GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
TEACHING
APPROACHES
A menu of ideas to support the teaching of Shakespeare
VERSION 1 JULY 2013
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Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
CONTENTS
Introduction3
Assessment objective
4
General guidance
5
Stimulus activities: Lighting the Spark
6
Whole play approaches9
Textual analysis12
Character focus
15
Dramatic effect18
Writing the assessment20
Appendix 1
22
Appendix 2
23
Appendix 3 24
Appendix 4
25
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INTRODUCTION
This is an additional resource provided by OCR to run alongside Unit A661 of the GCSE English
Literature specification.
The Teaching Approaches booklet is aimed at newlyqualified teachers and teachers looking for different
approaches and ideas to support the teaching of this unit.
These notes are not intended to replace centres’ schemes
of work or to prescribe the teaching of Imaginative
Writing, but are provided to stimulate and support the
teacher.
It is anticipated that the ideas and activities in this booklet
may be selected, adapted and rejected by teachers, based
on the needs of their students.
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ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE
The assessment objective AO1 underpins the teaching of this unit and is reproduced below
for your convenience. The teaching approaches contained in this booklet are informed by the
assessment objective.
AO1
• Respond to text critically and imaginatively. Select and
evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support
interpretations.
You may also wish to refer to the marking criteria for
specific guidance on allocation of marks.
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GENERAL GUIDANCE
Familiarity with the assessment objective (AO1) and the marking criteria for this unit is
essential, in order to focus your teaching on the requirements for success for your learners. In
addition, the Examiner’s Report gives helpful advice on learners’ performance and guidance
for improvement. Other resources, such as candidate-style answers and other exemplar
material, are also available on the website: www.ocr.org.uk.
This unit gives learners the opportunity to respond
critically and imaginatively to Shakespeare, and to support
ideas and interpretations by selecting and evaluating
relevant textual detail. The ideas and activities contained in
this booklet hope to stimulate the study of Shakespeare in
interesting, innovative and worthwhile ways.
Many of the ideas also focus on studying filmed versions of
Shakespeare, and these can, of course, be adapted to suit
the study of a stage or audio performance.
Teachers will use their discretion as to which activities suit
their purpose.
The teaching suggestions have been loosely divided up
into key areas to assist teachers in planning the needs of
their own learners.
Many of the ideas in this booklet will work well as a brief
starter, others will take up half or a whole lesson.
It is anticipated that teachers may develop an idea in their
own ways or edit it to suit their own purpose.
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STIMULUS ACTIVITIES: LIGHTING THE SPARK
You may wish to show the film or play before studying it – remember Shakespeare was
written to be performed and watched. Viewing the play first helps learners to get to grips
with the plot and can take the fear out of the language, as well as enjoying the play as it was
meant to be enjoyed.
The short stories by Leon Garfield and filmed animated
tales are also a great introduction to the plot for some
learners. If you have time, seeing a number of different
versions really helps learners to appreciate the different
interpretations that are possible. When choosing the film
text for close study for the controlled assessment, please
see the Shakespeare and Film (Guidance and practical
support for teachers delivering Unit A661) booklet for
further guidance. It is, of course, important to accompany
this with a full reading of the play and focus on the set
scene/s. Below are a selection of ideas which can also be
used before you actually start to study the play.
•
Debates – devise a topic for discussion on one of the
themes in the play you are studying. You may wish
to look for links to a relevant news story with similar
themes. For example: ‘All that glitters is not gold’ - Can
money buy you happiness? / What makes a good friend?
/ Ambition – at what cost?
•
Drama – using a dilemma from the play create a
scenario for learners to improvise. For example: Your
parents give you a photograph of someone who you are
going to meet in a week’s time, with a view to marrying
them. In small groups, improvise your reaction and the
resulting discussion.
•
Props – bring into class some of the props from
the play or give learners a list of the props – in small
groups they can choose one or two props to create
their own improvised drama around a chosen object,
or their own short script using the props, or discuss
what the props tell them about the nature of the play
they are about to study.
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Jack to Jill
Learners often find getting to grips with the different names and groups of characters difficult. This is a simple but fun
activity which helps them to get used to the names and gets them thinking about their role and status.
1.
Write down characters’ names in large letters on separate pieces of A4 paper or card (landscape is best). If you don’t have enough characters for your class, double up some of the main characters.
