The Tempest

In English, before starting to read the play, we briefly explored the history of the English language, and we were surprised to find out that the English that Shakespeare wrote in is classed as ‘modern English’. We had really good fun writing and using some Elizabethan insults!

Whilst reading the play, we thought about whether Caliban was a bully, or whether he was being bullied, and whether Prospero was right to extract revenge on his brother and the king. We also thought about whether Miranda and Prince Ferdinand rushed into a relationship! We also had great fun making Prospero’s big book of magic spells ready to put all the spells that we wrote into it.

Writing spells really helped us to think about the use of adjectives and imperative verbs. Should you need one, there is a great spell to conjure up your own tempest at the end of this article, written by Phoebe and Tulisa. We also practiced order and structure, showing our understanding of the play by story-boarding it. Well done to all the children involved in the work around The Tempest – tackling
Shakespeare can be tricky for anyone, for the nurture group to embrace it in the way they did is testament to their determination to make really good use of all their learning opportunities – well done! During a drama lesson, children did a ‘Whoosh’ of the play and had great fun dressing up and swapping characters - so did the adults!