Wondering if You SHOULDN’T Teach Shakespeare?
Monday, September 18th, 2006
We had a flood of responses (over 600!) to our questions on teaching Shakespeare as a part of your homeshooling. Here’s what we found out:
We first asked if you had introduced the works of Shakespeare to your kids.
42% said YES
45.5% said NO, but you were planning to
13.1% said NO, I’m avoiding it!
Next, we asked “What specifically is the biggest obstacle you have in studying Shakespeare in your homeschool?”
We got many, many answers to this, but they all pretty much boiled down to the following four categories. Maybe these concerns are on your mind, too:
#1: SHAKESPEARE IS TOO HARD TO UNDERSTAND
Comments:
- Our problem is understanding the old English - since we don’t use it much in today’s society old English is difficult for us to understand.
- Making Shakespeare understandable & accessable. Plays are too long, too dense to follow.
- Right now I think my kids are too young (oldest is 
.
- I, personally, always found the plays hard to follow, but I think that is easily solved by doing an overview and a brief “telling” of the story before you begin so that people know what to expect. A follow up performance, if possible, is always a bonus.
- If we use the original text (vs. Ch. & Mary Lamb books, etc.) it seems we are “dissecting” every sentence and explaining what is meant in each. This makes it slow, but when we stick with it, it begins to “click”. It’s almost like learning a foreign language and suddenly beginning to understand bits and pieces and longer conversations. Of course, the older the kids are, the better their understanding and the stronger their interest.
- we’re just now doing Lamb’s Shakespeare but the most trouble we have is with anything long. The thing that has been a life-saver with all of our harder to follow books is the audio-books! On our way to lessons and such we’ll pop one in and we’ve all gotten into those books better than we ever had trying to read at home with the toddler interupting and the kids wiggling.
A: Yes, we’ve read in many places that it is best to start kids in on Shakespeare around age 9. Before that, his plays and sonnets in their original form are just too difficult for younger children to understand. However, E. Nesbit’s “Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare” book was written specifically as a “Home Study Course” for younger readers (and now listeners also, in our new audiobook coming next week). It boils down the complex plays into understandable stories, while preserving some of the beautiful language of Shakespeare. Like our “Living Books for the Ears” dramatizations, it is a great way to give your kids just a “taste” of the real thing and train their “palates” for more.
#2: I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM
Comments:
- I’ve never studied him much myself, so I really don’t know much about him. I’d have to do research or find resources that explained him & his work.
A: You and me both. That is one reason we have gone overboard in providing additional resources, ebooks, teaching suggestions and links you can use to make not only Shakespeare’s works come to life, but also his life and times as well. (The program “Interview with Shakespeare” in our new collection is an especially fun audio that will help with this, wherein a reporter interviews not only Shakespeare, but also some of his contemporaries and critics.) Even so, it isn’t the easiest thing in the world to “teach Shakespeare”. We’ve got all sorts of terrific resources here to help you out, but it does take some effort - and enthusiasm - on your part to bring it all together and shepherd your kids through this study.
#3: SHAKESPEARE IS MEANT TO BE PERFORMED/HEARD, NOT READ
Comments:
- We’ve not studied Shakespeare as of yet but I am worried that because it was not presented in a way that allowed me to enjoy it, I will pass that lack of enjoyment onto my children.
- Listening is much easier than reading. Audio versions of stories are good. Recordings are more effective than reading to children, especially in our situation. Recordings allow you to stop-repeat-start without tripping over words and without the dry-mouth that can come from reading to children who always look uninterested. PS: He does listen & learn. This is why we so appreciate your ministry.
- Read a volumne of “stories from Shakespeare” to get familar with the plot and then read a play. Some plays are more accessible thatn others. Make sure you use a volume that provides some commentary so you can understand some of those metaphors. It is also helpful to have different people read different parts
- Please watch live plays (or videos) and then read the plays/listen to them with your children. Put a ply down for a year and then re-read. New things jump out each time we work with the Bard.
- Try to read or watch different versions of a play to gain a better understanding.
A: Absolutely, Shakespeare was meant to be experienced, seen and heard instead of read. I think that is one reason I had such a difficult time “warming up” to Shakespeare in public school — all we ever did was try to “read” him. I never did actually see him performed until many years later. Our approach in putting together this collection was to try to present these stories in a variety of ways… in print (ebook), in audio, and then in dramatized abridged form… all to make it as accessible as possible.
We’d suggest taking one play at a time. Pick the play you want to cover. Start with the “Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare” audiobook version. Listen to the story being told, have the kids color the accompanying coloring pages while they are listening. Then a couple days later, read to them the same story from the Lamb’s “Tales of Shakespeare”, which is provided in ebook form. Ask the kids questions about the story (a study guide to the comedies with discussion questions is included in our new collection), let it simmer for a while. Then, the next week or so, try listening to the hour long dramatization of the same story. Feel free to start & stop it as you go to clarify what is going on. Your kids should be able to pick up on the story pretty easily using this method. Then, the next week, pick another play and go through the whole process over again!
#4: “PG” CONTENT OF HIS PLAYS
Comments:
- Our biggest obstacle, honestly, is not the Elizabethan language, nor even his long windedness, although that was tough for our children, for us the biggest obstacle honestly is some of the content such as romance and violence. We are a very conservative homeschooling family and we avoid such content matter with our children. We have touched on Shakespeare using The Lambs book for children and in that we did only read a few of the plays. So thats our opinion on the “big bad bard.”
- We try to read only books that have good morals - while Shakspere does have good morals - we try to teach Christian morals. I’m not sure if Shakespeare can provide what we are trying to instill in our children.
A: Yes, Shakespeare’s plays are what they are, no denying that. For whatever literary merit they hold, the complete plays do venture into occasional bawdy themes and violence which can be difficult for Christian families to address when studying these. And, while Shakespeare does indeed contain a great deal of good morals, he did not (at least as far as we have been able to determine) write from a Christian perspective. So the question then is, what do we then do with this body of work? Do we ignore it because of its faults, do we dive right in and look at it warts and all, the good and the not-so-good, or do try to glean what we can out of the most important body of work in Western Literature?
Well, we strongly encourage you to follow your heart in this matter, and if you believe Shakespeare is wrong for your family, then by all means pass it by. But personally, we would come down on the side of winnowing and gleaning. Shakespeare is just too important a part of our history and too much an influence on all literature that came after him to dismiss out of hand. Frankly, I am GLAD to have versions of these plays that have been “edited” and “toned down” for a family audience. You can be selective about the plays you cover, as well. The “Great Plays” dramatizations which originally were broadcast in the late 1930s that are included in our collection are hour long versions that retain Shakespeare’s language and plot, but cut back on most, if not all, of the objectionable material. Our audiobook “Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare” most definitely removes the bawdy and more violent parts of the story for the sake of younger readers/listeners. There is time enough later on to take in Shakespeare as originally written and performed. For our purposes, the abridged versions are just fine, and are suitable for family listening.
Hope this helps you a bit in planning whether or not to tackle the Bard in YOUR homeschool or not!