773-769-2056 Chicspeare Production Company - Shakespeare for Chicago
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School Programs

Teacher workshops

We have been certified by the Illinois State Board of Education to provide professional development, and participants can earn CPDU credits.

We offer workshops for elementary and high school teachers, and college students preparing to teach English. All workshops provide teachers with hands-on experience in techniques to develop language skills.

Row of teachers

"Actions to Words/Words to Actions: Using the Senses to Develop Language Skills"—participants learn ways to involve a variety of students' senses—sight, sound, movement, even humor and imagination—to develop their linguistic skills. Exercises actors use in rehearsal are translated to the classroom, so teachers can use students' natural creativity to make sense of a text. Material is drawn from elementary readers and newspapers as well as Shakespeare's works.

"Alack! Anon!: How Do I Make A Dead White Guy's Writing Live for Contemporary Students?"—participants learn how to appeal to a variety of student's intelligeneces—aural, visual, kinesthetic and inter-personal—to make classic texts as understandable as any conversation in the hall.

"Midsummer in Motion: A Kinesthetic Approach"—participants learn how to "physicalize" materal from A Midsummer Night's Dream and draw on students' kinesthetic intelligence to understand the text in this workshop originally developed for a National Council of Teachers of English-Shakespeare Conference.

"Romeo & Juliet: Ways to Teach the Play to ESL Students"—participants learn ways to help students read the play, even if their English vocabulary is limited, reading level is low and they lack confidence in their language skills. Using all the senses—sight, sound, movement, as well as humor and imagination—teachers will learn how to help students make sense of a text.

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