A Note for Teachers
Shakespeare Day
Teach for Tomorrow Assemblies
#ChangeStartsWithMe
Shakespeare Day
What is Shakespeare Day and why does it matter?
What is Shakespeare Day?
Shakespeare
What characters, plays, plots or poems come to mind when you think of
William
Shakespeare?
My Shakespeare
Watch the video of the poem ‘My Shakespeare’ by Kae Tempest (formerly known as Kate). As you watch, think about the following questions:
Shakespearean Phrases
Some of the phrases that Shakespeare is credited with inventing because they appear in his plays:
What do these different phrases mean?
‘The Strangers’ Case’
Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an agèd man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
[...]
Say now the king, [...]
[Should] banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England,
Why, you must needs be strangers: would you
be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But chartered unto them, what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity.
‘The Strangers’ Case’
Watch the video of the actor Ian McKellen performing the monologue ‘The Strangers’ Case’ from Shakespeare’s play ‘Sir Thomas More’. As you watch, think about the following questions:
Exit Ticket
#ChangeStartsWithMe
Take a moment to think about the following:
Shakespeare was _______________________.
Shakespeare is still relevant today because __________________________________________.
One idea/thought I am taking away from this assembly is _________________________.
Big change starts in the classroom.
www.teachfortomorrow.org