Dear virtual poetry friends.I seriously need your help. I have 2 teach Sonnet 18 in highschool suggestion pls?
I’m currently doing my MA in ESL. So a part of my evaluation is that i have to be sent to a highschool to teach literature elements in English. Sonnet 18 is in the school syllabus so i chose that particular poem simply bcoz i love it so much. I am required to teach the smartest class, then the “dumbest class”. Tomorrow is my 30minutes slot for the smartest class. They have learnt the poem before by their teacher. This is a kind of revision, however i have to make the activity extremely interesting as to instill the love of poetry within them.
Although reading and writing poetry are my passion, I have never taught poetry before. So dear friends please i urgently need your suggestions/ideas on the activities possible in teaching Sonnet 18.
Thanks a million in advance!
- Damsel McDreamy
Tags: English Sonnet, Esl, Sonnet 18, Teach English, Virtual Friends
October 30th, 2009 at 6:50 am
The Advanced class will be easy. Have three students read the sonnet aloud, each one taking four lines. You read the final couplet.
Ask the class: How do you feel about what you just heard? If there are no volunteers, ask the readers.
Other questions:
What is the drumbeat? If this were your favorite song, could there be a drum as background?
Then, ask them questions about imagery, language, and other poetic devices.
This will probably work with the less-advanced class, but you will first need to print out the vocabulary words they won’t understand and hand them out. Lacking a printer, you can write them on the board. (And do not turn your back on them)!
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:31 am
Buddy,count yourself lucky, you’ve got to teach one of the best and arguably, the most anthologised of the 154 sonnets. Could have been unlucky were they to assign sonnet 99 with 15 lines! The students have an idea what it is all about and there are several commentaries on this popular sonnet. Remember that it was written in praise of the Fair Youth that was beloved of the poet.
You can get lots of commentaries and analyses on websites/links.
You may for example, check this PBS link:
‘In search of Shakepeare. language arts: Shakespeare’s sonnets. PBS’
AND you’ll access the following detailed teacher-student activities
about sonnet 18:
**
Introductory Activity
The writings in this lesson come from Shakespeare’s early years and were probably composed between 1592 and 1597. It is reasonable then to suppose that the inspiration came from the time between when he left Stratford and popped up on the literary scene in London. Have the students view Episode One of “In Search of Shakespeare” and discuss what happened to Shakespeare during this time that had such a significant impact on him. What was the political and religious climate of Elizabethan England? What was the “split in English society” host Michael Wood refers to?
It’s good to ask the students questions such as “Who likes Shakespeare?” and “Why” “Why not?’ This lets them vent their frustration about not being able to understand what he says, leads nicely into a discussion about the difficulties of Shakespeare’s language, and sets up the upcoming lesson. Remind them about the plays they have read, and discuss what they liked and disliked about them. Also, offer some reassurance that, after this lesson, they will have the skills that will allow them to unlock Shakespeare’s meaning.
Procedure
Put Sonnet #18 on the overhead projector. Then read the sonnet out loud.
Sonnet #18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
At this point ask the students if they understand what is being described in the sonnet.
Ask if any one recognizes any literary devices such as the apostrophe in the first line, the personification of the sun and death.
Then, with the original sonnet still on the overhead “paraphrase” the sonnet line by line.
Here’s an example:
Sonnet 18
OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer day
But, you know, you’re prettier and even better, even calm
Because sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get shaken off
And sometimes summer doesn’t last very long
Sometimes it’s too hot
And everything gorgeous loses its looks
By getting hit by a truck Or just because everyone and everything gets old and ugly and shabby
BUT (and here’s the turn) you’re going to keep your looks for ever
Your beauty will last for ever
I’m going to make sure that you never lose your good looks
And that nasty old Death can never brag about owning you
Because I shall write this poem about you
As long as men can breathe (are you breathing?)
As long as men can see (are you looking at this poem?)
Then this poem lives, and it gives life and memory to your beauty.
