TEXT: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

extract

 Text info: Extract from the play by William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, concretely the first long speech by Oberon in act II scene I.
 Thought to: students of Bachillerato (16-18 years old).
 Why this text? I think Shakespeare is one of the most difficult authors to understand
for any non-native learner but at the same time despite its difficulty his plays are so
great that it is worth to make all necessary efforts to get it.
 Teaching aims: I know by experience that students usually get disappointed when they
begin reading something and they feel they do not understand anything, so most of
them give up their readings. Within this text my intention is help them to get closer to
unknown information and offer them some strategies to face any challenging reading.
 Timing: one hour lesson would be enough.
 How can be used? / Directions: First I would explain them very briefly what the play
is about. I think that is essential for them to know that there are extraordinary and
fictional beings as the one we are going to read: Oberon, which is the king of the
fairies. But my intention is not to explain them everything just very briefly what has
happened in the play up to this point to help them be closer to the context. Then I
would deliver the photocopies and we will begin to examine it piece by piece. I would
start by asking them their feelings when reading it, despite they feel they do not
understand anything. Then I would explain them the most difficult words as ‘thou’,
‘shalt’, hath’ and ‘ere’ (and maybe their equivalents in Modern Standard English).
Afterwards, I would ask them to separate sentences taking into account punctuation (if
there is a full stop, for instance). And finally, we will go through it piece by piece
trying to guess what kind of words may be those we do not know, if they may be
adjectives, nouns, etc. And the rest of the analysis will go on depending on students’
participation, but this is the basic idea.
 Possible students’ reaction: I know students usually do not like plays but I hope to
catch their curiosity when explaining them the story and encouraging them to find out
how the story ends. At the beginning I hope there will be a general complaint about
the difficulty of the text but I hope too that while examining every little part and
understanding it this complaint result on satisfaction.
 Diversity: depending on the level of the students teacher can offer them more or less
clues or directions.
 Links or proposals: For those who finally like the story I would recommend them to
read others plays by Shakespeare but maybe in easier adapted editions for them.
Besides I know there are some films about Shakespeare plays that they may like
because they are adapted to our times (students use to like this adaptations): Get over
it, Hamlet (directed by Michael Almereyda), O (directed by Tim Blake Nelson), and
some others.