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English Home Study HOME STUDY-ENGLISH Spend approximately 40 minutes per day working through the activities in this booklet. You should try to spend at least 20 minutes per day reading something of your own choice You do not need to print the booklet out but you might want to use paper to record your responses. You should work through the activities in the order they appear in the booklet. Monday 1. Vocabulary (5 minutes per day) 2. Develop your knowledge – Shakespeare and his family 3. Check your understanding – Test Yourself Tuesday 1. Vocabulary (5 minutes per day) 2. Develop your knowledge – Context – What influenced Shakespeare’s writing. 3. Check your understanding- Brain Dump Wednesday 1. Vocabulary (5 Minutes per day) 2. Extended Response 1: Complete this task to demonstrate your understanding and return to your teacher via email for feedback. Thursday 1. Vocabulary (5 minutes per day) 2. Develop your knowledge – The Globe Theatre 3. Check your understanding – Test Yourself Friday 1. Vocabulary (5 Minutes per day) 2. Extended Response 2: Complete this task to demonstrate your understanding and return to your teacher via email for feedback. Extension Tasks: A few things you may enjoy doing if you have time. HOME STUDY-ENGLISH FOCUS ON VOCABULARY TASK: Use LOOK, COVER, WRITE, CHECK to learn the following definitions. Word Definition bard A poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment brawl a noisy quarrel or fight Courtier a person who attends a royal court as a companion or adviser to the king or queen. Globe Theatre Where Shakespeare's plays were performed in London, England Groundlings Peasants; The lower class in Shakespeare's time who paid a penny to see a play Play write the author of a play Prologue introductory remarks in a speech, play or literary work, introductory action Shakespearean a 14-line lyric poem with a specific rhyme scheme sonnet Soliloquy A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage Tudors Dynasty formed by Henry VI To further revise and test your knowledge of the key vocabulary you might want to give Quizlet a go. Use the link below: English Home Study LEARNING FOCUS- Who was Shakespeare and what influenced his writing? Recall your prior knowledge. Task: Write down anything you already know about Shakespeare. (5 minutes) Build your knowledge Task: Carefully read the following information about William Shakespeare and his family. (20 minutes) When was Shakespeare born? William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in April 1564. The exact date of his birth is not recorded, but it is most often celebrated around the world on 23 April. Shakespeare’s baptism is recorded in the Parish Register at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon- Avon on Wednesday 26 April 1564. Baptisms typically took place within three days of a new arrival, and parents were instructed by the Prayer Book to ensure that their children were baptised no later than the first Sunday after birth. This means that it’s unlikely that Shakespeare was born any earlier than the previous Sunday, 23 April. Given that three days would be a reasonable interval between birth and baptism, 23 April has therefore come to be celebrated as his birthday. Fun Fact: Shakespeare also died on 23 April; in 1616, when he was 52 years of age. Who was Shakespeare’s family? William Shakespeare was the eldest son of John and Mary Shakespeare. John Shakespeare was a glove-maker, who married Mary Arden, the daughter of a farmer from the nearby village of Wilmcote. When William was born, John and Mary were living on Henley Street, Stratford-upon- Avon, in the house now known as Shakespeare’s Birthplace. They had eight children in total. John Shakespeare was a prominent citizen who served on the town council for many years. He even became a high bailiff in 1568 (the equivalent of Mayor). Aside from his craft as a glover, he traded as a wool dealer and was also involved in money-lending. He was granted a Coat of Arms in 1596, elevating him and his heirs to the official status of gentlemen. Where did Shakespeare go to School? William Shakespeare's education would have started at home. His mother, Mary Arden, would have told him fables and fairy tales during his early youth. Mary was certainly literate. She acted as the executor of her father’s will. The kinds of stories Mary told him are referred to much later in Shakespeare's plays. His home education would also have included reading the bible. In addition to education at home, Petty School followed up to the age of seven. There he learnt his alphabet, numbers, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. Shakespeare’s Henley Street home was just a short walk from the grammar school, the King’s New School, on Church Street, also the site of the Guild Hall where the borough council regularly