1. A Man from Stratford—William Shakespeare
Unit 4
A Man from Stratford—William Shakespeare

2. Objectives: 1. Life and career of Shakespeare
2. The writing of biography
3. Vocabulary and structures

3. Teaching Tasks and Process

4. Pre-reading Questions
How is Shakespeare related to Stratford? Is Stratford the place where he wrote most of his plays?
Is the text about Shakespeare’s life and career? If so, what do you expect to be told?

5. Is the text about Shakespeare’s personality
Is the text about Shakespeare’s personality? If so, what kind of person do you expect Shakespeare to be?
Is the text about Shakespeare’s works? If so, which of his plays do you like to see commented on and analyzed?

6. Background information
William Shakespeare (1564 –1616 )

7. Birth place—Stratford-upon-Avon

8. The home of Mary Arden, wee Willy Shakespeare's mother's house

9. Anne Hathaway's [Shakespeare's wife] cottage

10. The Avon River, near Stratford-upon-Avon.

11. Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon

12. Four Tragedies
Hamlet
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello

13. Comedies All's Well That Ends Well As You Like It
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Twelfth Night

14. Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

15. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:

16. But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

17. Language Points
be comfortably off: a man who has enough money to live in comfort
be well off/ badly off/ better off/ worse off

18. Shakespeare’s birthplace ,…had made a thriving business out of its most famous citizen for a long time.
make a thriving business out of: make use of one’s reputation to earn a lot of money

19. To plot Shakespeare’s life is to become involved in a kind of detective story where…
to plot Shakespeare’s life: to form the main story of a book, film, etc.
to plot (out) an idea for dong something
“I began plotting novels at about the time I learned to read.” (James Baldwin)

20. …, realized in a flash that this was the life for him…
in a flash: immediately, at once
On the Mid-autumn day I was still engaged in my work and I realized in a flash that I should have sent messages to my old friends.

21. …and other influential people to refer to him in writing.
influential: powerful and wealthy
refer to: mention, speak about
When I said some people were stupid, I wasn’t referring to you.
The scientist referred to the discovery as the most exciting new development in this field.
Which company was she referring to when she spoke of competing firms?

22. …he rapidly made a name for himself…
made a name for oneself: establish himself/ his fame/ his reputation
He first made a name for himself as an actor.

23. Text II—William Shakespeare
What was known about Shakespeare’s early schooling?
What are the two legends about Shakespeare’s life between the time he left school and his departure for London?

24. Why is the world grateful that he left the town of his birth?
What are some of the best-known plays Shakespeare wrote in the early part of the 17th century?
What curse was engraved on Shakespeare’s gravestone? Why did Shakespeare want to have this done? What is the writer’s comment on this curse?

25. Paragraph writing
Narration in Chronological order

26. Letter Writing —Conclusion and Ending
I look forward to seeing you soon.
I hope you’ll get well soon.
Please remember me to your mother.
I will be waiting anxiously for an early reply.

27. Discussion/Exercises
ORAL WORK
Role-play—Theatre and Cinema

28. Assignments
Exercise on the Work Book