O, is it all forgot?
All school-days’ friendship, childhood innocence?
What does the Shakespeare curriculum look like in the UK in 2017?
Here’s the picture in my school:
Year 7: SPRING. An Introduction to Shakespeare. This is extract-based, looking at a number of plays and context, and because of my timetable, is the only scheme I won’t be teaching this year
Year 8: SPRING. Shakespearean Comedy: Much Ado About Nothing (other teachers have opted for A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Year 9: SUMMER. Any non-GCSE play! Last year, I chose Hamlet, This year, taking into account the group I am teaching, I’m seriously considering Julius Caesar
Years 10/11: SUMMER. Last year I taught The Tempest. This year, we’ve agreed that the Department will teach either Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet for the two-year course. I’m going for the former
Year 12: AUTUMN. Richard III
Year 13: SPRING. no Shakespeare, as Richard covers the course, but I am teaching Marlowe’s Edward II
Somewhere in the SPRING mix there will be an after-school revision session on Romeo and Juliet for students who did it last year.
All in all, a pretty satsfying workload for me. These are the bits that tend to keep me sane!
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I’d be interested to hear how this compares with other UK schools, and indeed Shakespeare teaching for ages 11-18 in other countries … get in touch!
