Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war

Shakespeare prophecying doom and gloom

Top Girls and Theresa May

some thoughts on Top Girls and female prime ministers

On teaching Shakespeare

An interesting take on how to help young people get the most out of Shakespeare, from a fellow blogger and teacher of English Literature:

LIT.GAZ.

A follower’s question about the teaching of Shakespeare has had me reflecting on my experiences in the classroom.

I was wary of teaching Shakespeare too early on in secondary school. I know there are people who think ‘the younger the better’, but the other side of that idea is dealing with the kind of questions students are likely to ask; I have never been one to censor anything in the classroom, and so waiting until students were – hopefully – of a suitable mature age to be given honest and truthful answers to their questions, felt more sensible to me. Inevitably questions about sex would arise: Shakespeare is full of allusions, references, and, more than anything, word-play. Explaining Romeo and Juliet even to Y9 students demanded a certain level of care… so my personal preference was to wait until Y9.

There is the idea of beginning earlier with something more…

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