2.
Ask learners to stand in a circle and hand them all a name card, which they should hold so everyone else can see their name. Ask them to introduce themselves – this gives them the chance to ask about pronunciation etc.
3.
Nominate one character – say Banquo from Macbeth – and tell him/her to swap places with another character of their choice. He/she should then say, ‘Banquo to… Macbeth’ whilst walking across to Macbeth. Then Macbeth swaps places with another character, saying ‘Macbeth to… First Witch’, again whilst walking across to First Witch.
4.
Learners will be a little hesitant at first, but as they get more confident, ask them to speed it up, so there is always someone walking and talking, and everyone has to be concentrating!
Using action and speech helps the brain to learn better, and learners get to say many of the names from the play,
which helps make them familiar and comfortable with them.
This can be further developed:
1.
Place notices in different corners of the room to organize characters into groups – for example: The Capulets, The Montagues, Other Characters. Learners should try and decide where they belong and join the group under the notice. Many will get this right, but when they don’t, use this as an opportunity to ask other members of the class where they think a character might belong. This opens discussion and helps learners to begin to understand the relationships between characters.
2.
Ask learners to decide what status their character might be. They then need to position themselves appropriately. If they are very low status, they might think they should be sitting on the floor – if they are high status they might be standing – the highest status might even stand on a chair etc. This gives opportunity to discuss characters’ status and notions of class and importance in the play.
•
•
Character – learners can write down notes on a
character from a favourite TV drama/comedy/soap,
describing their personality. Ask them to bring a
picture in of their character and to make notes on
what their appearance suggests about their character.
They should consider clothes, hairstyle, facial
expressions and body language. Do their observations
match their original notes and ideas, or add to them?
Flash-stories – explain to learners that drama and
stories can be seen to follow a simple structure
of: Opening/exposition, conflict/complication,
development, climax/crisis, resolution and ending/
coda. Ask them to write a micro-story in a word/time
limit which includes all of the above. You could give a
general theme, or one from the play you are studying,
such as ‘betrayal’. This could be followed up after
study of the play by turning the play studied into a
‘flash-story’ as a summary exercise.
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Sequencing - cut up a summary of the play and ask
learners to put it into the right order before they even
study it. They enjoy the puzzle-solving nature of this
task and it familiarises them with the plot.
•
Image analysis - analyse a film still or film poster to
get to grips with props, costume and body language
- see stimulus questions in the Shakespeare and
Film (Guidance and practical support for teachers
delivering Unit A661) booklet published on OCR’s
website under ‘Support Materials’ www.ocr.org.uk
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Slipper - shoe
To introduce the concept of rhythm and iambic pentameter, try this activity:
1.
Ask learners to walk around the room as if they have a slipper on their left foot and a heavy shoe on their right foot. The slipper is almost silent and meets the floor lightly while the shoe makes a loud sound and meets the floor with more pressure. Let them experience the sound of the slipper – shoe combination by walking around the classroom. Discuss how this is the same sort of effect as the unstressed syllable followed by the stressed in an iambic foot.
2.
Ask learners to try walking ‘slipper – shoe’ around the classroom while reciting lines from the Shakespeare play you are studying. You can give them some lines to begin with and then let them choose lines of their own. The five paces of slipper - shoe form the rhythm of iambic pentameter.
3.
You can then pace around the room in the reverse order of ‘shoe –slipper’ so that learners can feel the effect of the trochaic foot. Give them some lines from Longfellow’s ‘Hiawatha’. Discuss how the switch in emphasis changes the tone and pace of what is written. What sort of writing would suit ‘shoe – slipper’ as opposed to ‘slipper – shoe’? Exploring trochaic meter the students may like to invent witches’ chants.
4.
Set a homework ‘listening’ exercise and ask students to write down examples of iambic pentameter they hear in everyday life eg: I think I’d like to have a cup of tea. How often do our tongues walk the way of slipper - shoe?
5.
You could introduce an extract from the play to explore and develop this further.
“Always remember that these are
plays, not ‘sit behind the desk’
reading exercises. Don’t be too holy
with Shakespeare.. deconstruct…
reconstruct… cut and paste. Once
you start to break the picture you
will learn so much trying to put it
together again.”
