Course Profile - Curriculum Services Canada

LGV.01D - use knowledge of vocabulary and language conventions to speak, write, and read
competently using a level of language appropriate to the purpose and audience;
LGV.02B - use listening techniques and oral communication skills to participate in classroom
discussions and more formal activities, such as storytelling, role playing, and reporting/presenting, for
specific purposes and audiences;
MDV.01D - use knowledge of the elements, intended audiences, and production practices of a variety
of media forms to analyze specific media works.
Specific Expectations:
LI3.02D - explain how authors use stylistic devices, such as simile, metaphor, personification, imagery,
foreshadowing onomatopoeia, oxymoron, alliteration, and symbol, to achieve particular effects in their
writing;
LI3.01D - explain how authors use diction and phrasing to achieve particular effects in their writing;
LG1.02B - identify and explain examples of slang, jargon, dialect, colloquialism, as well as of standard
Canadian English, in literary texts and their own oral and written work;
MDI.03D - compare and explain their own and their peers' reactions to a variety of media works.
Planning Notes
• The amount of time spent on this activity may be determined by the play selected for this unit. A more
contemporary play may not require as much time as a classic play, such as a Shakespearean one.
• This activity provides an ideal opportunity to continue the study of the etymology of words that was
introduced in Unit 1.
Teaching/Learning Strategies
• The teacher models the explication of certain lines, phrases, and words to highlight for students how
the use of certain diction and/or the nuances of the language can contribute to the overall effect and
understanding of the scene.
• Students work in small groups to complete one or any combination of the following options:
• Students examine the subtext, conscious of the fact that what is said and how it is said determines
how a line is interpreted and its intended meaning. Students look at how a line is delivered, (i.e.,
how inflection and emphasis are employed). The teacher could hand out certain lines and invite
students to deliver the line to indicate the context, e.g., “I’d like to thank you for everythin
a parent upon graduation from high school; b) a stranger upon wrecking your car; c) a friend
having just helped you cheat on an exam.
• Subsequently, students could be given a speech from the play under study and be challenged to
offer different deliveries of the lines.
• Students watch the same scene from two to three versions of the play under study and analyse
how the delivery affects their understanding of the scene, e.g., the opening scene of Romeo and
Juliet as presented by a) the BBC version of the play, b) the Franco Zefferelli version, and c)
the Baz Luhrmann version (1996 with Leonardo DiCaprio).
• Students examine how idiomatic expressions have evolved over time. Students locate expressions
from the play under study and explore how that phrase might be said today, or alternately how the
expression would have been said 400 years ago, e.g., “The Shakespearean Insult Sheet” from
Shakespeare Set Free (see Resources).
Assessment/Evaluation
Formative Assessment:
• Informal teacher observation of group dynamics and attention to task
Unit 4 - Page 8
•English - Academic