University of Arizona
Language Registers
Do you speak to your parents the same way you speak to your friends? The differences between formal and informal language are highlighted in this exercise. Groups are asked to select a scenario and script different dialogues that might...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.6
Cover language registers so that your class members can adapt their speech when necessary. The two example activities are interactive and involve authentic interaction. Test your pupils' understanding of speech adaptation with one or...
Curated OER
Let the Campaign Begin
Learners differentiate between positive and negative personal attributes and select a fictional character for nomination who personifies the qualities of a good leader. They use the Internet to learn about the election process and write...
Curated OER
The Words that Surround Us
Students investigate writing that we read daily by analyzing advertisements and articles. In this language arts lesson plan, students discuss the images and writing they see daily, where it comes from, and what it represents. Students...
Curated OER
Reader's Theater, King Lear, and the Language of Gesture
Learners perform a Reader's Theater of a small section of the play, King Lear. They examine the text, read a handout for Reader's Theater techniques, cut and reorder lines in small groups, and add choreography to perform their scene.
Curated OER
Their Names Are Pricked
Students discuss areas of ambiguity in Julius Caesar and analyze the language as a tool to illustrate complex desires. In this Shakespeare lesson plan, students define subtext and use a neutral scene to act out subtext. Students create...
Curated OER
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version. This lesson includes several culminating project ideas for...
Curated OER
Persuasive Speech in Julius Caesar
After reading Julius Caesar 1.2 and 1.3, break your class into pairs for this role-play. Each pair will receive one of four prompts (or more, if you create additional examples), in which one person tries to persuade the other to do...
Curated OER
Lesson 8: Prithee, Pause!
High school learners examine primary source materials on history and the supernatural which relate to Julius Caesar. They then act out a scene based on different historical understandings and identify facts, theories, and similarities in...
Ken Taylor
The Stones: Guilty or Not Guilty?
Young drama pupils will perform a number of expressive speaking exercises as they consider the themes of responsibility, consequences, and justice in the very modern Australian play The Stones. With a lot of role playing and...
Curated OER
Limericks
Introduce your class to the limerick with a focus on the form and its history. Resource is short on procedure, but contains useful suggestions about where to look for school-appropriate limericks for young readers. Examine the...
Curated OER
Unlocking Soliloquies and Unleashing "the Dogs of War"
What is a soliloquy, and who is Julius Caesar? Explore soliloquies with this lesson that gets your kids up and moving! Learners line up, facing each other. Then they read the soliloquy (one side reads one line, and the other side reads...
Curated OER
Native American Clay Pots
Learners explore world culture by conducting an art project in class. In this Native American culture lesson, students identify the types of materials American Indians utilized in their artistic endeavors, specifically clay. Learners...
Curated OER
Lesson 9: Would the Real Portia Please Stand Up?
Students explore the subtext of the two scenes in which Portia appears. They compare the language she uses with her husband Brutus in 2.1 with the language she uses with her boy servant Lucius in 2.4. Students use their analysis of...
Curated OER
An Introduction to Immigration and the Canadian Political System
Twelfth graders take a citizenship test before learning how their own ideology fits in with current political parties. They create questions for a debate and learn the process of registering to vote.
Curated OER
Romeo and Juliet-Balcony Scence
Students create and carry out a "modern day" version of the famous scene from Romeo and Juliet to help them build understanding of the plot and the two characters.
Curated OER
Reader's Theatre for The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza
Students participate in reader's theatre. In this compare and contrast lesson, students read the book The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza. This lesson promotes fluency and expression. Students also read the traditional story of the Little...
Curated OER
Pitch-er Perfect
Students investigate music and what causes the pitch of a sound. In this sound properties lesson, students listen to a story about animals and the instinctual pitch they have in their voice and how musicians have that as well. Students...
Curated OER
Life Sentence
Learners investigate a vocabulary word by holding a fake auction. In this word visualization instructional activity, students are assigned a vocabulary word through a class auction and must illustrate its meaning and find its...
Curated OER
Anon Methought the Umbrellas Began to Move
Students reenact a scene from Macbeth using umbrellas as props.
Curated OER
M.C. Bard: Hip Hop and Shakespeare
Middle schoolers compare lyrics from hip hop songs with monologues from Shakespeare's plays, and perform both for the class.
Curated OER
Word Identification
Students identify grocery items using words on a list. For this grocery word identification lesson, students use a grocery list to choose items from simulated grocery store shelves in their classroom. They work in groups to simulate a...
Curated OER
You Can't Go Home Again (or, If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother)
Students read a scene from Hamlet, without stage directions. They recreate the scene using their own stage directions as they see fit for the scene.
Curated OER
Seventeenth Century Pick-up Lines
Young scholars analyze passages from The Mysteries of Love and Eloquence, or the Arts of Wooing and Complementing, written in the seventeenth century. Students analyze the images, words and figures of speech the author used and compare...