met. The school was available to all boys within the borough, free of charge. The grammar-school's demanding curriculum was geared to teaching pupils Latin, both spoken and written. The boys studied authors such as Terence, Virgil, and Horace in their original Latin. In fact, the students were even expected to speak Latin to each other in the playground or at home. We can see the influence of these Classical writers, particularly Ovid, in Shakespeare’s poems and plays. While grammar schools focused on Latin rhetoric, drama was also included. He probably left school at fourteen to undertake an apprenticeship of seven years until his coming of age. Although his parents were fairly prosperous and he was able to go to grammar school, there is no record that he went to university. Marriage and children William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in November 1582 and they remained married until Shakespeare's death. At the time of their marriage William was 18, while Anne was 26—and pregnant with their first child. The average age of marriage was 26 years of age, so Anne would have been an eligible young lady of her time. William, on the other hand, was still a minor in the eyes of the law and so required permission from Anne's father to marry Anne. Shakespeare's early marriage also meant that he wouldn't legally be able to complete an apprenticeship. Anne and William's first daughter, Susanna, was born six months after their marriage, and they would go on to have twins Judith and Hamnet a few years later. Test your knowledge Task: Respond to the following questions to test your understanding. How many can you answer without looking back at the text? (10 minutes) 1. What year was Shakespeare born? 2. Where was Shakespeare’s birthplace? 3. What was Shakespeare’s father’s occupation? 4. How many siblings did Shakespeare have? 5. What was Shakespeare’s mother called? 6. Which Classical writer had a particular influence on Shakespeare? 7. Why did Shakespeare need permission to marry Anne Hathaway? 8. What were the names of Shakespeare’s three children? Focus on context- What influenced Shakespeare’s writing? Context: (noun) the setting or background influences for an event which help to explain it. Synonyms: background, circumstances, conditions Task: Use the key terms to label the images below. Think abut how they may have influenced Shakespeare’s writing. (5 minutes) The Plague The Globe Theatre Elizabeth I Guy Fawkes James I (Vi Scotland) London Dock in Tudor England, Focus on context- What influenced Shakespeare’s writing? Task: Read the information below to find out more about the contextual influences on Shakespeare’ writing. (15 minutes) Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne when Shakespeare wrote his first plays .Elizabeth was an active and generous patron of the theatre. She had her own acting company called the 'Queen's Men', and stood against the puritans who wished to close down the theatres. Without her support the Elizabethan theatres would not have survived. When Elizabeth died Shakespeare wrote no elegy for her, unlike most of the poets of the day. As you can see it is not easy to determine Shakespeare's relationship to Elizabeth I. It appears that he worked for her as she demanded but there is no indication that their relationship was closer than that. Shortly after James I took the throne, he announced that he would be the new sponsor of Shakespeare's theatre company ‘The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’, which renamed itself the King's Men. The company were required to perform for visiting dignitaries and on state occasions. The new King and his court proved to be big consumers of theatre, ordering, according to one eyewitness, ‘every night a public play in the great hall [at Hampton Court]’ during the holiday season of late 1603, plus extra, private performances before James’s Queen Anne and the young Prince Henry. The play Macbeth is rumoured to be designed to deliberately flatter the interests of James 1. It, cleverly flatters the King’s distant ancestor Banquo, who dies an honourable death, and even includes the weird sisters to represent the supernatural which was a topic of great Interest to the King. We’re not certain when Macbeth was first performed, or even if James ever saw it, but if it was in 1606, it must have been frighteningly soon after the Gunpowder Plot in November 1605. The Plot was a Catholic conspiracy to blow up James at the state opening of parliament – and with him nearly every major political figure in the land – and it came dangerously close to happening. Focus on context- What influenced Shakespeare’s writing? The recurrence of the plague throughout the 16th and 17th centuries had a massive impact not only on the Bard's life and work but also the history of drama in this country.
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