Teaching Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice

Alba Giner López

LESSON 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

- Which plays of Shakespeare do you know about? Let’s do a Shakespearean

brainstorming!

- Some hints here! Do you know which plays do these images belong to? Can

you recall any famous quote?

- We will create a forum where you can share all your ideas and doubts while

you read. For the first entry, talk about what you expect from reading “The

Merchant of Venice”. I will check every day that you are participating for your

mark.

1. After reading the biography of Shakespeare, in pairs, go to the following

internet address and reorder the statements.

http://www.scrumblr.ca/Shakespeare

Fun facts about Shakespeare!

- We do not know for sure when he was born. We only know that he was baptized on 26th of April and following the traditions of that time he should have been baptized when he was three days old. So, that is why we believe he was born on 23rd of April. According to our current calendar, that would be 3rd of May.

- During his life, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets!- His son, Hamnet, died in 1596.

- His only granddaughter Elizabeth died childless in 1670. Shakespeare therefore has no descendants

- There are a lot of variations of Shakespeare’s name spelling by observing his signature. There are no records of him ever having spelt the name we know today.

2. Read through the “fun facts about Shakespeare” box and search on the

Internet to find the most interesting facts for you and share it in out forum so

everyone can read it. Read through the following WebPages and find out the

answers to these questions.

http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_shakespeare/

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-first-folio.htm

1. How old was Shakespeare when he married?

2. Who was king of England when Shakespeare was with the Lord

Chamberlain’s Men?

3. To what name changed the theatre company?

4. Where did Shakespeare go when he retired?

5. What was the name of the first published edition of his plays?

6. How many copies of this edition are thought to survive today?

Start reading The Merchant of Venice! We will discuss characters and Act II the next

day!

Development activity

Act II, Scenes V-IX: Casket scenesIn this scene, Portia, our main female character, proposes a game to her

candidates. Inside a casket there is a photo of her, so the one who chooses the

right one will have her. There are three caskets: gold, silver and leaden casket.

1. You will be split into three big groups and you will be assigned one of the

caskets. Then, you will design each box. You will find the necessary

materials in the classroom. Pay attention to the inscriptions described in

the play. Look at the photo to see an example.

You will use your creation in the final task about representation!

2. Before finding out the right casket, imagine you are one of the Princes,

which casket would you choose? Stay with your group and provide

reasons to choose your own casket. Let’s have a debate!

Do you think first impressions are important?

3. Imagine you are one of the Prince and you are writing a letter to a friend telling

your time in Belmont. Tell your friend what happened and how you felt. Write

120 words. Share it on our forum so we all can read your essays.

Use the past tenses to develop this letter.

You could include:

What Portia said, practising the indirect speech

Your impressions of Portia

Your thoughts before choosing the casket

Your choice of the casket and your reasons

4. We find an inscription in the gold casket instead of her photograph. It says,

“All that glitters is not gold”. This phrase in English is called a proverb.

Go into this website and find the following proverbs. How do you say that

in your language? http://esl.fis.edu/vocab/proverbs/proverbfull.htm

Give someone an inch and they'll take a yard

Barking dogs seldom bite

Better late than never

Cast not a clout till May be out

National Customs

In one of the scenes, Portia argues that she has no right to choose the man she likes

and, Nerissa replies, that the man who passes her father’s test (Casket game) will love

her best.

5. Do you agree with Nerissa’s opinion about Portia’s arranged marriage? Work in

pairs to share your opinion on our forum.

Final Task!

Now that we have read the ending…did you imagine this way of ending at the

beginning of the unit?

1. Many years have passed (you decide how many), imagine how life would be

for our characters.

- Make groups of five!

- Decide which characters you want to deal with

- Write an script for being also handed

- Use the vocabulary and grammar learnt

- You learnt about the historical background, make references to it

- Imagine their situation after the years

- Select costumes, be creative and perform your idea in the next class!!

2. You will assess you classmates following this rubric

Group nº 5 4 3 2 1

Performance

Script

Costumes

Movement

on stage

Creativity

Performance: how they set the place where they are on stage, script…

everything in common

Script: if they use sentences with Shakespearean sense, sentences adapted to

the time…

Costumes: how well they are dressed

Movement on stage: how they show emotions, they not just read they feel,

how they move towards the audience…

Creativity: if they are creative!