Breaking Character: As you may know from reading his plays, Ken Ludwig is a bit of a Shakespeare fanatic. He began teaching his own children how to read and memorize passages from Shakespeare from the time they were six years old. The purpose of his book How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare is to pass on the torch and create a whole new generation of Shakespeare lovers.
3 comments:
I am always fascinated by books that are written to help teach about Shakespeare. Some may not be the best choice and don’t translate well but what I like about this is that it is made to teach kids at a young age. He wanted his kids to learn early about Shakespeare so why not write a book? I think it’s clever and a great way to get them learning about literature early and excited about Shakespeare. Many people are scared of it when they think they have to read it because they don’t understand what it means but taking the time to read each passage and find the meaning in each lines makes you learn so much about the English language and about Shakespeare. I know when have first started working with Shakespeare I was nervous and felt inadequate to read it but then after taking a class and really diving in to how to read Shakespeare and figure out its meaning my eyes have been opened. I can find the meaning behind passages faster now and I have fallen in love with his writing. So, the idea of giving my kids a head start on Shakespeare makes me excited.
I wish I had had this book as a child! I still gravitated towards Shakespeare at a very young age, but for many years I read the words for their beauty, and without any concrete understanding of the meaning. I remember vividly one night my mother taking me through a scene in A Midsummer Night's Dream and helping me tease the meaning out of the snarls in the the words, and it was like the sun coming out after a lifetime of clouds. Having a concrete guide to help little theatre and literature loving children out there grasp the meaning of the words sooner can only be a good thing. We can be sure that Shakespeare isn't going anywhere. It has been proven that early exposure to arts and literature is good for brain development. Where is the downside? I say we put one of these books in every home.
This sounds like an excellent idea! I remember the articles that were posted several weeks ago regarding the controversy to translate Shakespeare's plays into modern English in order to make them easier to understand, and it seems like this idea is another alternative for easier understanding. While this project is aimed towards teaching young children about Shakespeare, it could also be very useful for students who are learning and studying his plays in order to help them understand more of the nuances of the language, and how the language serves to explain the characters' emotions and thoughts. It's one of the things that I struggled with when first studying Shakespeare, and having a breakdown of what each line is meant to convey available in understandable language would have been incredibly useful as a child. I think this idea is fantastic and I am optimistic that it will take off.
Post a Comment