Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Education

Join the discussion on our Education forum.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Is this normal for secondary (year 7)?

64 replies

Cathycomehome · 01/11/2011 00:10

My son's homework over half term has included making a sock puppet of a character from "Hamlet", and building a "shoe box solar system" - both of which he did at primary school, in year 5 for the solar system, and year 2 for the sock puppet, except the sock puppet was a character from a book they were reading.

I cannot see the educational value in this, and when I asked him if he knew why he had to make the dratted sock puppet, he replied "Yes - we are going to use them to act out a scene from the play, and I have one line, which is, (something like), "Ohhh Nooo!!!", said dramatically".

"How much of the play have you read", I ask. "Hardly any - we have just learnt a bit about the story", he replies.

A previous homework, last week or the week before, was to retell the story of Hamlet in a cartoon strip form. Which, again, I think is a really childish activity, rendered pretty meaningless also, considering they haven't read much, or possibly any, of the play.

Is this normal? Because I expected far more from the vast majority of my kids when I taught Year 6, and this year with my 3/4 class, I still wouldn't set this kind of homework for literacy.

OP posts:

fivecandles · 03/11/2011 20:24

I think you'd find it was quite unusual to read the whole of Hamlet or even significant parts of it in Year 7.

CecilyP · 03/11/2011 20:30

Still it's good to see he's using sock puppets to put the fun back into Hamlet!

southeastastra · 03/11/2011 20:35

i would so loved to have made sock puppets for english at school

JordanBaker · 03/11/2011 20:36

Pmsl at sock puppet!

Why would studying 'significant parts' of Hamlet not be suitable for Y7 Fivecandles? My DS Y5 class are currently studying the opening scene (I think for the purposes of 'creating an atmosphere' in creative writing). Or if Hamlet is felt to be a bit much for Y7, why not Twelfth Night or Much Ado or something lighter?

Anything's better than pissing about with sock puppets, surely?

LynetteScavo · 03/11/2011 20:39

I would like sock puppet home work. that you've had it twice.

As others have said, there is value in the comic strip..but surly they should have read the book first.

LynetteScavo · 03/11/2011 20:41

Maybe they will put on a puppet show version of Hamlet with the best sock sock puppets.

You are all underestimating the educational value of sock puppets.

LynetteScavo · 03/11/2011 20:47

Actually, I think it's quite a good way to get Y7's to understand the story, and begin to appreciate Shakespere.

Bring on the sock puppets!

JordanBaker · 03/11/2011 20:50

Noooooo!!! Tell me it doesn't require a sock puppet to understand Hamlet...

LynetteScavo · 03/11/2011 20:51

I think I would have continued with English A'level if sock puppets had been involved.

CroissantNeuf · 03/11/2011 20:56

DD is only in her first term of Yr7 but, judging by what she's had so far, I can't imagine a Hamlet sock puppet being a future homework.

TBH though it would be light relief after the last major homework which was a rather heavy Religious Education one

JordanBaker · 03/11/2011 20:58

I don't think I would have continued with English A Level, or an English degree, if sock puppets had been involved! It's Hamlet, not sodding Rainbow...

LynetteScavo · 03/11/2011 21:01

There were never any sock puppets in Rainbow.

It's an urban myth that Zippy and George were puppets of any type.

JordanBaker · 03/11/2011 21:03

Eh? Say it ain't so. Surely Zippy at least was a sock puppet? As well as being a total arse.

JordanBaker · 03/11/2011 21:06

What were they then? Clearly much of my youth was mis-spent reading Shakespeare.

LynetteScavo · 03/11/2011 21:18

They were created in a lab. Some sort of human/creature hybrid.

It's a little known fact, which Themes Televison did a good job of covering up. You won't find anything on google about it.

JordanBaker · 03/11/2011 21:42

Themes Television? Don't tell me I've spent all these years thinking it was Thames when it was Themes all along...what a night.

Cathycomehome, I have to ask...which character from Hamlet did he have to fashion into a sock puppet?

Original poster

Cathycomehome · 04/11/2011 18:59

He did Claudius. After he read the basic plot at home from the book I bought.

It did not look like Claudius, it looked like a snake, as all sock puppets do

OP posts:

JordanBaker · 04/11/2011 22:26

Would pay good money to see sock puppet Claudius

But would pay more to be a fly on the wall when they act it out...with sock puppets...

quirrelquarrel · 06/11/2011 10:00

Think we still did that in Y9, top set at my school....so, er, possibly even advanced for Y7 (if you stay in the UK and don't venture out when searching for a career later on).

CecilyP · 06/11/2011 10:27

It is not really literacy homework, as such. It is not teaching them how to make a sock puppet, which may indeed have been a craft activity in Y2. It is simply preparation for what they will be doing in English, which is acting out the story of Hamlet. They would have to be very advanced Y7s to study, appreciate and understand Shakespeare's Hamlet.

JordanBaker · 06/11/2011 10:39

I disagree CecilyP. I don't think the 'story' of Hamlet is beyond a reasonably bright Y7. As I said, my DS's Y5 class is currently doing some work on it and they're all coping with the narrative. The difficulty would be with the language of the play, and I can't see how making a sock puppet and using it to act out the story will help with that.

CecilyP · 06/11/2011 11:08

Sorry, I think you misunderstand me. I agree the story of Hamlet is fine for a Y7 or even a Y5. That's why I wrote Shakespeare's Hamlet in my last sentence, as it is not only Shakespeare's language, but the emotions expressed that would be beyond Y7.

I assume that the class are just going to act the story, or perhaps part of the play, and there is no obvious reason to use sock puppets to do this. Strange teacher must have thought it would be fun. Very odd!

LynetteScavo · 06/11/2011 11:25

I can't believe you all have such a downer on sock puppets.

Even young children can enjoy the works of Shakespeare. I agree it is the language that is difficult..but once you understand the story the language will fall into place. I'm presuming the teacher is starting with the basics, introducing the characters, and then story line. The class will think it's lots of fun, and it may start a life ling love of Shakespeare.

CecilyP · 06/11/2011 12:06

I think sock puppets are rather fun. And probably the easiest thing to make. It is just the incongruity of the 'lots of fun' and one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. The 'to be or not to be' speech is a man contemplating suicide, for heaven's sake.

fivecandles · 06/11/2011 15:25

I've taught (parts of) A Midsummer Night's Dream to a mixed ability class in a comprehensive and have no objection to teaching Shakespeare at this age or to any ways of bringing it to life, sock puppets and cartoon strips included, I just think Hamlet is rather a silly choice for this age group. It baffles scholars who've studied it for years and not just because of the language and it's pretty miserable. Maybe if you were just going to re-enact the dumb show or something.

I thought the sock puppet version of Hamlet posted earlier was great BTW. I've seen a really good Playmobil Tempest on YouTube too.

As long as you are engaging with the text at some level. Otherwise it is just craft.

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread