Many teachers can see the frustrations written on students faces when they are introduced to a Shakespeare unit. In my first lesson of Romeo and Juliet which was taught to a grade nine class, I first had the students do a snowball activity on their likes and dislikes about Shakespeare plays. This helped students feel more comfortable with the issues surrounding why there is such stigma against learning Shakespeare. Afterwards, students were given a sheet of Shakespearan insults and they had time to walk around the classroom insulting each other using only Shakespearan insults. Students were then given a questionnaire about the themes of Romeo and Juliet; students enjoyed this activity as the questions were relatable to their lives. I ended the lesson by showing the students a video made my UBC Education students on Shakespearan language. The students thoroughly enjoyed it and were excited to begin the Romeo and Juliet unit after this introductory lesson.
In this lesson, students were introduced to the task of creating a balcony scene rap, from Act II, Scene II of Romeo and Juliet. First, students were placed in groups and were asked to paraphrase certain lines. They were then given the project of creating a rap of their paraphrased line. In the example section, the handout of the project will be attached, as well as the example I gave students while introducing the project.