Let's Read a Poem: Shakespeare's Sonnet 25
ESL Lesson PlansLet's Read a Poem: Shakespeare's Sonnet 25

Let's Read a Poem: Shakespeare's Sonnet 25

This ESL lesson plan invites B2-C1 level adult learners to dive into classic literature by analyzing Shakespeare’s Sonnet 25. Through this individual reading lesson, students explore vocabulary, poetic expressions, and themes, fostering their interpretative skills. The lesson includes exercises for simplifying poetic language, discussing interpretations, and comparing personal reflections on love, fame, and success. Engaging activities and discussions build students' confidence in describing their emotional responses to poetry and improving their understanding of classical English literature.

Skills

  • Can describe their emotional response to a work and elaborate on the way in which it has evoked this response.
  • Can express in some detail their reactions to the form of expression, style and content of a work, explaining what they appreciated and why.
Online Interactive
Based on CEFR
Fully Customizable
1

Who wrote these sentences, Taylor Swift or Shakespeare?

1. "I dream of cracking locks, throwin’ my life to the wolves or the ocean rocks" 2. "My pride fell with my fortunes" 3. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" 4. "If the glint in my eye traced the depths of your sigh down that passage in time" 5. "In black ink my love may still shine bright"
2

Glossary

3

Discuss the following questions.

4

Read the text about William Shakespeare.

5

Mark the sentences as True or False.

6

Read Shakespeare's Sonnet 25. What do you think it means?

7

Glossary

8

Match the lines from the original Shakespeare's poem with a simplified version.

9

Read three different opinions about Shakespeare's Sonnet 25. Decide which opinion is similar to yours and explain why.

10

Discuss the following questions.

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