Shakespeare's Language Introduction - Vocabulary Presentation and Fun Activities

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Shakespeare's Language Introduction - Vocabulary Presentation and Fun Activities: Prepare your middle and high school students for the challenges of understanding Shakespeare's language with this ready-to-use resource. Use this resource as an introduction to Shakespeare's language before beginning any Shakespearean play! This comprehensive resource includes a presentation to guide the lesson and introduce the Bard's vocabulary, student handouts, and fun practice assignments and activities to make students more comfortable with Shakespeare's language!


This is included in our best-selling bundle:
>>> Shakespeare Pre-Reading Activities Bundle


Included in This Shakespeare's Language Lesson and Assignments Bundle:

➡️ Introduction to Shakespeare's Language Presentation: Use the included 30 PowerPoint presentation slides to provide students with the background knowledge they need to understand Shakespeare's language. This will help prepare them for reading one of Shakespeare's plays! The presentation includes discussion questions, background information on Shakespeare's language modern translations of Shakespearean vocabulary with detailed information, prompts for each of the related activities, and more!

➡️ Translation, Please! Assignment: Have students complete this assignment while you share the teacher presentation! Students will follow along with the presentation and write the modern definitions of common Shakespeare terms and write their own sentence examples using the new words they learn.

➡️ What Would the Bard Say? Translation Assignment: In this fun activity, students will read 10 simple modern phrases and translate them to make them use Shakespeare's language based on what they learn in the presentation. A detailed answer key is included.

➡️ Shakespearean Shake-Up Group Activity: Students will work in groups to read cards with quotes from a variety of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. They will analyze each excerpt card and translate the quotes into modern English using the provided assignment sheet, using the information they learned in the presentation.

➡️ The Bard's Dictionary Handout: Share this useful reference page with students that includes common words that Shakespeare uses in his plays and poems. Students can use it as a reading reference and as a writing resource in their final writing assignment outlined below.

➡️ Be The Bard Writing Activity: Students will become Shakespeare and write a paragraph using Shakespeare's language. They will also coin a new term (which Shakespeare is known for) and provide a definition.


What Teachers Are Saying About This Shakespeare's Language Lesson and Assignments Bundle:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I usually just tell myself that Shakespearean language is in the too hard basket for my students and blunder on regardless. Not anymore! This presentation really helped my class understand language nuances. Even my new international students were able to follow along. Cool concept, thanks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The language of Shakespeare can be intimidating for students, but easily overcome with a little practice. This lesson is perfect to help students work with the language and lessen their fears. Thank you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My seniors loved this activity! Most of them said it was the first time a teacher had tried to explicitly teach them the language of Shakespeare's time before they started reading a play (which makes me sad, honestly) so they really appreciated having it laid out in plain language.


Teaching Shakespeare? Grab our complete units below:

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>>> Romeo and Juliet Complete Unit


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