Roundtable: Shakespeare in the Second Language Classroom

This round-table seeks to consider the innovative ways educators encourage students to appreciate Shakespeare and his language, and to interrogate the ways Shakespeare remains a resource for language learning across Scandinavia and Europe. The panel will include both educators and critics to discuss methods, resources, experiences, challenges, translations, adaptations, teaching through performance, and ways of encouraging a wider use of Shakespeare at all education, skill and age levels. Questions and themes may include the following: • Fear Factor: Confronting resistance to Shakespeare’s language in teachers and students. • Shakespeare in Adaptation (using film, graphic novels, and translations). • Education through Performance: Live Theater (or Student Performance) vs. Digital Theater (i.e. The Globe Theatre’s “Globe on Screen” program broadcasting Globe performances in cinemas worldwide). • Teaching Shakespeare in the Multicultural and Multilingual classroom. • Shakespeare Modernized or Simplified: Shakespeare rewritten for younger, or less-skilled, readers (i.e. No-Fear Shakespeare, Simply Shakespeare, The Orchard Books of Shakespeare Stories, or Shakespeare Can Be Fun!) • Shakespearean Influences: Introducing Shakespeare through references in contemporary popular culture, or Scandinavian sources.