What problems do adolescents face in reading Shakespeare at school?
90841
1.  Shakespeare wrote plays, not novels, so it is much better to see them performed rather than read them (unless you are talking about sonnets)\n2.  The language is difficult, and most competing forms of entertainment require far less work.\n3.  If you notice how many of the questions here are written, you will notice that the chat room / e-mail / text messaging generation does not seem to relate to the written word in the same way that old folks like me do.\n4.  High school teachers aren't always well equipped to teach Shakespeare.  \n\nAll that aside, I have been amazed at how some adolescents absolutely love Shakespeare, despite all of those disadvantages.
775311
My favorite has always been Shakespeare. There's lots of help on the web for it, and it's just classic. To understand Shakespeare will give you lots of laughs especially with these new teen movies out that rip him off :) Plus it's just cool to read the stories that have inspired people for hundreds of years.
375996
The general point is to teach literacy, and to help the student learn to communicate in the manner generally prescribed by society.  These days, it's really sad seeing how poorly people communicate.  I see people well over the age of 20 that read and communicate on an elementary school level , and it's really sad.  It makes me appreciate taking the opportunities I took (and continue to take) in developing my education.\n\n     I will agree though, analyzing poems and other literary works can be a pain.  I would much rather read fiction for pleasure than to try to figure out what social statement the author was trying to make.  But the exercise does help you develop your thinking skills.  I guess the best advice I could give is to look at the big picture, absorb what's useful to you, and at least consider the otehr aspects before rejecting them as being unimportant.
283773
No one has any idea. Shakespeare's biography is really quite obscure. We know next-to-nothing about his life. We DO know, however, that he wasn't a member of the Italian nobility and didn't die a suicide when he was a teenager.
631853
This year I read Pride & Prjudice, Julius caesar, To Kill a mocking bird, many Sherlock Holmes short storis.\nOut of school I like to read Agatha Christie, esp the Miss Marple series.Other than that I read Readers Digest, Seventeen, Elle Girl, ( regular teen crap).
182746
The English language as known to Shakespeare no longer exists and has long been replaced by the English as we know it today. Language is culture-specific, it mirrors the age in which it is used .So there must be something in the present-day culture that drives youngsters to such blatant abuse of a well-preserved language, perhaps they find the "Kewl" element missing in regular well-structured language. \nInternet cannot be blamed for that, technology has always had its own pros and cons. Perhaps the "instant" nature of all things(communication,frienship,relationship etc.) in this age leaves people with little patience which reflects in the language. Yes it will change in form, but language cannot be killed as long as humans have enough to express.
223618
Ok, I will help - but I will not give you the answers, that's not help.  If the Shakespearean-era language is difficult to get through, I suggest checking out a noted version of the play (Penguin Publishing has some excellent, quite affordable paperback versions) to help you understand who's saying what.  You might also try to find a full production of the play or a video version. (Zeffirelli's is visually stunning, but leaves out a lot of the by-play.  The newer version with DiCaprio & what's-her-name is visually odd, but leaves in more of the dialogue.  Most libraries also will have the odd BBC or Canadian production in their media library, and these are usually complete dialogue without anything too extreme in the way of visuals.)\n\n1. Think about social conventions of the time - Juliet is a young, unmarried but highly marriageable woman.  Also, think about any parents' natural reaction if they were to find their daughter in the company of any young man - especially if that young man was a member of a family you hated.\n\n2 & 4 are very closely related.  Think about modern divorce rates in marriages that are made quickly - then think about a society where annulments were possible but difficult and divorce as such was not really an option.\n\n3. Reread the scene, and think about Juliet being a young woman besotted, while the nurse is somewhat of a doddering old lady who tends to ramble on and on and on (and some of her lines do amount to Elizabethan toilet humour, by the way).\n\n5.  Think about the purpose of a foil.  Mercutio & Nurse are both close to the main characters, and marginally involved/possibly condoning their behaviours.  Pick out a few key points in the act and you should have no trouble getting 8 to 10 sentences.  For example, do these characters encourage this lovelorn behaviour between the main characters? How? Why?\n\nPersonal sidenote/pet peeve about this play: Why does everyone perform the Queen Mab speech as though it's a huge dramatic foreshadowing?  It is, even the densest people grasp that after seeing the play once - but keep in mind Mercutio's playful, sarcastic character - why on earth would he of a sudden burst into this long prophetic rant?  I've gotten a few people to read it as a mocking, sarcastic sort of monologue, and have been far more pleased with it...
668845
My daughter just did a report on Macbeth, she checked out a book from our local library called Shakespear for dummies...lol  I know it sounds awful but it was very helpful.
1143082
Be honest about the difficulties you experienced in high school.  Your classmates will appreciate it.
624126
Can't read, write and spell?  Unfortunately that happens to a quarter to a third of people even those that are "educated" in the public school system.  Graduates of high schools that cannot read and write, essentially functionally illiterate, are commonplace.  \n\nHaving said that, you must realize that the only person that really cares about you is you.  If you insist on blaming everyone else for you shortcoming you will ultimately fail to progress.  Get your sorry ass  into night school or get a private tutor or a free adult literacy program, by any means necessary, the help is out there and the decision is yours to make.
105060
Problems at home is a, unfortunatly, big cause of it :(\n\nI hate saying that.  Also, lack of interest in the subject/course/class is a cause.  That lack can be caused by poor teaching where the student is not involved enough, to just not wanting to be there because it is *not cool*
901435
There are lots of graded readers out there.  OUP has a good collection and they offer information on how to use them effectively.  This allows you to teach the classics and other important literary works while still working at their English level.
821586
King Lear is one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies.   The whole play is about lack of compromise.  \n\nGoneril poisoned her sister Regan and then killed herself.  These sites should be quite helpful to you.  Best of luck with your work.
847247
I see why he is having trouble at school...\nIf his writing (spelling / punctuation)  is as bad as yours, then he probably gets picked on by the rest of his class.
976586
no I'm 13 and we read stuff like that in school all the time just don't make it sound like a good thing and then teachers might use it in class rooms because I'm in 8th grade and we read A LOT of novels with drugs in the environment so just write the book how you want to...good luck
193935
I'm not going to write one for you, but I will give you some help - you can take it or leave it.\nMost analyses of Hamlet point to Hamlet's inability to make up his mind as his tragic flaw - they would argue that Hamlet is responsible for his own fate by failing to kill Claudius in act III when he had the chance.\nOthers, however, myself included, believe Hamlet's flaw was his lust for revenge, and that is what led to so many deaths.  \nEither way, Claudius's guilt comes from the initial murder of Hamlet's father.\nI won't pretend to be a literary scholar.  But I am a high school senior who just finished an essay on Hamlet less than a month ago, so it's fresh in my mind.
1080483
If you want some specific solutions, be more specific about your problems. Are they lesson-related, or homework-related, or teacher-related, or relationship-related??\n\nOtherwise, just relax and take things as they come. School is supposed to be the most fun you'll ever have in your life - so look at it that way and enjoy the good along with the bad. Just chill my friend...