Children as young as four will study Shakespeare in a project being launched today by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The RSC is holding its first national conference for primary school teachers to encourage them to use the Bard’s plays imaginatively in the classroom from reception classes onwards. The conference will be told that they should learn how Shakespearian characters like Puck in?A Midsummer Night’s Dream?are “jolly characters” and how to write about them.
At present, the national curriculum does not require pupils to approach Shakespeare until secondary school. All it says is that pupils should study “texts drawn from a variety of cultures and traditions” and “myths, legends and traditional stories”.
However, educationists at the RSC believe children will gain a better appreciation of Shakespeare if they are introduced to him at a much younger age. “Even very young children can enjoy Shakespeare’s plays,” said Mary Johnson, head of the learning department. “It is just a question of pitching it for the age group. Even reception classes and key stage one pupils (five-to-seven-year-olds) can enjoy his stories. For instance, if you build up Puck as a character who skips, children of that age can enjoy the character. They can be inspired by Puck and they could even start writing about him at that age.”
It is the RSC’s belief that building the Bard up as a fun playwright in primary school could counter some of the negative images conjured up about teaching Shakespeare in secondary schools. Then, pupils have to concentrate on scenes from the plays to answer questions for compulsory English national-curriculum tests for 14-year-olds. Critics of the tests have complained that pupils no longer have the time to study or read the whole play—and therefore lose interest in Shakespeare.
However, Ms. Johnson is encouraging teachers to present 20-minute versions of the plays—a classroom version of the?Reduced Shakespeare Company’s
A.How to give pupils a flavor of Shakespeare drama
B.The fun of reading Shakespeare
C.RSC project will teach children how to write on Shakespeare
D.RSC project will help four-year-old children find the fun in Shakespeare