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Classroom Activities for Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Three lessons based on "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales offer scholars an opportunity to examine literary satire, medieval attitudes towards women, and the form and function of a frame story.
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Chaucer: Text and Contexts
Compare the Wife of Bath's text to the biblical verses she references. Much of Chaucer's Wife of Bath's words are direct reflections of bible verses; this presentation matches the Old English to the biblical references and helps explain...
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Chaucer's Wife of Bath
A thorough and well-designed resource for older students, this lesson focuses on Chaucer's character the Wife of Bath from his classic novel, The Canterbury Tales. As a way of understanding Chaucer's complex characterization and...
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Chaucer: Text and Contexts
Guide your class through a lecture or lecture series on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with this presentation. First summarizing the Knight's Tale and the Miller's Tale, the slides then provide the text for the Miller's Tale, linking...
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Chaucer: Text and Contexts
Take your class through the Wife of Bath's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with this slide show. First summarizing the events of this section, the presentation goes on to provide the supporting text for each plot point, from the...
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Chaucer: Text and Contexts
Providing the historical context of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this slideshow would make a great addition to either a British literature class, a world history class, or a medieval history class. The first few slides present the state...
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The Canterbury Tales Quiz
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 25 multiple choice questions about Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
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Playing Chaucer's Pilgrims
Students dress like Chaucer's pilgrims in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales and act out a skit revealing Chaucer's description of each pilgrim.
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Chaucer: Canterbury Tales
A good addition to a class discussion of Canterbury Tales, this presentation guides students through a thorough plot summary of the Knight's tale and the Miller's tale. The final fourteen slides include passages from the Miller's tale....
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Writing Application: The Canterbury Tales
Students read stories from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and create their own tale. In this writing applications instructional activity, students read the tales and analyze the specific details that Chaucer use. Students work...
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The Canterbury Tales Study Questions & Essay Topics
In this online interactive literature worksheet, students respond to 6 short answer and essay questions about Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Students may check some of their answers online.
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Chaucer's Wife of Bath
Students analyze Chaucer's portrayal of the Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales. Students prepare class reports on the institution of marriage and the place of women in the Medieval society.
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Chaucer's "The Prioress' Tale"
Students examine Anti-Semitism in literature. In this Chaucer lesson plan, students review the concept of blood libel and then identify and analyze the Anti-Semitic message of "The Prioress' Tale."
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Chaucer introduction
Twelfth graders make connections between past and present, relevance of studying Chaucer.
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Chaucer Web Quest
In this literature web quest worksheet, students research online the answers to the questions about Chaucer. Students answer 4 questions.
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Chaucer: Canterbury Tales General Prologue
Perhaps a companion to a class discussion about the general prologue (Parson and Summoner) of Canterbury Tales, this presentation simply presents students with lines 477-714 of the text. No additional commentary or annotation is included...
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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
High schoolers work in groups to imagine, research and simulate a dinner party involving an author, a fictional character, and a significant historical figure as dinner guests. The activity uses Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and...
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The Teller of the Tale, Part 3
Students practice use of volume, stress, pacing, enunciation, eye contact, and gestures needed to meet the needs of the audience when presenting their own tales based on Chaucer. They receive teacher and student feedback and prepare to...
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Details and Observations IQ or the Eyes Have it
Fourth graders study Chaucer as a master of details. Then, they create a short story linking unrelated details into a logical plot with a clear setting and established characters. This activity has some excellent worksheets attached!
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Chaucer's Characters in The General Prologue
Twelfth graders explore the characters in The General Prologue. They describe the characters and their occupations and their lands of origin. Students organize the characters using Excel spreadsheets.
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Camp Canterbury-creating a Personnel Guide for Chaucer's Characters
Twelfth graders study the character sketches in Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
They discuss the biography of Sir Thomas-a-Becket and his historical significance in the Medieval Era. They define a pilgrimage and brainstorm...
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Multicultural Canterbury Pilgrimage
Students create travel brochures that detail various people and places that are encountered on the way to Chaucer's Canterbury.
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The Teller of the Tale, Part 2
Learners discuss character types and their qualities. They select two characters and write about their dress, speech, habits, attitudes and beliefs. They write a monologue as the characters presenting a moral theme.
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Chaucer
Learners discuss characterization in "The Canterbury Tales". They examine professions that could be held by a travelers. They write a script for a new person on the trip. They may also write a poetic version for the script.