ENGLISH LITERATURE LESSON PLAN

1. IDENTIFICATION DATA:

1.1 School: URI – Campus de Erechim

1.3 Discipline: English Literature I

1.5 Grade: 3rd year of High School

1.6 Class number: 3 L

1.7 Number of students: 23

1.8 Executers: Aline F. Alves, Daniel Bazzotti, Franciele Vogel and Noeli

1.9 Orientador Professor: Maria Paula Seibel Brock

1.10 Class date: November 16th, 2006

1.11 Number of periods: 2

2. THEME: Tale "The Taming of the Shrew", by William Shakespeare.

3.0 OBJECTIVES:

- To better understand and analyze the plot, the main characters and the themes of the tale;

- To make intertextuality with other texts, which were adapted from or based on the studied tale;

- To review the topics on the tale “The Taming of the Shrew” as well as verify their assimilation;

4.0 CONTENTS:

- Tale “The Taming of the Shrew”;

- Text: “Kat's 10 Things I Hate about You”;

- Comments on the soap opera "o Cravo e a Rosa";

- Comments on the movie “Ten things I hate about you”;

- Cartoon “The taming of the Shoe”;

- Warm-up, intermediate and final activity;

- Plot of the story of the tale;

- Analysis of the tale;

- Intertextuality with similar stories;

- The Betting Game.

5.0 CLASS DEVELOPMENT

5.1 WARM-UP   

A – Ice-breaking and introducing the study of the tale “The Taming of the Shrew” (5 min)

The students will be shown the following list, on an overhead transparency, which

contains the top ten things that “Kate” hates the most about her lover. It was taken from the movie:

“Ten things I hate about you” (available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/. Last accessed on

November 10th, 2006)

Kat's 10 Things I Hate about You

1. I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair. 2. I hate the way you drive my car. 3. I hate it when you stare. 4. I hate your big dumb combat boots, and the way you read my mind. 5. I hate you so much it makes me sick; it even makes me rhyme. 6. I hate the way you're always right. 7. I hate it when you lie. 8. I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. 9. I hate it when you're not around, and the fact that you didn't call. 10. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.

Then, the teacher will ask them to try to associate these ideas with the tale read, by

questioning them:

- In the tale read, who is Katharine’s lover?

- What kind of relationship do you think there is between the two main characters? Why do

you say so?

- What kind of person do you think Katharine or Kate is? Justify your position.

- What about Petruchio?

5.2 – INTERMEDIATE ACTIVITIES:

A – Understanding the title of the tale (3 min)

At this moment, the teacher will put the title of the tale on the board to enquire the

students if they know what it means, without looking it up in a dictionary. Then, s/he will show them

an overhead transparency with the following cartoon (available at:

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/t/the_taming_of_the_shrew.asp. Last accessed on November

14th, 2006)

The students will be questioned about what they can see in it; what they understand by

the title “The Taming of the Shrew" now that they have seen the cartoon; why the word "shoe" was

used instead of "shrew"; and why this change of words made the cartoon funny as well as tale’s title

understandable (the students will have the chance to express their opinions on the previous ideas). 

Note: 1- The word “taming” means “adestramento” and “shrew” means “megera”. 2 – The word “shoe” instead of “shrew” was used because they both rhyme.

Then, the teacher will question them about the relationship between the title and the main

story of the tale. At this moment, they will be asked to help the teacher retell the story, by doing the

following activity.

C – Analyzing the plot of the tale as well as the key facts of the story, and Shakespeare’s ideas

on it (15 min)

Activity: Finding and analyzing Who’s who in the plot of the story

Procedure:

As the intention is to do this activity with the students´ help and participation, the teacher

will give them a copy of the following exercise in which they will have to circle the best option to

make a summary of the tale as well as to explore some important things about it. They will work in

pairs for about 10 minutes, and then, the activity will be corrected orally.

Note: At this moment, the teacher will solve the students´ last doubts about the tale.

1 - Circle the correct options in order to summarize as well as analyze the tale

studied (Correction key):

Baptista, a rich gentleman of Padua/ Verona, has one/ two/ three daughters: the

beautiful Bianca, who does not want / wants to get married but has to wait until her sister Katharine

is married/ dead. However, the latter is an ungovernable lady whose good/ bad temper frightens all

the men away. She is known in the entire country/ city as the “threw”.

