At the end of last academic year I gave my dear students of 2F Linguistico the following list of books to choose from as their summer read.
- Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet ed Black Cat
- Andrew Donkin. Horribly Famous. “Shakespeare and his Dramatic Acts”. Scholastic
- Power and ambition in Shaespeare , Black cat ed
- Benjamin Zephaniah, Gansta Rap Bloomsbury
- Rebecca James, Beautiful Malice, Faber & Faber
- Michael Morpurgo, Shadow,
- Ian McEwan The Daydreamer
- Robert Swindells, Stone Cold, Fear Stalks the streets, Puffin Books
At the beginning of the school year I posted the assignment of 15 alternative Book Reports the students could choose from. I was fed up with the usual book report and during my summer seminar at Harvard I was given this inspiring idea by professor Carla Beard whom I thank.Here’s some of their works:
- Write a letter to the main character of the book. Write the letter he or she sends back. Beautiful Malice Letter byAbigail & Chiara
- Design and make the front page of a newspaper writing articles, designing adverts based on the character and events of the book. By Virginia & Michela
- Write an alternative ending for the book: Stone cold by Christian & Cristiano. ROMEO & JULIET by Anna & Martina C. Gangsta Rap by Alessandra, Mattia & Chiara T.
- Make a trailer for your movie version of the book. Here’s the Daydreamer by Valeria, Francesca, Bruno & Chiara.
- If a journey was involved, draw a map with explanatory notes of significant places. (Google Map) Romeo & Juliet by Martina & Anna. Shadow by Giorgia & Shadow by Francesca.
-
Find a song or a poem that relates to the theme or events of your book. Explain the similarities. Song Romeo & Juliet by Elena: Taylor Swift’s Love Story. Song Beautiful Malice by Chiara: Tokyo Hotel’s By Your Side
It’s all by now. I’m so proud of you all! We have worked a lot but it was worth!
I had great fun! Well done students and teacher. I learn something new. I did not know of the existence of “Power and Ambition in Shakespeare”. Always learning something new.