Job Discussion Forums

[Nomad Dan]

Hello. I work with EFL students in an international highschool....We do very limited pull-out, so most of my teaching is assisting the regular English teacher. It usually works out well. Now that the regular class is working on Romeo and Juliet in one section and Othello in the other, I can see my students' eyes glazing over. I quickly brought in Shakespeare for young readers....but it just isn't the same. These students are on a fast-track to attend an English speaking university, so there is no room for the timid....They are having to jump on in there....But I think that Shakespeare is a bit much.

Does anyone have any similar experience or a suggestion ?

Cheers,

Nomad Dan in Burma

[spiral78]

My teaching situation is somewhat similar; fast track program for learners entering English-stream unis. I must say, while Shakespear is certainly important culturally & etc. & etc., it sounds like an unfortunate choice under the circumstances, simply because the language used is not immediately useful or relevent to most ESL learners. Research supports the idea of direct relevence in what we teach.........if it's considered important to teach the culture in your situation, why not West Side Story? Isn't it an adaptation of Romeo & Juliet?
If this is a decision of the regular teacher, I imagine there may not be much that you can do, but that relevence and immediate usefulness issue could be brought up for the future, perhaps.
Luck!

[darkside1]

www.teachit.co.uk is an excellent resource for teaching literature and contains materials on Shakespeare's plays. (You may have to join to access some resources- it's searchable).

I found it to be extremely helpful when preparing mixed ability esl students for SATs and IGCSE English a couple of years ago. Also useful for Romeo and Juliet if you can get a hold of them: the film version starring Leonardo Di Caprio (and the bloke from Lost as Mercutio), a tape of the play, and the film 'Romeo must Die' starring Jet Li (very loosely connected to the original). 'Shakespeare in Love' is worthwhile too.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Here at our uni, our ESL students read Huck Finn, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, and other classics that are usually read in American High Schools (or even Jr. Highs!). And even those are annotated. Once they finish up with their ESL block, they enter Foundational Comp, in which they're introduced to more...scholarly material. So I couldn't imagine these kids having to read Romeo and Juliet. It doesn't seem like that kind of English would be very useful unless they were planning to major in Literature or English.

[Justin Trullinger]

And remember how challenging Shakespeare is even for natives. My background is in theatre, and I tend to think that Shakespeare is meant to be seen, not read. Any of the films mentioned are excellent. If you're on a Shakespeare bent, the Zeffereli (Spelling uncertain) Romeo and Juliet also has some positive points, and could even be compared and contrasted with more modern versions.

Shakespeare in Love is extremely accesible, but the fictional nature of the story should be mentioned. (Completely made up, with some historical basis...possibly.)

If reading it in class is another teacher's goal, there may not be much you can do. But I would try to deal with short sections, read several times and dissected to the point of comprehension, then GET THEM ON THEIR FEET. It may be the only way to breathe some life into it.

For reasons why Shakespeare is not a good EFL idea, see my upcoming book on drama in the classroom. (THis and a whole lot more!)

But remember this- An educated native speaker will have a productive vocabulary of between 7000 and 12000 words, at a rough average, and a somewhat higher receptive vocabulary. A very good non native will frequently have from 4000 to 6000. Some of Shakespeare's plays break the 20000 different vocabulary word mark. And many of those words, he made up. A large number of them do not occur anywhere else, at least in the modern world. So what's the point, to your students, in the struggle to understand this material?

So see a bit, certainly, and learn a bit about one of the English language's most significant writers. But in depth study of Shakespeare simply isn't the right thing for most EFL students.


Regards,
Justin

[darkside1]

Agree with the comments about the problems in teaching Shakespeare in an efl context. Literature can provide a productive context for developing efl skills but of course there are other choices available which are more meaningful for students and will better meet their langauge needs.

Bear in mind, however, that Shakespeare is on the syllabus for UK English SATs at age 14 (though there was some discussion about removing the bard a couple of years ago) and for IGCSE English and A levels.

So if you are a teacher in an international school (or in a school with a large esl population), either a class teacher, or an esl support teacher, you have to figure out a way round the problem (and these days results matter). My tuppence worth is:

-break the plays down into short chunks
-re- write scenes in modern English
-act out scenes and allow students to improvise dialogue but maybe include a few key phrases of the original
-think about changing the setting to make the plays more meaningful (it happens all the time in theatre productions)
-if you are teaching to an exam syllabus identify possible questions and limit what you do to key scenes/ characters/ issues
-use repetition (view, read, listen, summarize)
-do project work associated with the themes/ characters in the play
-use some of the resources (developed by fellow English teachers) on the website mentioned above or any other ideas you come by

As I'm not a drama teacher I have a fairly limited reportoire of activities but I am sure that Shakespeare must lend itself to Total Physical Response style teaching (not my cup of tea), but it seems to work for some people.