Claudette Bryanston, Director of Sante Theatre
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WHOLE PLAY APPROACHES
As you read the play with your learners, you may wish to vary your reading strategies. Most
commonly, learners are allocated character parts to read, but occasionally reading round
the class up to a full stop can make reading more lively and interactive, whilst noticing the
structure of Shakespeare’s writing. Allow learners to read in small groups and sometimes give
them time to read in silence to prepare for reading aloud. Groups could record a reading
of the set scene/s, then listen and compare the effects of different use of pause/volume/
intonation etc with other groups in the class. It is also valuable for the teacher to take part, in
order to model effective reading for learners. The following activities can be done during or
after the study of the whole play.
•
Draw a map – ask learners to sketch a map of the
settings/locations in the play.
•
Family tree – ask learners to prepare a family tree, for
example for the Capulets and Montagues.
•
Timeline – learners prepare their own timeline of
events based on their reading/viewing of the play – it
is useful to give them a limit to the number of events,
(say, 10 maximum) to help them think about key
moments and what is important to the main plot.
•
Glossary – suggest learners write a glossary in the
back of their exercise books for words and phrases
which they come across as they read, and definitions of
key vocabulary, such as soliloquy, metaphor, dramatic
irony, blank verse etc.
•
Matching quotations – give learners a list of key
quotations which they should match to the correct
character and explain what it suggests about that
character and/or whoever is being talked about. You
can also give key quotations which relate to relevant
themes – learners can explain the significance of the
quotation here. Alternatively, they could take part in a
‘quote quest’, looking for significant quotations about a
character or a theme you have identified.
•
Film posters – again, learners can prepare their own
(it is useful to ask them to focus on a theme or a
particular character to achieve a richer response) – as
well as analysing a film poster for the film/s being
studied, looking at the images, colour, font, layout,
costume, body language etc.
•
Eight frame activities – learners could fold a piece
of A4 in half and half again, then half lengthways, to
create eight frames which can be used for a number of
activities. For example, storyboard the plot in 8 scenes,
give 8 quotations which learners can represent in an
image etc.
“Go for the story first,
then tackle the language
second.”
Casting – learners can write a cast list for the film and
prepare fuller notes on costumes for characters. Open
this up to a discussion about the film version/s of the
play you are studying – what is the significance of
costume and the choice of actors?
Helen Kelly, writer
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Diary entry – ask learners to prepare a diary entry at
pivotal moments in the play, for example Macbeth’s
feelings before he commits the murder of Duncan.
This simple activity helps learners to engage with the
motives and feelings of characters in a powerful way.
•
Newspaper article – ask learners to write a
newspaper article but make sure it is at a dramatic
point in the play, for example after the murder of
Duncan, Banquo or Macduff’s family. Use the Who?
What? Where? pyramid structure at Appendix 1 to
help them.
•
Summary activities – learners could write a
newspaper headline for each scene they read, or
prepare a gravestone inscription on the death of a
character, or find one quotation in a scene which they
think sums up what happens or what is key.
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
“Start with bite-sized
chunks with a play you are
reasonably familiar with
yourself. Don’t expect your
students to get everything
at onset; to fall in love with
one speech is to fall in love
with Shakespeare.”
Claudette Bryanston, Santé Theatre, University of Warwick
Becoming familiar with the plot
This activity should take place after reading the whole play and encourages learners to become familiar with the plot and to
develop summary skills. It is important that learners are able to challenge each other on any plot errors and for the teacher
to be on hand to support and clarify points.
1.
Divide learners into small groups.
2.
Sitting in a circle they tell the story of the play a sentence at a time in clockwise order.
3.
Introduce a conch into each circle. The holder of the conch begins the story and passes the conch on to someone of their choice. Whoever it is passed to continues the story for as short or long a time as they like. This continues until the story is told.
4.
Introduce time constraints. One person tries to summarise the story in 3 minutes. Stop the clock. The next person tells the story in 2 minutes. Then 1 minute, then 30 seconds, then 10 seconds! How many features of the story can they include in these short re-tellings? What are the key elements of the plot?
5.
This can also be done the other way round – starting with the short 10-second retelling, and moving up to incorporate more detail.
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Logos and coats of arms – learners could create
a logo which reflects, for example, the House of
Capulet/Montague or the characteristics of a particular
character, or a coat of arms which depicts the themes
of the play or uses key imagery from the play or a
scene. The depictions can be in writing, images,
diagrams etc.
