There is a multitude of teaching resources available for Macbeth. Most give fairly basic background information about the play and playwright, then give short explanations of the different themes that manifest in the play.
Side note on themes: It seems like the dullest move in English teaching to provide a list and an explanation of the themes of the text. Deciding what the text is talking about seems to me to be the bread and butter of reading and discussing; let the students identify the themes! I think it instructs apathy and passive reading to tell them that "ambition" is a theme in the text.
From this sea of mediocre teaching resources on the play, there stands out one resource in my mind: Shakespeare Set Free! teaching guides. The book, (some pages, al hamdulilah, are available on google books) contains a day by day lesson plan for teaching Macbeth. Not all of the lessons are appropriate to this group of ESL students, but they can be adapted. The reason I like SSF is that it suggests activities that use the drama of the text for clear pedagogical goals.
The first time I used it this year was for the monologue in which Macbeth vacillates about whether to kill the king. I blogged about it below. This Wednesday I turned to the google books version again to see how the authors handled 4.1, the chaotic scene in which the three witches make a brew, then meet with Macbeth and reveal to him their boss, the spirits which tell him about his future.
On Wednesday I had an extra class with HL, and I decided (based on some fantastic student questions in discussion on Tuesday) that we would take a closer look at why we have the witches in the play. I copied this handout from the one shown on Google Books from SSF: (this is a screen shot of the top part of the handout)
We got into a circle, I assigned three witches, and the rest of us counted off 1-3. We had a sound rehearsal (they were awesome, especially at the howling dogs). Here's what I loved: then we talked about what literary devices were present, and N. said "foreshadowing and pathetic fallacy". She explained foreshadowing ("All these dark creepy noises imply something bad will happen") but didn't know why she had said pathetic fallacy. This is such a key moment in literature. Students know the device, and don't know why they know it, and certainly can't comment on its effect. B. raised his hand and said "Well, what's happening in nature and in the outside world is showing the evil that's going on in the story." Bingo. Later that class and the next day, several other students referred to pathetic fallacy in their discussion and writing.
So, then we listened to the witches, then did the whole thing together. I asked them what they thought of it.
"It's annoying to listen to, especially with the witchy voice A. is using."
"I think that's the point, that it's supposed to be annoying."
"I think it's creepy."
"It sounds really chaos. Chaotic."
We got back into rows, and discussed on the board how the witches are portrayed. They pointed out that it's a stereotypical image of witches, since they're around the cauldron making a potion. S. pointed out that they must be powerful to have access to such rare ingredients, and what they're making with all of it must be quite potent and unusual. I asked the witches how they felt reading the lines. (Trying to draw out that the language they use, and their tone, is quite different from the other characters, and rather at odds with how much power they seem to have). M. said he felt childish saying it. A. said, yes, childish, but like children playing at ruling the world. Someone said they make it hard to tell what's evil and what's not. I would like to have them write about why the witches are portrayed as they are. What purpose Shakespeare might envision for them.
I'm grateful to SSF and Google Books for sponsoring this lesson!
Side note on themes: It seems like the dullest move in English teaching to provide a list and an explanation of the themes of the text. Deciding what the text is talking about seems to me to be the bread and butter of reading and discussing; let the students identify the themes! I think it instructs apathy and passive reading to tell them that "ambition" is a theme in the text.
From this sea of mediocre teaching resources on the play, there stands out one resource in my mind: Shakespeare Set Free! teaching guides. The book, (some pages, al hamdulilah, are available on google books) contains a day by day lesson plan for teaching Macbeth. Not all of the lessons are appropriate to this group of ESL students, but they can be adapted. The reason I like SSF is that it suggests activities that use the drama of the text for clear pedagogical goals.
The first time I used it this year was for the monologue in which Macbeth vacillates about whether to kill the king. I blogged about it below. This Wednesday I turned to the google books version again to see how the authors handled 4.1, the chaotic scene in which the three witches make a brew, then meet with Macbeth and reveal to him their boss, the spirits which tell him about his future.
On Wednesday I had an extra class with HL, and I decided (based on some fantastic student questions in discussion on Tuesday) that we would take a closer look at why we have the witches in the play. I copied this handout from the one shown on Google Books from SSF: (this is a screen shot of the top part of the handout)
So, then we listened to the witches, then did the whole thing together. I asked them what they thought of it.
"It's annoying to listen to, especially with the witchy voice A. is using."
"I think that's the point, that it's supposed to be annoying."
"I think it's creepy."
"It sounds really chaos. Chaotic."
We got back into rows, and discussed on the board how the witches are portrayed. They pointed out that it's a stereotypical image of witches, since they're around the cauldron making a potion. S. pointed out that they must be powerful to have access to such rare ingredients, and what they're making with all of it must be quite potent and unusual. I asked the witches how they felt reading the lines. (Trying to draw out that the language they use, and their tone, is quite different from the other characters, and rather at odds with how much power they seem to have). M. said he felt childish saying it. A. said, yes, childish, but like children playing at ruling the world. Someone said they make it hard to tell what's evil and what's not. I would like to have them write about why the witches are portrayed as they are. What purpose Shakespeare might envision for them.
I'm grateful to SSF and Google Books for sponsoring this lesson!
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