What is the students’ reaction now? The girls will sigh, and boys will want copies! You can laugh with them, and point out how well Shakespeare understood the emotions of love, and how this sonnet has withstood the test of time.
Now that you’ve lead them into this moment, and have given them the basic information, pass out the handout with sonnets 18, 29, 130
On the overhead projector using a transparency or using a power point computer demonstration, put up the definition of a Shakespearean sonnet and have students write down the definition. on the hand out you have given them. This way, when they review, they will have the definition right next to the poem itself.
Shakespearean sonnet: an 18 line stanza written in iambic pentameter, that employs the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef,gg, and can be divided into three quatrains and a couplet.
On the overhead using an overhead pen label the 14 lines, rhyme scheme, 3 quatrains and the couplet, and then walk around and monitor as students label their sonnets
Put the following definition of iambic pentameter on the overhead transparency.
Iambic Pentameter: lines of poetry that can be divided into 5 metric feet with alternately unstressed and stressed syllables.
Again, have students write the definition down on their handouts as you read it out loud. Then go back to the overhead of Sonnet #18 and mark the iambic pentameter like this:
Shall I/ compare/ thee to/ a sum/ mer’s day
Thou art/ more lov/ly and/ more temp/orate
At this point, it is best to read the sonnet out loud as you mark the metric feed and unstress/stressed syllables, and, use your voice to stress the iambic pentameter. I always tap it out too and then have students tap out the meter on their desks along with me. They really get the feeling of the rhythm of the line. This is where I make up a line in 21st American teenage-speak such as:
My name/ is John/ I love/to go/ to school
Then I have the students write their own lines, making sure they tap it out quietly to get it right. It’s great fun to go around the students and ask them to give their sentences emphasizing the iambic pentameter. This makes it easy to see who has understood and who hasn’t, and it’s easy to correct verbally. Be prepared to laugh some more!
Have students read Sonnet #29, and then label the 14 lines, 3 quatrains, the couplet, and the rhyme schemeabab, cdcd, efef, gg. It would also be helpful to have them mark the iambic pentameter on first two lines. It is also helps to walk around and monitor student progress, and make quiet corrections as you go.
**
Enjoy the class and whenever you get some free periods, remember to grab and thumb through a copy of Somerset Maugham’s “Of Human Bondage” that I recommended.
good luck mate. cheers!
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
Assign each one a line and have them put that line in their own words. Tell them to make it theirs, but they have to keep within the rhyming scheme (meter) of the sonnet. When they are done have each one stand up and recite their line. Put all those newly written lines together and put them up against the original. For one to see how uniquely good something is, they need to have something to compare it to… and how difficult it can be to fit it together.
It will be entertaining for them; isn’t that how you get people to learn?
note: If not enough people for lines, share them, if more lines than people give someone more than one…
…and remember no matter what you think or how you do it, you will end up with not enough time to finish (and you always think you’ll run out of material, but it’s always time).
Also for inspiration watch “Renascence Man” the night before.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Well, due to the brilliance of Elaine and Ari, I have nothing to add except, I envy you…with I were teaching Shakespeare. Maybe in a year or so, in which case, I shall be writing you, and Elaine, and Ari, for assistance.
Having students rewrite into modern english is always a great way to approach Shakespeare.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I have taught both Advance and, what you are calling the “dumbest” class. When I taught both classes the same piece of literature, and I got to the lower class, their question was always, “did you teach it like this to the smart guys?” Oh the lessons we can learn from our students. I then began teaching al levels the same. It might take a teensy bit longer with some, but they come away feeling very proud. So, my recommendation would be to follow Ari for all.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Ari’s answer was great McDreamy24!
i do believe i just had my FIRST real Poetry class reading it! wow!
to Ari>>
So long as men can teach and love, we live.
ty, i finally get iambic!!
i also really liked Elaines idea of the students each reading 4 lines.
pick me! pick me!
(ill be in the back, the dumb class..hahaha!)