•
Slogans and manifestos – again, learners can create
slogans which reflect the themes of a play or prepare a
manifesto for a character to explore his/her stance at a
particular point in the play.
•
Beginnings and endings - ask learners to compare
beginnings and endings of the text and the film, or
what a character says at the beginning and at the end.
How has a character changed during the course of
the play, or what ‘message’ is conveyed – is it different
between the two media?
•
Structure of plot - look at the chronology of the
play text and film text. Are they the same, or has the
film missed out any scenes or used them at different
points? This could be as flashback, intercutting scenes
etc. Shakespeare often uses tension or relief by having
a comic scene in the middle of the main dramatic
action. Does the film do the same?
“Find the big hook into the play, typically through something
violent or immoral, like murder, betrayal, deceit … Connect it
to a contemporary/recent history news event and use media
and drama approaches to work backwards and forwards to
construct the outline narrative and its back-story. Regularly
layer-in selected lines/excerpts from the text to allow the
power of the poetry to be felt capturing the feelings in such
moments.
Shakespeare’s insults! You can use an insult generator which
will have words from all the plays, but use as many as possible
from the play being studied. Model and encourage students
to experiment with how to deliver the insults to each other.
Set constraints: for example, as quiet/slow/low as possible or
from a distance/very close to the listener.
When they have studied a film version, students can prepare
their own one minute trailer for it!”
Jo Trowsdale, Assistant Professor, Institute of Education, University of Warwick
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TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Close analysis of the set scenes, along with the film text/s you are studying is, of course, vital.
Different strategies for doing this can make it more engaging and interesting for learners,
along with encouraging deeper analysis.
•
Sequencing - give learners the scene divided into
characters’ speeches and see if they can sequence
them.
•
Presenting the script - give the text of a scene as
unpunctuated prose and get learners to try to set it on
the page as they imagine it would be in the original
script.
•
Speculate and anticipate - before studying a scene
in detail, give learners some of the key vocabulary and
language and ask them to speculate on what they
think is happening in the scene.
•
Key words - ask learners to examine a scene closely
and identify 5 key nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs –
they can use these to prepare their own crosswords,
wordsearches, Wordle, or to prepare a summary of
what happens in the scene.
•
Connotations of key words – use the words
learners have found above, or give small groups 4
or 5 key words from the scene you are studying and
ask learners to brainstorm them in a time limit of 30
seconds each, to explore their connotations. Share
with the class to discuss similarities and differences
between the groups, and link the significance of the
connotations to the play.
•
•
PEEL – Point/Evidence/Exploration/Link. To help your
learners to analyse the play text and the film version,
use the PEEL sheet (see Appendix 2) to structure their
response by making a point, giving evidence and
exploring the effect and significance of the evidence/
quotation, linking back to the question.
•
Questions on the play and film texts – to analyse
setting, costume, body language, lighting, colour,
sound etc, use the question prompts in Appendix
1 and 2 of the Shakespeare and Film (Guidance and
practical support for teachers delivering Unit A661)
resource available for this unit.
•
Headlines – learners can re-read a speech or scene
and make up a headline that sums it up. Encourage
the use of puns, alliteration, rhyme, dramatic language
or language from the text.
“I enjoyed Shakespeare
when we wrote our own
script based around key
quotes in a scene, then
acted it out.”
Annotating the scene as a director - insert pauses,
actions, camera angles, tone of voice, sound effects.
You could ask them to do this twice – for a TV or film
and a radio version – discuss the differences, and how
meaning is conveyed in each genre. You will find that
this exercise helps learners to observe and analyse
more closely when you come to studying the film
version of the set scene in detail.
Elinor Vokes, year 10 student
Freeze-frame – in small groups ask learners to freezeframe a moment they think is significant from the
set scene/s – see if the rest of the class can guess the
moment; the group can go on to explain to the class
why they feel this is significant and how they have
conveyed this in their freeze-frame.
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Playing with intonation
Take a line from a scene and in pairs ask learners to change the emphasis of different words and practice saying them
aloud:
“When shall we three meet again?”
“When shall we three meet again?”
“When shall we three meet again?”
“When shall we three meet again?”
“When shall we three meet again?”
“When shall we three meet again?”
