Use Texting to Teach Shakespeare

As a former English teacher, nothing makes me cringe more than the poor grammar I see daily as a result of technology. With more and more communication being conducted via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and texting, complete sentences and even complete words are discarded in favor of shorthand expression. Studies now show that text messaging is a primary communication form for the majority of teens, and their written communication in the classroom is suffering for it. While I am no advocate of throwing out the written word for monosyllabic communication, I believe that texting can be used in a teacher's favor to help teens decode and understand some of the rich meanings and themes in classic literature.

Shakespeare's plays are required reading in almost every secondary English classroom in America, yet many students struggle to understand the meaning behind the words. Reading Shakespeare can be difficult enough, since his plays were meant to be acted out, not just read on the page. But add the seemingly antiquated language and phrasing, and many students are left scratching their heads and struggling to keep up. Yet, one of the great things about Shakespeare's plays is that they are mostly dialogue between people, so the text can be brought into modern day to help teens understand what's going on in each scene. Many teachers have devised Shakespeare lesson plans over the years that involve translating the conversations into contemporary speech, but what if each character were armed with a cell phone instead? How might the dialogue change if the characters communicated through text messaging?

This exercise is simple and can be used for any of Shakespeare's plays, but I'll use the familiar Romeo and Juliet as an example for the purpose of this article. The basic premise is this: use something very familiar and easy for students (texting) to bridge the gap towards understanding something very foreign (Shakespeare). This doesn't have to be limited to texting, either. You could also ask students to translate parts of the text into Facebook statuses or Tweets, following the rules of those media tools. In asking students to translate the script into a familiar mode of communication, teens are forced to pick apart the original text and garner a basic understanding to complete the assignment. This can get tedious for an entire play, but useful and fun for certain key passages within the five acts. The following is an assignment guide for Romeo and Juliet.

Assignment 1: Prologue
The Prologue is setting up the main idea of the play; in Baz Luhrmann's movie, the prologue is delivered by a television newswoman. What if this information was texted to everyone in the town? What would the text look like? How would it communicate the main points to everyone? Could you condense this information into a Tweet?

Assignment 2: Act I
Condense Romeo's feelings about love in the beginning of the act into a Facebook status update. What might he say to convey how he feels? What would his status update look like by the end of the act (after his first encounter with Juliet)?

Assignment 3: Act II
In Scene 2, Romeo and Juliet have their famous balcony scene, in which they profess their love for one another. Instead of Romeo risking his safety to see her, what if Romeo and Juliet both had cell phones and communicated this scene through text messages only? Rewrite the script of this scene entirely in text messages.

Assignment 4: Act III
After killing Tybalt, Romeo hides in Friar Laurence's cell and gives a message to the Nurse for Juliet. If Romeo had a cell phone, what might he have texted to Juliet? How might he have explained his actions? Would he apologize? What would he tell her to do? What might he tell her will happen next? Write out a few texts as if you were Romeo, trying to communicate your feelings to Juliet at this point in the play.

Assignment 5: Act IV
In Scene 1, the Friar outlines his plan to Juliet so that she can marry Romeo and not Paris. If the Friar were writing down his plan in an e-mail to Juliet, what would it look like? Write an e-mail to Juliet from the Friar, detailing his plan through an explanation of easy-to-follow steps. Make sure that Juliet would understand exactly what to do. Include any feelings the Friar may be expressing about his part in this scheme as well.

Assignment 6:Act V
How could technology have saved the tragic ending of this play? If Romeo and Juliet had access to cell phones and computers, how might this story have a happy ending? Rewrite the ending to this play (happy or sad-be creative) giving the characters technology to communicate with. Detail what they're doing and write out the messages that they send which change the course of the story. Be sure to include at least Romeo, Juliet, and the Friar, but feel free to incorporate characters such as the Nurse, Balthasar, Paris, and the Capulets as well.

This exercise can be used for any of Shakespeare's plays, as one assignment or throughout the play. Not only does it help your students translate Shakespeare into language they understand well, it's a great creative writing assignment to get students' brains thinking in new ways. Enjoy the lessons and have fun texting with your teens.