23rd June 2012 9:00
By Robin Meltzer
I teach English and English literature to students of all ages. Quite often, parents, particularly of younger students, will say to me, “Can you find some appropriate text to do some comprehension with her?” When this happens, I don’t think parents necessarily want me to just go through a published revision book or text book. I see it as an opportunity to carefully choose some text which the student will relate to, that you can talk about with passion and get them not only to “comprehend” it but also, dare I say it, to actually like it!
I used to find this quite tricky for the younger students. Or, rather, I used to find it tricky to be original in my choices. Particularly for age ten or eleven, the temptation is to go for the old favourites, by which I mean books written “for children”. And there are some wonderful books which I have used which are educational as well as fun – the Roald Dahl books I read at that age are just as popular now. Or there’s the riches of C.S. Lewis, or the poignant and sensitive Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian.
But now I also try to come up with things which they are unlikely, at that age, to encounter at school or in the kids section of their local library. It was for an eleven year old that I first found myself thinking, “how about some Shakespeare?” I don’t mean the abridged Shakespeare or a “modern English” version of the stories but the real thing. Carefully chosen, of course - I don’t think Hamlet’s ‘to be or not to be’ speech is quite the sort of existential angst that I want an eleven year old to start comprehending. But what about Puck’s simple verse in A Midsummer Night’s Dream or the Nurse’s funny dialogue in Romeo & Juliet?
When I was at school, I was 15 before I was introduced to Shakespeare’s texts. Looking back on this now, I can’t believe it took my school so long to teach it. It meant that I was old enough to be intimidated by it. I started off on the back foot. By the time, four years later, that I spent a term at Cambridge studying Shakespeare almost exclusively, I had long been cured and couldn’t (and still can’t) get enough. But I am sure many young people are not as fortunate as me, and end up missing out on the richness of the extraordinary accomplishment of Shakespeare’s works.
The first time I gave some Shakespeare to an eleven year old, it was probably not the ideal piece to choose. But the fact that it worked really made me realise what potential there was to bring Shakespeare in at this age. I actually chose a conversation between Escalus and Angelo in Act I of Measure for Measure. I certainly didn’t have to explain to the child of what Angelo accused Claudio, nor would I have chosen a part of the play which sees Angelo terrifying Isabella. But a straight-forward conversation between two people, where one man is clearly in a position of power and the other is choosing his words very carefully, is something which an eleven year old can understand.
The eleven year old did not say “Oh no! Shakespeare! The language is so obscure.” He just said, “I’ve never read anything by Shakespeare before.” We read a short extract through together. As he read it out loud, he would occasionally stop on a word and I would casually help him pronounce it and/or tell him what it meant, in the same way I would if he came across a word he didn’t understand in book written this decade. As a result, he had no fear of the text and was able, with a little prompting, to not only understand the text from a “comprehension” perspective but also to come up with some intelligent comments about the nature of power and even about how we should treat suspected criminals.
If you’re going to give a young student some comprehension practice, you may as well give them something which will have some benefit a couple of years later. When a pupil in school at key stage 3 comes across some Shakespeare, it will be far less daunting for them if they have already come across some before. Like everything, it may not be appropriate for every child. A child who struggles with reading may find this a step too far. But there are plenty of children who will get stuck into a piece of Shakespeare if you put it in front of them.
It’s a delight to introduce a student – of any age – to a truly great piece of literature. I used to think it was different with the youngest students. And to a certain extent, of course, it is. You can explain to a GCSE student the philosophical questions behind a speech in a way which would not be particularly advisable when speaking to an eleven year old. But it’s perfectly possible to start to get the student, even at a young age, to start thinking of the difference between a novelist and a playwright. “How do you think the audience might react at this point?” I ask them, and it changes the entire way they engage with a text.
Having home tuition is very different to learning in school; it allows not only one-on-one attention but also the opportunity to have tailored lesson plans. For English tuition, I can think of few better benefits of having an English tutor than being introduced to Shakespeare - early and often.