Discuss the difference and how different emphasis can change the meaning. This can be further developed by asking
learners to consider the effect of whispering a line and shouting it, using the intonation of a question when a line isn’t a
question and vice versa, etc. Look at the film you are studying and consider how characters are speaking and its effect
on the meaning conveyed.
•
Soundtrack - ask learners to choose a soundtrack for
a scene, or to two contrasting scenes (for example, in
Romeo and Juliet – the fight scene and the balcony
scene). Allow learners to be experimental here – what
is the effect of using music which is slow and melodic
for the fight scene, for example? What would be the
effect of using a cynical rap lyric to accompany the
balcony scene? Alternatively, play a variety of music
over a scene in the film or a reading in class, and
discuss the different effects. Then go on to look at the
music in the film version you are studying.
•
Adapting Shakespeare - ask learners to re-write a
scene or part of it into text appropriate for a modern
version, or a different audience, such as young
children; if there is time they can also act this out.
Similarly, give them a brief scenario or summary of a
set scene which they can write a script for, in the style
of Shakespeare. Both these activities encourage close
analysis and a real consideration of the language used.
•
Exploring setting - use the set scene or select an
extract from the play you are studying to explore
the effect of different settings and the significance
of setting. For example, instead of three witches on
a heath – three tramps on a park bench, three spies,
three astronauts in space, three people shopping in
a supermarket with trolleys etc, saying the words, “So
foul and fair a day I have not seen…” Allow learners
to think of their own settings to explore the different
meanings and connotations that result. Go on to look
at the film version you are studying and examine the
effect of the choice of setting.
•
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Create a Wordle - use the website www.wordle.com
and ask learners to paste a scene from the play into
it. Repeated words appear in larger font – look at the
larger words, which are formed from repeated words
– what does their repetition tell us about themes and
ideas in the play?
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Acting out the scene
If you have time for a bigger project, ask learners to prepare the set scene or part of it for performance in groups, paying
particular attention to setting and staging, body language, intonation etc. They could:
•
annotate the script with directions
•
rehearse
•
perform it to the class
•
class comment on the different choices made and their effect
The class can select their own scenes, but if learners all do the same scene, you can have an interesting discussion about
the different choices made and their effect on meanings and the presentation of character. How does someone’s body
language affect the audience dramatically, and influence the meaning of the words, for example?
•
Exploring puns - ask learners to bring joke books into
school and to find jokes which play on words – get
them to make up their own, then move on to finding
Shakespeare’s puns and exploring their humour.
•
Cloze - prepare a cloze on a scene – missing out key
words, or summarising the scene with key words
missing, to explore understanding.
•
True/False quiz – learners can prepare a true/
false quiz on a scene and test each other – this can
encourage close reading and discussions about
‘meaning’ and interpretation.
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CHARACTER FOCUS
The controlled assessment task will include the need for character analysis and the portrayal
of character on film. Learners should be aware of how Shakespeare constructs character and
how a film version interprets this.
•
Facebook page - ask learners to prepare a Facebook
page for key characters in the play. They can
incorporate a character’s profile, friends, likes, news
feed, changing status etc.
•
@twitter - can also be used to allow a character to
say what’s happening to them at a certain moment in
the play, and involve other characters in commenting.
Remember, only 140 characters allowed per comment!
•
Blogging - rather than a diary entry, writing a blog
may be a more engaging way for learners to explore
the thoughts and feelings of a character, and if it
is used at different points in the play, to consider
reactions to changing situations and character
development.
•
•
•
“Make it fun! Lots of acting,
group work, messing about
with the text, putting it into
modern-day scenarios,
re-writing it as text
messages, creating a
Romeo blog etc”
Empty chair – this is good preparation for hot-seating.
The class should sit in a circle with an empty chair in
the middle; the teacher tells the class who is sitting in
it, eg. Lady Macbeth. Learners take it in turns to ask
Lady Macbeth (the chair) a question. ‘Do you love
your husband?’ All the listeners can be Lady Macbeth
and so one member of the class might respond –
‘Yes, I do, but I think he’s a bit weak sometimes.’ This
can allow for a wider range of responses than hotseating, with different ‘Lady Macbeths’ adding to the
discussion, and also allows a whole class to participate
without pressure. Allow time for discussions about the
ideas and observations raised by the experience. Then
ask learners to look for evidence in the text for the
ideas presented; can they be supported by the text?
