Teaching Literature at Key Stage 3 and 4

Drama

Approaches to Shakespeare
'Ways in' to plays

A 'way in' to a particular play might more profitably be consideration of a key speech, which may – like Richard's soliloquy – or may not – like Hamlet's first soliloquy – come at the actual beginning of the play. A sequence around a speech might go something like this:

Teacher activity	Pupil activity
1. set the scene
2. read speech (first time)	2. follow speech (one copy per pupil)
3. lead choral reading (second reading)	3. join in choral reading
4. introduce pointing game	4.1 each pupil chooses a word from the speech; when someone points at them, they must say their word, while pointing at another 4.2 pointing game (as before) but now the pupils must perform their word – use voice and gesture to convey the meaning of their word
5. read speech (third reading)	5. echoing: when their chosen word is reached, the pupils say it, more or less at the same time as the teacher
6. introduce new activity – dividing the speech into blocks	6. in groups, pupils to decide where the main breaks in the speech are and divide it up into sections
7. plenary: take feedback from the groups	7. each group to report on the decisions they made (and reasons for these decisions)

The activities outlined above enable pupils to gain ownership over the text, starting at the smallest, most accessible level with their choice of a single word. Simultaneously, these activities emphasise that the text is to be performed: the pointing exercise does this by drawing attention, physically, to the presence of an audience at whom the word is to be addressed; it also manages to suggest something of the reciprocity of performance.

It's critical, too, to emphasise the importance of the teacher reading aloud as a way of enabling pupils to begin to "tune in" to the language. There is a general point here about teaching literature: the need for student teachers to put the time into rehearsal – and turn their reading into a performance.