CLIL - Project on Shakespeare: English - German

A CLIL session combining German and English on Shakespeare and the final question: did Shakespeare really exist?

In the course of this school year class 7a has been introduced to the world of theatre or, to be more precise, to William Shakespeare in many different ways. First of all, the intention of both the German and the English teacher was to spark interest in drama and theatre in general. So the students got to see Der Sturm at Stadttheater Grein and “Was ihr wollt“ at Landestheater Linz.

One highlight was the guided tour at Stadttheater Grein offered by Lothar Pühringer to familiarize students with the historical background of the building and acting itself in this special playhouse which will also be the venue for our own production in autumn.
As fate would have it, the final decision for this year's theatre project taken by Lynsey Thurgar, our new director, was also Shakespeare or Much ado about Nothing. That's why, students had to deal with a variety of tasks on the Bard and his creative output.
To round off this extensive cross-curricular initiative, Ms. Hametner (English) and Mr. Spannlang (German) offered a CLIL session covering two lessons during which both teachers dealt with the Shakespeare Enigma or the question whether Shakespeare really existed. For this purpose, students had to work in groups to finally formulate a Meinungsrede and a conclusion in English. Furthermore, we evaluated the aspect of translation by comparing and contrasting key passages of Much Ado about Nothing in both languages.
The feedback on this long-lasting CLIL project we got from students was highly positive and we are convinced that we could create interest and enthusiasm for both the theatre project and drama in general.
To quote the Bard: “All the world's a stage and all men and women merely players” – his words sum up our conviction that the people from 7a will enjoy their time with Shakespeare on the stage in Grein and possible future experiences as ardent spectators in other theatres of our world.