Helen Cross, author
Hot-seating – after preparation, a volunteer sits in
the middle of the class and other learners ask the
volunteer questions. The volunteer must remain ‘in
role’, for example as Romeo, and answer in the first
person – ‘I loved Juliet the moment I saw her’. Role
play explores the thoughts and feelings of a character.
Learners can prepare questions in advance, whilst the
volunteer revises his/her character.
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Mantle of the expert - In groups, learners take on
expert roles – psychiatrist, social worker, journalist,
police etc, appropriate to the play they are studying.
They can conduct meetings to discuss an issue – for
example, improvise a press conference, or become
police officers who investigate, interview and write
reports on the death of a character or another crime.
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Role on the Wall and Conscience Alley
This activity takes learners slowly through exploring character in a variety of ways, to examine thoughts, feelings and
motivation of a character.
1.
Choose half a dozen characters from the play. Divide learners up into this number of groups. Using a large sheet of sugar paper or wallpaper, draw around one of the learner’s bodies in each group in order to make the shape of a person on the paper.
2.
Give each group prompts: for example, symbols to put at the heart of each figure, quotes to put in speech bubbles around the figure, thoughts to write inside the head space of the figure, private feelings the character may experience in the play to write close to the heart, places the character has travelled to on the feet or legs, perhaps.
3.
When groups have had time to write some responses, stick all of the figures of the characters on the wall so that it is like an exhibition. Students walk around the room in their groups adding more information to each of the other groups’ figures. Allow time for each group to visit every other group’s character and read their annotations. Then they can add their own annotations, writing down anything they think is missing in the original.
4.
Briefly discuss the sorts of things that have arisen for each character.
5.
Let the groups gather around their original character and discuss the additions made in more detail. They should then choose one person in their group to represent this character.
6.
Each group’s representative will walk down ‘Conscience Alley’. The character outline can be laid out on the floor, and the class line up either side of the paper to form the alley. The group representative in character walks slowly between the lines, walking the journey of the play.
7.
As the character walks through the alley, other class members ask them questions, either as themselves, or as characters in the play. They could ask, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘How are you feeling?’ and the character answers for various significant moments of the play.
8.
Allow time for learners to reflect on the experience, and groups to make any additions to their character outline at the end of the activity.
This can be followed up with learners selecting their own key observations about a character and finding evidence in the
text, followed by using the PEEL sheet at Appendix 2, to explore further and practise articulating what they have learned
in this exercise.
•
Cocktail party – the teacher prepares sticky labels
with names of characters from the play. The teacher
gives a label to each learner who places it somewhere
on their person where others can see it, but the
learner can’t. Learners move around the room.
When they encounter a character they react to them
appropriately – for example, faced with King Duncan
they might bow, or with one of the witches, they
might look fearful. The learner has to guess who his/
her own character is by the reactions of others.
•
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Problem page – learners can produce a problem
page, based on a difficult moment in the play. For
example, imagine after Romeo has been banished
that Juliet writes for advice. Or Macbeth asks for advice
about what the witches have foretold. You can give
learners the problem and ask them to offer advice, or
ask them to write both problem and response.
HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
•
Contrasting viewpoints – split the class into two
and allocate a contrasting viewpoint of a character
(Macbeth – killer or victim of fate?) – learners can
prepare speeches or tabloid newspaper articles based
on that one-sided viewpoint, giving good reasons
from the text. Some speeches and articles could
be read aloud, and the class could decide which
viewpoint is the most convincing. It is important to
encourage learners to be aware of different possible
interpretations, so long as they are supported with
reasons and evidence from the text. Are there any
contrasting interpretations of character between
the play text and the film text scene/s learners are
studying?
•
Obituary – when a character dies, learners can write
an obituary, or a eulogy for them. Then they could
write as another character, reflecting on the truth of
the obituary or eulogy, to create a balanced view.
•
Keep a booklet on characters and up-date with
observations and quotations on how a character is
presented or develops, after each reading/viewing
session.
•
Presentations – learners prepare a powerpoint or any
presentation on a character, including key quotations
and observations.
“Try and find a reputable touring
company that comes into
school with Shakespeare’s plays,
especially if they offer workshops to
accompany that experience.”
