Romeo and Juliet at KS4

This unit contains everything you need to teach Romeo and Juliet at KS4. It is focused on essay writing skills, analyzing extracts for English Literature and bringing the play to life. It includes 31 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson PowerPoints, contextual information, exemplar essays, IWB interactive resources, quizzes, activities to exploit drama, extract analysis and opportunities for online research. The page numbers refer to the Cambridge Shakespeare edition.

Each lesson is focused on a different scene from the play, so you can easily cut this unit down to focus specifically on key scenes and a chosen theme from the play. I have designed this unit to make it relevant to teenage audiences, so we look at aspects like: the role of women, expectations of masculinity, the role of the theatre, toxic masculinity, the role of a good father, teenage rebellion and the causes of violence.

Lesson 1: Writing Elizabethan context quizzes
Lesson 2: Shakespearean language
Lesson 3: The main characters
Lesson 4: Acting out the play
Lesson 5: Plot and key lines
Lesson 6: The prologue and sonnets
Lesson 7: Masculinity in A1S1
Lesson 8: Romeo’s masculinity in A1S1
Lesson 9: Our first impressions of Mercutio in A1S4
Lesson 10: Staging A1S5
Lesson 11: Courtly love in A2S2
Lesson 12: Friar Lawrence’s advice in A2S3
Lesson 13: Review of Acts 1-2
Lesson 14: Character discussion and debate
Lesson 15: The death of Mercutio in A1S1
Lesson 16: Who is to blame for Mercutio’s death?
Lesson 17: Conflict in A3S1
Lesson 18: Juliet’s growing independence in A3S2
Lesson 19: Impressions of Lord Capulet in A3S5
Lesson 20: Act 3 Review
Lesson 21: Juliet’s equivocation in A4S1
Lesson 22: Soliloquys in A4S3
Lesson 23: Staging A4S3
Lesson 24: Juliet fakes her death in A4S5
Lesson 25: The role of the Apothecary in A5S1
Lesson 25: Staging A5S3
Lesson 26: The End
Lesson 27: The Trial of Friar Lawrence
Lesson 28: How Juliet develops as a character
Lesson 29: Plan your Juliet assessment
Lesson 30: Write your Juliet assessment