Exploring English: Shakespeare

Great course! Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:

- Even though English is the only language I speak fluently, the clarity of the course was helpful in getting me to understand what was going on and I'm sure it was clear for English learners.

- Captions on videos were great and I quite liked how there was no music in the background of the videos because it made it clearer and I could play my own music if I wanted.

- Taught me very important things, such as the fact that Shakespeare was known more for how he crafted his words and phrases, rather than coming up with original plots - something I think teachers at school should say.

-Great range of plays and explanations around them were so good.

-All the educators and actors seemed very friendly and positive.

Cons:

- I started this course after it had 'begun' and so if I interacted with any learners, they likely wouldn't see it, and educators had stopped responding by then. Also, I don't have facebook and obviously wasn't in time for the lives and they were over and hour, so I didn't join in with that. Felt a bit left out here, but it's not a big problem. This may be an issue with Futurelearn in general, rather than this course specifically.

- Was Shakespeare the first to make up words? Was he the first to use such beautiful language? What has made him so popular that other playwrights at the time didn't do? What were other playwrights at the time writing like? I feel like this is very important and I still don't know.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this course and I have been looking for other ones similar.

Thank you!

This course has been most insightful and goes to prove that you can always learn something new about the great man and/or his plays. Although I am not new to Shakespeare and his literary genius, this course is well structured, particularly as an introduction to his work. I would certainly recommend it to newcomers and people who have felt that Shakespeare is beyond them for whatever reason.

The interactive resources have been enlightening and I found the actors’ personal points of view, quite revealing, thought provoking and informative. I have also enjoyed the cross-cultural aspects of this course and now aim to see more alternative productions set in different countries, languages or medium. What does transpire from reading the comments is that people can fall in love with Shakespeare no matter how young or old and are able to take from his work, truths that fit into their everyday lives or wider understanding of the world.

What saddens me most, as I write this review, is that we are now in living in unprecedented times when the future of the arts is sadly at risk. Only recently in the media, there was talk of Shakespeare’s Globe in London being in danger of permanently closing, if it does not receive the necessary emergency funding needed to make up for lost revenue due to the coronavirus lockdown. This would be a calamity if an indelible part of our culture was lost forever...

In the words of Shakespeare “we know what we are, but not what we may be.” Without an appreciation of his language the world will hold less joy and empathy.

Maybe the course leaders may consider future programmes covering different plays which are targeted from beginners to advance level? Thank you team for your professionalism and passion.

This course has been most insightful and goes to prove that you can always learn something new about the great man and/or his plays. Although I am not new to Shakespeare and his literary genius, this course is well structured, particularly as an introduction to his work. I would certainly recommend it to newcomers and people who have felt that Shakespeare is beyond them for whatever reason.

The interactive resources have been enlightening and I found the actors’ personal points of view, quite revealing, thought provoking and informative. I have also enjoyed the cross-cultural aspects of this course and now aim to see more alternative productions set in different countries, languages or medium. What does transpire from reading the comments is that people can fall in love with Shakespeare no matter how young or old and are able to take from his work, truths that fit into their everyday lives or wider understanding of the world.

What saddens me most, as I write this review, is that we are now in living in unprecedented times when the future of the arts is sadly at risk. Only recently in the media, there was talk of Shakespeare’s Globe, in London being in danger of permanently closing, if it does not receive the necessary emergency funding needed to make up for lost revenue due to the coronavirus lockdown. This would be a calamity if an indelible part of our culture was lost forever.

In the words of Shakespeare “we know what we are, but not what we may be.” Without an appreciation of his language the world will hold less joy and empathy.

Maybe the course leaders may consider future programmes covering different plays which are targeted from beginners to advance level? Thank you team for your professionalism and passion.

For me it's the very first time to do an online course. I've signed in because of the confinements due to COVID 19 which all of a sudden provided me with an unexpected portion of free time, and my so far dull ignorance about Shakespeare. I didn't expect the course to be so interesting, entertaining, inspiring and enriching. I love the international community of students from more than 160 countries. Together with the different ages, levels (I adore the comments of the native-speakers and experts, such a beautiful language) and backgrounds of the participants the discussions and comments are so diverse, witty, instructive, humorous and therefore very motivating. Due to this unique platform a vast variety of ideas and thoughts are gathered while you go along learning more and more about Shakespeare's life, time and works. I also like the didactic pattern and structure of the course: A well-balanced mixture of the play's content, presented also by actors, linguistic aspects and topic links to the meaning of Shakespeare in contemporary life, wisely supported and seconded by our educators Genevieve and Neil. The links work and I was extremely glad for the tool where you can record you own voice quoting Shakespeare. With this I couldn't only read the comments but also listen to the other "class-mates'" voices, amazing! It's really a high-level-online-instruction which gives you a lot of intellectual space for your own reflections. Thank you for this offer, stay healthy and take care