8 Year Olds Can Learn Shakespeare
How to Teach your Elementary Kids Shakespeare
Last semester, I had four children (ages 6-10) in my house memorizing Shakespeare like it was a treasured game.
Even I was surprised by how effortlessly they absorbed the language, savored the poetry and eagerly acted out scenes. It was magical.
To give you a small taste, attached is an unedited recording of my girls reciting lines from Midsummer Night’s Dream. This impromptu moment was so natural, even when they kept rustling about making noise in the middle, I chose to leave the entire recording completely unaltered.
The first speaker is my 8 year old.
Some of you skipped the recording. I get it. You’re busy.
But you can’t FULLY appreciate what I’m about to say without listening to an 8 year old recite Shakespeare like it’s the most natural thing in the world!
You need to believe it’s possible for Elementary children to revel in expertly written language from 400+ years ago!
If my babies can recite prose and poetry from the 1600s, why, oh why, then do we wait until high school for most schooled kids?
It’s not just that the words are complex and old-fashioned making stories hard to understand, it’s also that the stories are … well… fairly adult. There’s murder, battles, and even some lewd jokes.
But there is also a wealth of richness awaiting young readers including the…
Artistry of alliteration, similes, and metaphors
Discovery of the beauty of cadence and rhythm in language
Contrast of prose and poetry and how they fit together to weave a tale
Archetypal characters, suspense, and charm from a master storyteller
Shakespeare showcases a narrative craft that has shaped stories for hundreds of years.
Introducing children to Shakespeare’s beautiful phrases and exceptional story-telling will pay dividends in their writing, vocabulary, and reading comprehension for years to come!
So how do we capture the magic of Shakespeare, but for children.
If you are anything like me a few months ago, you might a bit intimidated…
Where do I start? What’s age-appropriate? What do these stories even mean?
But it’s a lot easier than you think!
In today’s post you will👇
Learn 4 Easy Steps to Teach your Kids Shakespeare: Most people start with the full play, but there is a much more delightful way to bring the Bard to your kids. You’ll have them reciting poetry and prose as they fall asleep at night!
Resource Recommendations: A single post can’t do Shakespeare justice. So, I give you my favorite resources to go even deeper: which passages to learn, which plays to start with, what order to do them in, strategies for memorizing complex language, and what Shakespeare story book I read to my own kids!
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