As we can see, society in Shakespeare’s time was similar/ different from today’s

society, and he reflects it in this play. The youngest/ middle daughter could not marry until the

oldest one was married first. While the violent/ gentle Bianca had a lot of lovers/ admirers, the

shrew had none. Katharine/ Bianca did not want to marry because she did not like the way the men

treated the women at that time.

Baptista and his youngest daughter are hopeful/ hopeless about Kate’s wedding, when

they hear that a gentleman/ rich man from Verona/ Venice named Petruchio comes to Padua to

look for a wife/ maid. Not discouraged by Katharine’s temper, and knowing that she is rich and

beautiful/ violent, he accepts to marry her and slowly by violent/ psychological means he tames the

famous shrew into a stupid/ gentle wife who obeys him.

Basically the main scene/ plot of the play, that is, the major conflict involves the

courtship of “Kate” by the wild, persistent and smart Baptista/ Petruchio, who gets to assert his

authority in their marriage/ honeymoon and overcome her resistance to playing the role of his wife.

Though, he tames her by common/ strange means, such as the following ones:

 At their honeymoon/ wedding, he turns up late in scruffy/ old-fashioned clothes to

embarrass/ please her. Although she tries to argue with him about it, he does not change them, and

they get married. After the ceremony is over, he asks for beer/ wine and drinks the company’s

health, then he throws the rest of it into the back/ face of one of the women/ men there, pretending

to be very angry/ happy. To top it off, he claims his rights as a husband to do everything he pleases

with his wife. So he takes her home on the back of his horse, and there he pretends to find fault in

everything in such a way that she has to sleep in a chair/ on the floor.

For some time he keeps doing the same and even worse/ better things. He forces her to

beg/ ask the servants to bring her food/ water secretly, to which she pays with a hard but

pronounced “thank you”. Then, he invites a hairdresser/ dressmaker to the house, but says that the

outfit/ hairdo is bad and sends it back. Kate is so fed up/ happy to have to beg to eat and sleep that

she says she will do everything he wants her to do.

Thus, Petruchio/ Baptista does not tame Katharine by violence as in most of the stories

at Shakespeare’s time but by pretending to be kind and considerate, saying that nothing is good/ bad

enough for her. At the end/ in the beginning of the play, the shrew is angry/ tamed. She gives the

other women a speech, advising them on how to treat their fathers/ husbands.

As we can see, the overall tone of the play is light and comic, though the exploration of

larger psychological/ social questions, such as the proper relation of the properties/ sexes in

marriage, lends much of the comedy/ tragedy a more serious tone. There is no single moment of

intense action, or climax in the tale, but rather a short/ long process of development that starts when

Petruchio decides to marry Kate, and results in her fully changed/ bad behavior, better observed in

the middle/ at the end of it.

Finally, some of the main themes explored in the play are: the battle of sexes; the

psychological/ physical domestication, and small/ complete change of behavior; the marriage as an

unhappy/ economic institution; and the effect of social roles on individual happiness. If we consider

that Shakespeare lived in a ruled society in which there was in an increasing tension between the old

social concepts, and the old/ new religious movement called Enlightenment /Puritanism, it’s

difficult/ easy to understand that in “The Taming of the Shrew” order is re-established by making/

teaching a wife to obey her husband, without breaking the established hierarchy and order.

Information Sources: The book – More tales from Shakespeare, by Charles and Mary Lamb. Websites: www.teachit.co.uk; www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/tamings.asp

D - Making intertextuality – linking the tale to the stories based on it, and adapted from it (7

min)

After the students remember and understand well the plot of the tale, the teacher will

question them whether they have seen the soap opera "o Cravo e a Rosa" or not, which was shown

on Globo TV some years ago, and was inspired on this tale. (Probably most of the students have seen

it). At this moment, they will be able to make some comments on it.

