Immersion: The Globe Theatre

    

One thing I love about this school I am currently working at is they believe in providing experiences for their students to connect and explore subject matter.

The last day of last term was used to indulge the students into Shakespeare. The following term they were to start their study of a Midsummers Night Dream. The day started with a quiz on Shakespeare, his life and work. It went down really well with students (along with some friendly rivalry!) and got them excited about the trip to the Globe.

We caught public transport to the Globe and split up into smaller groups. We had a phenomenal leader. Each leader was an actor associated with the Globe and had a passion and in depth understanding of their subject area. Our workshop started with a talk about the history of the Globe theatre before moving into the rooms to delve into a Midsummers Night Dream. It was great to see some students remembered little facts that also provided some good discussions during the day.

In the rooms our leader introduced the complex plot of a Midsummers Night Dream beautifully. If you are not familiar with the love story, its quite complicated with a few twists and turns. She managed to keep all the complexity of the relationships but communicated it so simply. She used students to be each character and asked them to raise one hand and point to show who they fancied in the story. It was like a dynamic visual flow diagram!! What a great simple strategy -something to note for future reference! ;)

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The English teachers also had organized tickets for 30 enthusiastic students to have the opportunity to see the production at the Globe after school. I was fortunate to be able to join the excursion group last minute. It was just AMAZING. I had never studied A Midsummers Night Dream, but with the quiz and workshop earlier it gave a great background.