Macbeth discussion

Although commonly seen as complex in language and for secondary school teaching, the play ‘Macbeth’ by Shakespeare is used often in the primary school setting to expose Key Stage 2 children to various forms of literacy and writing. In the process of key stage 2 children learning the particular aspects of a play in comparison to other forms of storytelling, several angles can to taken in order to underline different features which can then be built upon for their own creativity purposes. A key feature of plays is the concept of each character having their own distainctive dialogue and the stage directions which aid in emphasising characterisation. When looking at this closely, a child can quickly develop an understanding and relatablitly to certain character due to each individuals characteristics. This can be quickly transformed when a teacher escalates the play from simply reading into performing or beginning to write their own play. Modern remakes and child friendly translations can quickly help children and teachers overcome the ‘fear of Shakespearean language’. Alongside being able to make such cross curricular links with: history for its time period, art for drawing characters and design technology for making costumes for performing, children of key stage 2 can easily become submerged into the play through several stages of learning.