[valley_girl]

While I think literature has a place in ELT when your students are preparing for university, I personally think that Shakespeare isn't the way to go. I have spent a lot of time studying Shakespeare in high school and university - even going so far as to take a course in it (we read and wrote papers on 13 of his plays) in uni. "Shakespearean English" is so vastly different from the English we use today. I remember having to refer to the copious footnotes in my Riverside Shakespeare and at times resorting to a Coles Notes version to get all of the missing pieces. Honestly, I would question the motives of someone teaching Shakespeare in an EFL/ESL class. What would you hope to gain from it? Are you just a fan of Shakespeare's works and wish to pass that on to your students? If so, perhaps high school English (native speakers) is more your speed than ELT.

In our program (university prep), we supplement with classic novels like Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, The Island of Dr. Moreau, etc. More advanced students get "authentic" texts, while less advanced students get Penguin readers. Students do complain that it's "too hard", but their reading skills improve a lot over the course of reading just one novel. They also get to see the movie adaptation at the end of the course, which they enjoy. I feel that we would be wasting our time (and theirs) trying to get them to read Shakespeare.

[Nomad Dan]

Thanks all for the discussion and ideas.
Presently, I am muddling through the plays (Othello and Romeo and Juliet) with my higher students...and working with them in the classroom with another Literature teacher, and "pulling out" the lower ones to do something easier to grasp.
Your comments are a big help.
Cheers,
Dan

[Brooks]

I worked with a teacher that taught some of the sonnets.
That went quite well. I was impressed with that group of kids.
These students were about 14-15 years old and had lived overseas, so their English was pretty good.

I have taught Our Town and the Diary of Anne Frank (the play).
While those worked out ok, I tried the Crucible, but gave up since it was just too tough.

[Henry_Cowell]

I don't see why earlier varieties of English should be avoided in EFL classes. When studying intermediate French in college, I was exposed to a few texts in middle French (mostly poetry). When studying Indonesian, I was exposed to texts in formal Malay from the 17th century. We didn't have to master such language. But the exposure was very instructive for historical, linguistic, and cultural perspectives.

[dmb]

I admit that I haven't read Shakespear since school. Why? I didn't like it? why? maybe because I was forced to read it and I rebelled by not liking it. I read alot, but not shakespear. For those who use it in the classroom have the learners asked for it or are you forcing it upon them. I only ask because I can't imagine Shakespear going down well in either of the cultures I have taught-Turkish and Arabic.well atleast not my (ex/current) students
(btw is it true that shakespearE didn't know how to spell his own name?)

[Henry_Cowell]

Showing some of the excellent film versions of Shakespeare plays is an ideal way to make the transition to reading the actual texts. In my experience, EFL and ESL students have enjoyed watching the films and talking about both the timeliness and timelessness of the plots and characters. The plays frequently have similarities to traditional stories from the students' own cultures.

[jpvanderwerf2001]

David Crystal, I believe it was him, gave an informative and entertaining presentation re: Shakespeare and EFL/ELT at an IATEFL (I think) conference a few years back in Brighton. I really enjoyed it, even though I can't recall all the details. Perhaps someone can refresh my (obviously faltered) memory?

[Nomad Dan]

We showed a 1968 American version of Romeo and Juliet up to the end of Act I and the students were enthralled. It really connected the reading and hard work and all of the vocabulary struggles with something real...They made the connection. This version stuck to the script fairly well, and it was simply great to see them light up when they recognized a line or a sonnet that we had studied.
I thought it was really best to go scene by scene rather than showing the whole thing at once. They were eager to move on.
Main thing is, I could not have taught this by myself without a LOT of preparation...I mean bunches ! The literature teacher here at my school is an excellent one, and he knows his Shakespeare. I am learning...I think you need to do some serious self-study before jumping on Shakespeare...At least I really had to.
I am enjoying seeing the students really learn the material...Especially my EFLers....
Anon,
Daniel

[afowles]

Try this book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=I01ngd1DHj&cds2Pid=6609&isbn=1411402294

I used some sonnets with my uni classes. They had problems with it. I think I could do it better now, though.