Val Davis, Head of English
17
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Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
DRAMATIC EFFECT
The controlled assessment will require your learners to explore the dramatic effect of the
play. How does a scene, or an incident, or particular words, affect the audience? What impact
does it have on them – how do they feel about what has happened, and what do they think
about it? This will involve textual and film analysis, looking at how the choice of words in the
play text affects the audience, and how the choice of film techniques such as setting, use of
camera, props, body language etc add to the dramatic effect in a film version.
•
•
Audience reactions – whilst watching the film,
pause it at interesting points during the scene you are
studying, and ask learners directly what is happening
and how they are feeling about it. Is the audience
identifying with particular characters, and do the
characters’ feelings influence the audience’s? Are there
moments when the audience is meant to feel shock,
sadness, excitement, revulsion, for example? This helps
learners to stop and reflect on the dramatic effect of
a scene. As a class, explore different perceptions and
interpretations.
Prose and verse – point out the use of prose and
verse – is the language used heightened, and how is
that presented in the film version (for example, using
fades, soft focus, fast edits)? What is the dramatic
impact of the verse used, as opposed to prose?
•
Sentence structures - ask learners to look for long
and short sentences and discuss the effect of their
use (for example, many short sentences are used at
the beginning of Romeo and Juliet to create tension)
– they could write their own modern dialogue using
short sentences to create an argument. Then get
them to add rhetorical questions and discuss the
effect of these techniques on the reader/audience.
•
Identifying the drama – ask learners to highlight
the parts in the scene which they think is the most
‘dramatic’ or important. Ask them to re-write the
scene (or highlight the parts they want to keep),
cutting it to half its size, but keeping all the drama of
the scene.
•
Cliffhangers – give learners the opportunity to
imagine they are serializing the play for TV – where
would they put mini-cliffhangers (between breaks)
and bigger cliffhangers (between episodes)? In this
activity they will be identifying moments in the play
which have a significant dramatic effect. Ask them to
justify their choices.
Tension - ask learners to examine the set scene and
insert silences to increase the tension.
•
Soliloquy – discuss the function of soliloquy as a
way of exploring a character’s thoughts and feelings
and sharing them with the audience, but also as a
structural delaying device – allow opportunities for
learners to insert a soliloquy of their own, at a point
when learning about a character’s feelings could have
a powerful dramatic effect on the audience and also
create tension by coming between the action.
“I find mindmaps really useful
for developing a deeper
understanding of characters.
Drawing characters and
designing their costume is
good, too, as it makes me
relate costume to character
and sometimes you come up
with something you haven’t
thought about before.”
Luke Jackson, year 11 student
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•
HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
Dramatic irony
•
Knowledge is power - Ask learners - Have you ever known something your friend doesn’t know? Should you tell them? Learners work in groups of 3 or 4. Give them two scenarios:
1) One person knows something the other two don’t – improvise the situation
2) Two or three people know something one person doesn’t.
Use this as a basis for discussion of the dramatic implications and introduction to dramatic irony.
•
Character knowledge - learners could go through a scene with coloured pens to highlight or underline each character. What information do some characters not know? Red = They don’t know something. Blue = they know. This could be used to introduce the concept of dramatic irony and empathy, by asking learners what difference this might make to the character’s thoughts and feelings, as well as the audience’s perceptions and reactions.
•
Diary and hot-seating – to explore dramatic irony further, use diaries, blogs, Twitter etc at significant moments in the play. For example, the audience knows Juliet has taken a potion to simulate death, while everyone else apart from Friar Lawrence thinks she is dead. Upon the discovery of Juliet in her chamber, write a diary entry from the nurse’s viewpoint or hot-seat the nurse, then contrast this with hot-seating or a diary entry for Friar Lawrence and Romeo. This helps to draw attention to who knows what and its effect.
•
At different points in the play consider what the audience knows in comparison to the characters in the play. When do we know something the characters don’t? What is the dramatic effect of this?
“If you have the luxury of time, divide the class into five groups – each group
is allocated one act of the play. For their act, the group has to prepare a
freeze-frame for 5 important moments in the act. They should write a brief
commentary for each freeze-frame, focusing on character and dramatic effect.
Alternatively, they could select an appropriate quotation and comment on it.
Students can then go on to present their act to the rest of the class, in order, so
telling the story of the play.
