What’s inside: Getting started with Shakespeare is easy. It just depends on where you are.
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Getting Started with Shakespeare
Shakespeare can seem intimidating, but there are a number of reasons why you might want to include Shakespeare in your studies. If you’ve decided you want to study Shakespeare, then here are some tips.
And remember, Shakespeare may not be right for all families. All of Shakespeare’s plays were written for a broad audience, including the rowdy standing section of people who loved the sword fights and the innuendo. You decide what is right for your family.
Who will be learning?
First, how old are your learners? Categorize them by age groups:
- Littles: younger than age 6
- Young learners: ages 6 – 10
- Ready for Shakespeare: ages 10 and up
- Note: Teens really begin to get into the conversation when studying Shakespeare, but ages 10-13 can follow the story too.
Littles
Your youngest kiddos are not really ready for Shakespeare, but they can join in with the young learners when you are reading and doing activities. You always have to be able to balance these youngsters who need your attention and are at that rapidly learning wonder stage – keep them occupied, but do not require anything from them in terms of lessons.
If you have a big age gap – meaning toddlers and teens with nothing in between – the littles can sit in on the older kids readings and discussion, but you will need to keep them from distracting. Art, construction toys, snacks and naptime are always good!
Young learners
When your kids begin lessons after age 6 or so, they are ready for Shakespeare stories. Kind of like if you read Bible stories with pictures and illustrations along with the summary of the story.
I’m not equating Shakespeare with the Bible – it’s just that the language can sometimes be a barrier to young learners.
So with young learners, we start Shakespeare with Shakespeare stories written in modern English instead of actual Shakespeare plays.
Two of the best story versions of Shakespeare are Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare (illustrated by Arthur Rackham) and Edith Nesbit’s Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare. Gutenburg Press has free online versions of both Tales from Shakespeare and Beautiful Stories.
Advice: Get the best versions of these books if you use them with the original illustrations or full unabridged texts. Check them out of the library to see which version you like better. We liked the Lamb version, but others prefer Nesbit’s storytelling.
Also, if you have 8th graders and above, they can read the stories aloud to the younger kids.
Kids who enjoy Lego may enjoy looking at the pictures in Brick Shakespeare also.
In any case, when doing a Shakespeare “lesson,” read for a short time (maybe 10 or 15 minutes with a natural break) in your storybook. Occasionally, pause and ask for tiny narrations as you go along. Some days, just read a few pages and pair it with an activity.
For instance, read a few paragraphs or pages from the A Midsummer Night’s Dream story, then ask your kids to draw something or someone from the story. That’s a form of narration too.
Keep it light, keep it short, and keep the story in the center.
Age 10 and up
Kids this young can enjoy Shakespeare. The language is the biggest challenge usually.
However, if you have familiarized your kids with the stories first, then they can get the language next.
Side by side translations are great for when the language gets very Elizabethan! We enjoyed the No Fear translations. Just a word of caution, all of the words are translated into modern English, including the bawdy bits. Sometimes those parts will just go over the kids heads if they don’t have a translation – although high schoolers do tend to understand those parts too.
If you’ve got mixed ages – say teens, young learners and littles – AND you have never studied any Shakespeare before, you may want to pick an easy play, and have a family read aloud using the Lamb version of the play before tackling the actual play. Your 14 year-olds and older (or your very strong readers) may enjoy reading the story to the family.
Remember to find natural pauses to check in with your kids to see if they are following the story. Narration is a good tool for this. Shakespeare has a lot of characters in general and sometimes remembering who is who is a challenge. Keeping a list of characters together can also be fun. Re-enacting a scene is sometimes fun for kids.
If you only have High School age kids and are just starting
Again, the language is usually the challenge.
Here, the side by side translations helped immensely. Also, consider watching a very good version of the play first and then reading it aloud scene-by-scene. Everyone gets better with practice at reading it aloud, especially the parts in verse.
Becoming familiar with the story helps if you’ve never touched Shakespeare before. And you should probably start with one of his easier plays if possible. Oddly, Brick Shakespeare helps too, because it keeps the language and shortens the story, accompanied by the pictures of little Lego guys.
If you spend a week or so getting familiar with the story, you should be able to jump into the actual play fairly quickly if you only have high schoolers.
Note: Don’t just assign the play and expect a student to read it by himself. If you have a solo student, you can try audio versions of the play and read along with them. The Arc Angel productions are very good, while Librivox is hit-or-miss on the vocal quality.
Summary of Tips
- Stay age-appropriate.
- Get familiar with the story.
- Select easier plays at first.
- Use side-by-side modern translations, quality video versions of the plays, and reading the plays aloud.
