38 Scenes From Shakespeare for the Language Classroom

This compilation contains 38 short extracts or scenes for students new to the plays of William Shakespeare. The book is divided into five sections – two-handers, three-handers, four-handers, five-handers and large-sized casts – corresponding to the number of characters appearing in the scene. For each play, there are several features including: a short synopsis describing the main events of the play, a well-known quotation, three pieces of trivia related to the play, two questions to stimulate interest and imagination, the unabridged text of the scene, and a list of simple annotations explaining any difficult words or phrases. Not only does this book provide some of the best-loved and most famous scenes from Shakespeare but it also provides a scene from every single one of Shakespeare’s thirty-eight plays: comedy, tragedy, history, romance, Roman, Athenian, tragic-comedy and collaboration – it’s got the lot! On top of that, there is a brief history of William Shakespeare’s life, basic advice on how to handle iambic pentameter and a rough timeline of when the plays were written. Aimed at intermediate level students and above, this book is a great way to increase knowledge and awareness of Shakespeare’s language and plays and boost enjoyment, creativity and communication in the classroom.

Have students read and perform lines from these great stories:

・An innocent man is condemned for his name.
・A ghost is spotted on the castle battlements late at night.
・A bachelor seeks the hand in marriage of a rich man’s peevish daughter.
・A banished warrior joins the enemy’s camp.
・An unlikely group of tradesmen plan to stage a performance at a royal wedding.
・An unlucky merchant begs for mercy after failing to pay a bond.
・A blind and lame peasant miraculously claims he can see.
・An honourable general eyes revenge at a state banquet.
・An ageing king divides his kingdom among his three daughters.
・A scheming rogue seeks to win the affection and fortunes of two wealthy wives.

This book dispels the myth that Shakespeare is not accessible. Students will absolutely love it!

• English Type: British
• CEFR: B1-B2
• Age: 16+
• Number of scenes: 38
• Hours to each unit: 1-2
• Hours to each book: 38-40
• Page Count: 110
• ¥2,250 incl shipping within Japan.
  For shipping overseas please request a quote via the contact page.