Alternatively, they can take photos of their freeze-frames and, using a program
such as Moviemaker, edit the pictures together, adding a voiceover with their
quotations or commentaries, either as a group or individually. Again, these can
be viewed as a whole class (and between classes in the same year group), and
you could incorporate some peer engagement by asking other students to
identify dramatic effect and observations on character, for example.
You could use the same principle to focus just on the set scene in more detail.”
Debbie Daniels, Teacher of English
19
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HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
WRITING THE ASSESSMENT
Teachers will find it useful to refer to the guidelines in the supporting publication Shakespeare
and Film (Guidance and practical support for teachers delivering Unit A661) available on the
website www.ocr.org.uk.
•
Notes - as learners are allowed to take notes into
the controlled assessment, encourage them to draw
diagrams and timelines, as well as making notes on
key words and quotations they may wish to use. To aid
recall of the film, sketches and storyboards, images of
props, costume, etc can all be part of the notes. They
can also note down the play and specific film version
studied, which they will need to refer to in their
assessment. A plan can be included, to help learners
structure their points logically.
•
A useful preparation exercise for learners is to look at
the candidate scripts in the new booklet Exemplar
Candidate Responses with Commentaries
(available under ‘Support Materials’ on www.ocr.org.
uk and get learners to mark them using the marking
criteria.
•
Close analysis of play and film text - use the grids
at Appendix 3 or 4 to explore a short extract from
a scene. Appendix 3 works well as an introduction,
and Appendix 4 goes on to encourage learners to
consider what the play text suggests about thoughts
and feelings of the character, the reaction of other
characters and the overall dramatic effect – and how
this is supported by or different to the film text. Ask
learners to complete the ‘Play text’ column first, then
watch the extract at least twice and complete ‘Film
text’ column (are the words exactly the same? In the
same order?); finally making any observations of how
the film might be different or similar to the play text
in the last column. Learners can start to compare
the presentation of a character – how sympathetic
are they in each medium? Are there any differences?
Which part of the text did they find the most
interesting/exciting/amusing etc – was it the same for
the film text? Does the text or the film appear to have
different points of view at times?
•
PEEL – after the above exercise, use Appendix 2 to
organise learners’ observations and explore their
significance in detail.
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HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
Connectives
Give learners a menu of connectives which might be useful when talking about the play text and film text:
Similarly...
However...
In the same way...
Or...
In the same way...
On the one hand...
In contrast...
On the contrary...
Also...
Whereas...
Likewise...
On the one hand...
Equally...
While...
“Plays are written to be performed so have
fun watching them! Watch the animated
tales to help all students get the gist of the
play, get to the heart of it by using a variety
of drama exercises to help students peel
back the onion of the whole Shakespeare
experience, and then watch/make available
as many versions of the play as you can
– films, local productions, Theatre in
Education performances and whenever
possible, when students have a knowledge
of the play and have developed an
understanding and a love of the language,
arrange a trip to see a RSC production.”
Julie Boden, writer and Creative Adviser
21
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HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
APPENDIX 1
Most Newsworthy Information
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Important Details
Other general
background
information
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HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
APPENDIX 2
PEEL
POINT
EVIDENCE
EXPLORATION/EXPLANATION
LINK
(May answer a question)
(Usually a quotation which supports the point)
(Explore the quotation and what it suggests –
refer to any literary devices or analyse one or
two key words in detail)
(Make sure you have linked your exploration/
analysis back to the point)
The character of Romeo is…
as indicated by Mercutio when he says…..
These words suggest that…. The phrase…
infers that… The use of the word….
indicates…. because…
Therefore, Romeo is portrayed as……..
because….
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HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
APPENDIX 3
ANALYSING A SCENE USING PLAY TEXT AND FILM TEXT
PLAY TEXT
(Looking at the structure of a scene, rhyme, rhythm, the words used – imagery,
language used to create tension or humour, sentence structure etc)
FILM TEXT
(Looking at setting and props, costume and make-up, body language and facial
expression, lighting and colour etc)
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HELPING YOU BRING ENGLISH TO LIFE
Unit A661 Literary Heritage Texts
APPENDIX 4
CHARACTER IN PLAY AND FILM TEXT
Play text
Film text
Similar or different?
Character
Thoughts and feelings suggested
Reaction of other characters
Dramatic effect
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