Ltd, 1997.
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