Suitable for: Years 8-10
Prerequisites: Poetry for Beginners OR Literary Techniques (one-day crash course)
Duration: 2 hours a week for 9-10 weeks; 18-20 hours total
About:
Romeo and Juliet might be Shakespeare’s most famous play, but how well do you know it, really? Do you know what it means to bite your thumb at someone? What is an apothecary? In this course we will answer these questions while asking what Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers can tell us about love, marriage, and listening to your parents. In every lesson, students read an extract from Romeo and Juliet and then analyse how the literary techniques in the extract create meaning and explore the themes of the play. The students are then asked to share their analyses with the class and to write analytical paragraphs. Students are taught effective note-taking techniques and fill in two notes booklets based on characters and themes, which they can use as their final study notes for any school exams. At the end of the course, students are equipped to analyse Shakespeare’s other plays.
Student Writing Outcomes:
- Opinion pieces about the extracts and characters studied in class;
- Analytical paragraphs or partial essays about the extracts studied; and
- Detailed literary notes organised in booklets based on characters and themes.
Student Learning Objectives:
- Reviewing and consolidating an extensive list of techniques for poetry analysis;
- Understanding Shakespearean language;
- Understanding the characters, themes, and context of Romeo and Juliet;
- Having the tools to analyse and write about Shakespeare’s plays in opinion pieces and essays;
- Considering the similarities and differences between people today and people in Shakespeare’s time;
- Organising and writing literary notes in preparation for essays and exams; and
- Evaluating Shakespeare’s responses to questions we still have today.
