Your starter for ten – which long running TV quiz programme is parodied here?
Bonus questions: 5 points each (answers at the bottom of the post):
The Shakespeare Teacher’s Lot …
‘You REALLY don’t know about The Garden of Eden?’
Category: Key Stage 4
Who’s Who in … Romeo and Juliet
Who’s Who in … Macbeth
Everyone remembers the ‘Egg’, but not who his father is …
How to … write a conclusion
If beginnings feel tricky (until you read this, naturally), then signing off an essay can feel just as daunting, and it’s equally important. Â Faced with the time pressure of writing an additional half paragraph of analysis only to finish mid-
-sentence, or writing a strong conclusion, I know which one I’d choose every time.
How to … write an introduction
It’s that time of year again.
OCR A Level English Literature (paper 1): Â Thursday, 23 May, 13:30hrs
AQA GCSE English Literature (paper 1): Â Wednesday, 15 May, 13:30hrs
as well as mocks for Y10 and Y12 students … and the most daunting thing of all is starting your answer. (For tips on how to end your essay, click here)
“Do I need an introduction? Â Why? Â What should be in it?”
6-minute Shakespeare
Time-limited tasks are like a triple shot of caffeine …
It’s human nature, you panic. I don’t care what your name is. You can’t help it. Fuck, man, you panic on the inside, in your head, you know? You give yourself a couple of seconds. You get ahold of the situation. You deal with it. What you don’t do is start shooting up the place and start killing people. (Reservoir Dogs: Â Quentin Tarantino, 1992)
It’s less than a month to go before the Shakespeare exams my Y11s and Y13s will be taking. Â The Y12s and Y10s have mocks broadly over the same period.
Today’s post relates to three things I often say in the classroom:
QotW (#72): 08 April 2019
subtitled: ‘Sir’s rule number 1‘ …
‘Who’s there?’
‘Nay, answer me. Â Stand and unfold yourself.’ [a]
Bernardo and Francisco have a point. Â The entire path of the scene is determined by who is on stage. Â Think of the ways the conversation could go if instead of Bernardo, another unknown Dane approaches Francisco’s guard-post, or one of Fortinbras’ troops.
From Hamlet to real life, and the idea of decorum – behaving or speaking appropriately to the circumstances and audience.
SPOILing Macbeth
For my nephew, ‘Brian‘, as part of my ongoing mission to help him get a 4 in his Shakespeare exam.
At this stage, by the way, I still have no idea when his exam is, or whether he has yet read or seen the play.
I’m not sure if he knows, himself … Continue reading “SPOILing Macbeth”
KISSing Macbeth
‘Can you do anything to help Brian? Â He’s got a Macbeth exam coming up,‘ said my Dearest Partner of Greatness.
Brian is not his real name. Â He’s a nephew. Â Being a typically feckless Y10 lad, none of us have any idea whether he has read the play, or seen it, or what type of test / exam he has coming up, or when it might be. Â We doubt Brian knows himself.
So what’s to do, for someone with a target of 4 (for overseas visitors, the highest target at GCSE is 9, and 4 tends to be the grade employers ask for as a minimum) and a complete disinterest in English?
Time to work my magic, and on my birthday, too! Â Time, in fact, for a mindmap – it’s almost a present being asked to do one, because I LOVE a nice mindmap.
Model Answer: GCSE Macbeth (I.i)
“Don’t tell them, SHOW them.”
Last week, as an interesting experiment (interesting to me as much as to anyone else), I set my two KS4 classes the same question, to see how they fared with a little competition.
The Boar's Head, Eastcheap 