Note: It talks about the difficult relationship between Petruchio and Catarina, who love

each other, but have problems not because she keeps being a real shrew until the end of the story, but

because other people decided to disturb their relationship, especially a girl called Lindinha, who was

in love with Petruchio, and used to live on his farm as well. This soap opera reproduces the main

plot of the tale in such a way that “Catarina” is also the shrew as well as a feminist who does not

want to get married; “Bianca” is a sweet girl whose dream is to marry soon; Petruquio is the

courageous tamer, and Catarina’s true love; and “Batista”, the girls´ greedy father.

The teacher will also mention the movie “Ten Things I Hate About You”, and ask if

someone has seen or heard of it. (They will have some time to talk about it). They will probably

recognize from where the 10-list things used in the warm-up activity were taken.

Note: Released in 1999, it was also adapted from the play Shakespearian’s play. Thus, it

talks about a troubled-relationship between Katarina or “Kat” - a cynical nonconformist girl known

as a terror in her school - and the mysterious Patrick Verona, who has a reputation for having done

hideous and criminal acts, and has no interest in Katarina at first. He is paid to ask Kat out, because

Cameron is in love with Bianca Stratford, a beautiful sophomore student at Padua High, but is facing

a problem: Bianca has been forbidden to date, due to a family rule set by her strict father, who says

that she can only date when her older sister "Kat" does as well.

P.S: We can also suggest that they watch other movies totally based on the original tale, such as that

one from 1958, with Elizabeth Taylor; there is even a musical with the same name.

At this moment, the teacher will ask the students to try to analyze the relationship

between the three titles: "The Taming of the Shrew", "O Cravo e a Rosa" and "Ten things I hate

about you", and their relationship with the main theme of the stories.

Teacher’s analysis:

By analyzing the title "The Taming of the Shrew", we can clearly understand

Shakespeare’s intention to describe the main theme of the play: the domestication of a rebel woman

(wife). On the other hand, the second title suggests more the idea of a troubled relationship between

a couple, than the taming of someone. At last, we have the impression that the last one focuses the

things from Kate’s point of view. Besides, it is a high school story that certainly has something to do

with love and hatred, which are part of a teenager’s life.

5.3 - FINAL ACTIVITY (10 min)

THE BETTING GAME

Procedure:

1 – The students, divided in pairs, will receive a filled table, which contains specific information on the tale worked as well as its author;

2 – They will read the sentences, mark “right” or “wrong”, according to what they believe is true, and they will put a value under the column “bet” for each of the proposed statement;

3 – They will have 5 minutes to do this activity. Then, the teacher and the students will correct the exercise, verifying whether the sentences given were “right” or “wrong”. In case of marking the correct answer, the students should put the value bet in the “won” square; otherwise, in the “lose” one;

4 – At the end of this activity, they will check their points, and the winner pair will be known.

MODEL OF THE TABLE - Correction Key

RIGHT WRONG BET WIN LOSE1 – At Shakespeare’s time, in the family the husband was the equivalent of God in the universe - the wife was to obey the husband, the children were to obey their parents in the same order, and the servants were supposed to obey all above them.

X

2 – Although Shakespeare was well aware of the social tensions and ironies from his time, his plays did not express them.

X

3 – At Shakespeare’s time, language was a source of pleasure to the Elizabethans. That´s why there were lots of well-paid writers and actors.

X

4 - When Shakespeare began writing, the theater had already been a popular entertainment for a long time. X5 – Shakespeare’s birthplace is Stratford-upon-Avon, England. X6 - The Taming of the Shrew was published for the first time in 1621 with his collected works. X7 - After James I succeeded Elizabeth I in 1603, the company for which Shakespeare wrote was officially named the King's Men, and it was assured subsidies from the royal budget.

X

8 - Shakespeare's comedies, especially his early ones like The Taming of the Shrew, were influenced by a tradition of French and classical Saxon farce and comedy.

X

9 - Shakespeare used to adapt the plots of his plays from stories he read, historical accounts, folklore, poems, and other plays.

X

10 - One of the most famous theaters of all times is the Globe Theatre. X

     Source: The Book – Shakespeare: his life and plays, by Will Fowler.

  6 – REFERENCES:

FOWLER, Will. Shakespeare: his life and plays.

LAMB, Charles and Mary. More tales from Shakespeare.