Beginning Shakespeare 4-11

Shakespeare's plays are widely regarded as the greatest inheritance in English literature, and recent years have seen a growing interest in introducing them to children in their primary schools. This accessible and practical textbook shows training and practising teachers how to introduce Shakespeare to a primary aged audience.

Children who encounter Shakespeare early have the opportunity to become comfortable with the plays, their stories, characters and settings, well before they get intimidated by their associations with exclusivity and 'high' culture. They also encounter his rich, sensual and complex language at a stage when they are constantly encountering new vocabulary; this extraordinary language can be absorbed with everything else.

To do this most effectively demands a pedagogy that is active and dynamic, and which recognises that the plays are best explored and understood in performance. Beginning Drama 4-11 offers a sound rationale for teaching Shakespeare in primary schools and shows how to engage children with Shakespeare through story, through the very best of early years practice, and through his rich and sensual language.

It also illustrates how engagement with the plays and their language can have a dramatic impact on children's literacy and writing skills. And because plays are for performing, there is helpful and practical advice on developing the work to share it with the whole school, parents and the wider community.

Joe Winston and Miles Tandy are two of the most respected practitioners and writers on primary drama working today. Their earlier collaboration, Beginning Drama 4-11, is well-known as one of the most accessible, practical and comprehensive guides to primary drama available. In this book, they bring that same blend of clear thinking, playful and inventive practice, and straightforward practical advice to bear on teaching Shakespeare in the primary school.

Review: 'Beginning Shakespeare makes a passionate case for including Shakespeare in the primary school curriculum and backs up its arguments with a rich bank of activities and lesson sequences. Head of Education Partnerships at the RSC Miles Tandy and Professor of Drama at Warwick University Joe Winston have very clearly 'road-tested' their ideas and I am sure that those working in schools will find this book a useful addition to their professional library.

At the same time any trainee teacher will find the arguments here thought-provoking and challenging as they consider the place of 'classic texts' and drama in the 21st century classroom...Winston and Tandy, in Beginning Shakespeare, give a very sound rationale and resource base for schools to make a start in pursuing their ambitious targets.' David Gibbons, NATE Primary Committee 'The authors have gone beyond such standard fare as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth (evergreen favourites in primary schools), and include work on less familiar and perhaps more challenging plays such as Troilus and Cressida, King Lear and Hamlet.

In each case, they support children's moral, social and cultural development, presenting pertinent and relevant issues for them to consider such as the terrible cost of war in Henry V or what it feels like to be bullied like Malvolio in Twelfth Night. The authors are skilled at seeing the links to the personal and social development of pupils, which is a key aim of primary practice.' Georghia Ellinas, Around the Globe, Issue 54, 2013