Merchant of Venice Literature Learning Camp #1

Many of our students had seen this version of the Merchant of Venice from the Globe Theatre in London. Our local theatre streamed it, so it was great to be able to see it direct from the Globe. 

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Large Group - Opening exercise - what do you know about Shakespeare? I had the students tell me anything they could about Shakespeare. I read some interesting facts ahead of time and tried to inspire them with some ideas. 

Large Group -  Agree or disagree using this provided form. I had the students go through these questions and decide for themselves what their opinions were. We then discussed each of the points. This idea came from this document: 

In Pairs or threes at most - word connections - using the provided form. I gave an example using Pride and Prejudice so the students would know what I was after. 

In groups of 4-5 max. - 20 minutes (15 mins plus 5 mins for recap) - Anti Semitism - from ADL Statistics: What are the key factors in the world today? How about in Shakespeare’s time? I provided the students with the statistics of a country and of Canada and asked them to make connections based on their country. Here are the questions.

In groups of 4-5 max - 20 minutes

Usury and The Merchant of Venice: We addressed this theme and basis in the plot of Merchant of Venice. Most of the students hadn’t heard of Usury before so it was challenging for them to understand this. 

The students did a read-through of the play and learned about their characters and the plot.