Questions for year 7 and above on their first experiences of Shakespeare

[OLDroot]

Can you ask your kids...

1. When did they first come into contact with Shakespeare?
2. Have they studied Shakespeare at school?

3 if they have, have they READ ALOUD? 4 Did they enjoy it? 5 Have they ever performed in a Shakespeare play? and if so how did it change their attitude to the bard? 6 Can they quote him - if so what?

Many thanks

ds (13)

1. age 7
2. yes
3. yes
4. yes (less certain)
5. Not sure (possibly as a very minor part in year 4)
6. Yes:

"To be or not to be that is the question" "Alas poor Yoric, I knew him well Horatio" "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark" "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo" "never was a story of more woe than this of Juliette and her Romeo" "with flowers I strew thy bridal bed" "Is this a dagger..." "Out damn spot" "all the world's a stage" "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse"

probably more if he thought about it.

dd (12, year 7)

1. ?age 6
2. yes
3. no
4. yes
5. Yes
6. Yes:

"To be or not to be.." "is this a dagger..." "alas poor Yoric..." "when shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or rain?"

brill thanks Snorkle

any more???

I need some more for my research please

do I smell or do your kids just not do Shakespeare?

My DD is 17 yrs (yr 13)- is that too old?

1. Yr 9 (she thinks)
2. Yes - GCSE English, AS and A2
3. Yes
4. She is completely passionate about Shakespeare: we now have the complete set of BBC productions (1980's), 3 different DVD's of Hamlet (which she is doing for A2. several different study guides for Hamlet and numerous other DVD's of asssorted plays. She has requested the text of King Lear (after reading about it in the study guide) we already have a DVD.
5. No. She doesn't need her attitude changed!

6, Huge chunks of Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet (of course), Macbeth and some other bits.

aig - has she ever seen a live performance?
has she ever performed in a production

DS is only 1 so hasn't had much contact with the bard yet - does that make e a bad Mum?
I think I first had Shakespeare at middle school, age 11 or 12
2,3,4 Yes,
5, not performed in it but remember trip to see modern version of midsummer night in sixth form and not being impressed,
6, yes
Hope I'm not too old for your research!

OLDroot, at my kids junior school they were taken annually to see a Shakespeare4kids production. That was years 3 to 6. They've seen other (proper Shakespeare) too, mainly outdoor productions.

She has seen (so far):
Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Macbeth (x3), Hamlet, Richard lll, A Midsummers Nights Dream.
I think that is it.
She has not performed in any - but I think hopes to: her dream roles so far are Juliet, Lady Macbeth and Beatrice.
I have taken her to most of these productions and have realised that Shakespeare is fabulous.

DD1 = 12

1: 2 years old when she used to quote Lady Macbeth's "Out out damned spot" speech! Vey sad I know but it used to amuse us!

2: yes - they did "Macbeth" and "R & J" in Yr 6 (although obviously not the full scripts) and "A Midsummer Night's dream" in Yr 7

3: Yes

4: Yes on the whole - she liked Macbeth better than the others I think

5: Yes - but as a dancer, rather than a speaker. I don't think it changed her attitude to be honest but she did really enjoy it and it was great to listen to her explain the story to dd2 before we went to see it.

6: Various bits from the 3 mentioned above plus taglines from a few others - but only because she listens to me and dp blathering chunks every now and then.

1. When did they first come into contact with Shakespeare? Probably about 2 years ago - DD (10) loves the Geraldine McCaughrin (sp) tales
2. Have they studied Shakespeare at school? No

3 if they have, have they READ ALOUD? No 4 Did they enjoy it? NA 5 Have they ever performed in a Shakespeare play? and if so how did it change their attitude to the bard? Yes - Saw fab production of Dream last summer, outisde in grounds of Hampton Court Palace, and they think it was fab. At Christmas we watched the recent R & J film 6 Can they quote him - if so what? DS (11) THE bits of Henry V nut they recognise bits in films, Universally Challanged etc

thanks - anymore?

DS is only 10.

1. First came across it watching a film at home
2. Yes - yr6 at school
3. Yes
4. Absolutely adored it
5. No
6. Yes - all sorts from various plays, but he has that sort of memory, and regularly quotes from films he's only seen once.

PS Why?

DS 12
When did they first come into contact with Shakespeare?

1. Have they studied Shakespeare at school?

3 if they have, have they READ ALOUD? 4 Did they enjoy it? 5 Have they ever performed in a Shakespeare play? and if so how did it change their attitude to the bard? 6 Can they quote him - if so what?

1.Year 6
2.Yes Year 6 Macbeth
3.Yes
4.Yes showed quite a lot of enthusiasm at the time. I then pointed out all the films they enjoyed which were based on Shakespeare such as Lion King, Westside Story, 10 things I hate about you etc
5.No
6.To be or Not to be

I am doing some research for an article - I beleive kisd rarely speak Shakspeare out loud and rarely do trhe whole play - they do scenes, watch dvd's and read it!!

my 8 year old saw midsummer night's dream in an outdoor production last summer and was engrossed. it was a lovely summers day and the production was very well done and made use of the surroundings so you really felt you were in the woodland glade.

based on her reaction it seems to me that children can understand shakespeare and respond to it even if some of the vocabulary is new and that all it needs is intelligent staging not rewriting.

i think my older children came into contact with shakespeare in year 6 but not the real thing - there's a rewriting of the stories. it led to discussion at home so they probably did enjoy it. the performance side would be abhorrent to dd2 so would probably put her off completely (but that's not shakespeare related).

we'll take them to the outdoor plays again this summer - it's an annual festival and based on last summer's success we may try and fit several in.

ds is only yr4 (age 9-in-April) but he's come across Shakespeare in & out of school ... so if useful for your research:

1. Can't remember, will have been at home though. Maybe "Full fathom five" or "Where the bee sucks", etc. A song, not lines.

1. Studied at school, no. Been taken (with school) to see performance of Twelfth Night, though, & loved it.

1. Read aloud - prob. not at school. At home, yes - esp witches from Macbeth.

1. Love it, but not very choosy - interested in everything interesting.

1. He did a little boiled-down performance of MND with a summer drama group - enjoyed the process. Less said about transgressive behaviour during performance the better. He was only 6 though. Definitely gave him a connection to what it's all about - we then saw a proper MND (one of those outdoor summer ones) about a year later & again he absolutely loved it.

1. No don't think so. Can recognise, definitely.

DD is 8 - yr 3.

1. About 3, when Mummy told her the story of Great Burnham Wood when driving in Scotland. (Tell me again, Mummy..)

1. Not studied yet, but has recounted the story of Macbeth in essays.

1. Read aloud at home and at school.

1. YES!!

1. Yes, with Shakespeare for children drama group who visited school.

1. Yes - Where for art thou Romeo, will these hands ne'er be clean, out damned spot, (just the basic bloodthirsty ones).

Beety - I think your observations/assumptions are largely accurate. It is a very far cry from my experience of Shakespeare in school 20+ years ago.

At our secondary 'average students'

1. age 10-11
2. yes primary, then yr8 and yr9
3. most of our class teachers will read the play aloud to the students. There is some (limited) work with students reading the text aloud.
4. at first yes, later no
5. no
6. usually no/hardly at all

In terms of what they do in school (yr8 or 9):
they do an introduction to Shakespeare/The Globe
some drama-based work around the characters/plot of a play
watch DVD
concentrated study of 2 set scenes (for SATs)
(They do not read the entire text of the play)
last year and this year we've also had a theatre company in school to perform the play