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British Council

Exploring English: Shakespeare

British Council via FutureLearn

Overview

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Explore the English language through Shakespeare’s plays

This course will look at the life and works of William Shakespeare and take you from his birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon to the Globe Theatre in London, from where he secured his central place in English literature.

We will look at five of Shakespeare’s plays with the help of actors and experts from around the world. They will explain and explore the universal themes Shakespeare addressed in his work.

This course is designed for people who are learning English and interested in the language and legacy of William Shakespeare.

The material is designed for non-native English speakers who have studied English to around intermediate level (approximately B1 on the CEFR).

Syllabus

  • Shakespeare and his world
    • Getting started
    • Shakespeare's Stratford
    • Falling in love with Shakespeare
    • Shakespeare's London
    • Shakespeare's plays: tragedies and comedies
    • Round up
  • Romeo and Juliet
    • Welcome to Week 2
    • The story of Romeo and Juliet
    • Love and other themes in Romeo and Juliet
    • The role of Juliet
    • Shakespeare’s language in Romeo and Juliet
    • Round up
  • Macbeth
    • The story of Macbeth
    • The themes in Macbeth
    • Shakespeare's idioms
    • Shakespeare around the world
    • Round up
  • Much Ado About Nothing
    • Introduction to Week 4
    • The plot of Much Ado About Nothing
    • Hero and Beatrice
    • Shakespeare for everybody
    • Round up
  • Hamlet
    • Introduction to Week 5
    • The story of Hamlet
    • Hamlet in Africa
    • Shakespeare's language: words, phrases and verse
    • Round-up
  • The Tempest
    • Introduction to Week 6
    • The characters and the plot of The Tempest
    • Playing Caliban in The Tempest
    • Enjoying and understanding Shakespeare
    • Shakespeare's words
    • Round up

Taught by

Anthony Cosgrove

Reviews

4.8 rating, based on 505 Class Central reviews

4.7 rating at FutureLearn based on 392 ratings

Start your review of Exploring English: Shakespeare

  • I teach English in an Italian grammar school, where Shakespeare is included in the syllabus. I have always been a little hesitant about talking of Shakespere's works to my students because it's sometimes difficult to get through to teenagers and make them see the beauty of literary texts. I'm sure my students will love the videos and the articles of this course, which easily show how modern Shakespeare is, how close to their ways of thinking and tackling life challenges. Thanks!!
  • Anonymous
    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. - Capt…
  • Rathin Bhattacharjee
    I have been enjoying this BBC Course on Shakespearean English thoroughly. There are many reasons but I will mention only a few here. Firstly, I was telling my daughter, a Shakespeare fan and programming trainee by profession last night how I wishe…
  • Anonymous
    In my opinion, this course is fantastic! We have access to different contents, like videos, quizzes, texts... Everything is very well-prepared, we can see the purpose of the material, and the questions proposed make us want to interact with the othe…
  • Anonymous
    This course is amazing! I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I only wish I had done this before I finished writing the exam for the paper on British Drama in my English Literature course. I have learnt so much about Shakespeare, his life and times and his wo…
  • Delowar Mahmud
    First of all thanks to the educators, planners, the British Council, all concerned, and the course producers. On a short trip, I learned a lot about William Shakespeare. I don't think I could have learned anything about great men if I hadn't joined this course. However, William Shakespeare, one of the world's best playwrights, invented the sonnet for his creations. The course is well designed with live sessions, video explanations, articles, website links, newspaper articles, and much more. It would have been better if there had been some discussion about sonnets. However, as a student of English literature, I have benefited a lot from joining this course. I feel happy to be here with you. Thanks
  • Anonymous
    Even though I was fairly familiar with Shakespeare's works as a person born in an English speaking country, I found this course to be invaluable as it deepened my understanding of my own 'first' language and put a lot of my culture into context for me. Having a great course content, wonderful mentors and extremely respectful and engaged fellow students made this course a total pleasure to learn about Shakespeare through.
  • Anonymous
    This was a very informative course set at an easy entry level, with quizzes which helped me and others no doubt to understand the elements of the four plays studied. I like the links to other resources which I can follow up at my leisure once acces…
  • Anonymous
    Hello. Thankyou British Council for putting this course together. English is my first language, and I''ve been lucky enough to see a number of Shakespeare's plays, including at the Globe. Nevertheless, the course had much to offer, not least the incentive to make me think more deeply about the content and meanings in the plays. The many links to the plays themselves and related material were are great resource, particuarly for an aged one such as myself who doesnt normally find navigaating the internet particularly easy. I would have liked The Merchant of Venice and Othello included, especially with racial and ethnic diversity being such hot topics right now...but I guess you cant have everything you want...well done
  • Anonymous
    This course has been really nice!! I have learn and improve many things of English language, while learning about a great worldwide playwrighter. It's also remarkable the posibility to interact and share ideas with other participants and English teachers. Thanks a lot!
  • Anonymous
    I think the course is a great way to start or refresh the importance of Shakespeare and mixing all the traditional aspects with the modern era makes it a must for everyone who's looking into the life and works of this great writer.
  • Anonymous
    I have read Shakespeare at school. As I was going through the number of courses, I came across this course which took all of my attention. It is a nostalgia to read and see Shakespeare's various plays once again. I felt like being at school again an…
  • Catherine C
    I found the content of this course very interesting. But as is my previous experience with Future Learn courses I have not been able to watch the videos operating on an Apple Mac with the latest system updates completed. Not everybody has unlimited…
  • Anonymous
    As someone who knew really nothing of Shakespeare’s work I am really enjoying the course. Personally I think the story you tell that is a short summary of the story of each piece of work is too short. I have been watching some of the full length p…
  • Anonymous
    I must confess that I really enjoy the course. I am a science student, So little I know about literature and Shakespeare. I do only come by Shakespeare phrases being probably quotes by literature scholars. But taking this course has widen my knowledge about Shakespeare legacies and his biography. However, this is the first time reading the story of romeo and Juliet. I often hear people uses the words " romeo and Juliet " while discussing something relating to love and I also often use it as famous love terms, but never had I read story sorrounding it and neither did I knew it was Shakespeare legacy. I have also being expose to new idioms that I will now be using to buttress my sentences or words. I'm very glad to take on the course.
  • Anonymous
    I really enjoyed this course, I have learned a lot. I already knew the plays but now I see them from a different perspectiv. I learned about the words and expressions that Shakespeare used in his plays, and their meanings. That was very enlightening.
  • Anonymous
    Hy. My name is Paula Fabrícia, I'm from Brazil. I've studied Shakespeare since my high school and this course is a great opportunity to learn more and more about The Bardo. I'm a teacher and we have a cultural project in our school, named Shakespeare Week, our students love it and have fun to play Shakespeare to our comunity, it is a social project and helps many poor people with some donations. Than, this course has a special importance for me, it is pretty organized, good videos, important tips, what has been made me wake up everyday more exciting, we are in quarentine beacuse of the coronavirus, no school, no our old rotine, but it is important to go ahead and have positive thoughts.
  • Anonymous
    I am really enjoying this course!! It is an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge about Shakespeare. As I said before, in my country it is common that only students who attend bilingual schools have the possibility to study English writers. That´s why I am very happy about this opportunity!
    I think Genny is a genius, she encourages us to love Shakespeare´s plays! She speaks very clear so that the non-native English speakers can understand easily.
    Thanks for everything! I hope the British Council will continue offering this kind of online course freely.
    Best regards,
    Lau
  • Anonymous
    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 int…
  • Anonymous
    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 int…

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