20 teaching ideas for Shakespeare

Last updated: 15/11/2023
Contributor: Teachit team
20 teaching ideas for Shakespeare
Main Subject
Key stage
Category
Reading: Drama
Resource type
Teaching ideas
Author
William Shakespeare

Twenty engaging and fun ideas for getting students excited about Shakespeare. Activities range in scope and age suitability, so some are quick starters and others work well for making revision notes for an exam on a specific play.

Most assume that students are studying a specific play, but some are generic ideas for introducing the bard and his works.

Activities include storyboarding, changing the context, rewriting a short extract for a different audience or purpose, bingo, insults, matching activities, plotting graphs, making a director's cut of a scene and thought tracking.

Example teaching ideas from the resource: 

1. 60 second Shakespeare.  Find a relevant (and appropriate!) YouTube model. Students squish a chosen scene/act/play into 60 seconds, and perform this as a monologue.

2. Puppet show.  Create finger puppet characters, either on paper or felt (depending on how ‘arty’ you’re feeling!) and get students to act out a particular scene.

3. Significant quotes.  After reading a scene, give students a small set of quotations and ask them to choose 10 that they think are key for the audience to understand and appreciate the scene.

4. Saying and thinking.  Put students into pairs.  They read a key scene.  One student says the actual line while the other student says what the character might be thinking at that point.

5. Guess who.  Give students a character name on a post-it and they have to stick it on their forehead without seeing the name.  They then need to ask questions to their partner and try to guess which character they are from the answers they’re given.

All reviews

Have you used this resource?

5

16/09/2019

5

01/03/2019

I love these ideas - thank-you for sharing!!

Anne Gibbons

17/07/2016

Didn't use it - I'm teaching advanced classes and these suggestions won't really work for me - sorry

Sally Crossley

11/04/2014

5

16/09/2019

5

01/03/2019

I love these ideas - thank-you for sharing!!

Anne Gibbons

17/07/2016

Didn't use it - I'm teaching advanced classes and these suggestions won't really work for me - sorry

Sally Crossley

11/04/2014

Drama teacher- some of the activities will help students embrace Shakespeare.

10/04/2014

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