BritLitWit

"The Wife of Bath's Tale" from Canterbury Tales is so much easier and more enjoyable to teach with these resources! The story can be difficult for students to understand because of the Wife of Bath's numerous digressions, but these resources help them focus on what matters and help them strengthen their reading comprehension skills. Here's what's included: Resources for The Wife of Bath's Prologue Summary outline of the Prologue to the tale that sorts out the Wife of Bath's main points and puts

These Beowulf introductory slides use authoritative sources to prepare your students to analyze the text. The slides include explanations of: The general plot The historical context about the cultures who contributed to the development of the storyHow the story developed in the oral tradition before it was written in Old English and eventually translated into Modern EnglishThe cultural values present in the story including comitatus, wyrd, flyting, boasting, and a sense of communityLiterary dev

Your study of Shakespeare's sonnets will zip along with these resources for a mini-unit, and your students will strengthen their literary analysis skills in the process! This product includes: Overview handout and recap questions: These materials cover the historical context of sonnet writing and Shakespeare's involvement, the formal elements of the English sonnet structure, an example of how to paraphrase and annotate the structure of a sonnet, and a sheet of four recap questions about the info

Make your intro to Shakespeare more interesting and relatable with this just-for-fun personality quiz and presentation! This resource is a great way to start your study of any Shakespeare play or the sonnets. Students start by completing the 10-question multiple-choice "quiz" (called "What percent Shakespeare are you?") which includes questions like "Do you have any twins in your family?" and "Which names do you like best?" to hook their attention. Then, the slides that follow provide the answe

Study the folk ballads of England and Scotland in an easy, fun, and current way! This resource highlights how verbal folklore has taken many forms throughout time, but its purpose in expressing our fears and implying warnings or advice endures. The materials straightforwardly help students comprehend the content of the ballads and develop takeaways about their overall significance. Important note: In the past, ballads in the British literature curriculum were often labeled as "medieval ballads,"

Analyzing symbols in literature can be a great way to draw in reluctant readers and increase all students' engagement—if they have the tools to do it! This resource builds students' skills in recognizing and analyzing symbols in poems, novels, and plays, which will make them more confident and capable at literary analysis altogether. It emphasizes the importance of making personal connections to symbols, so it can even be used in conjunction with online study aids! The resource includes: Handout

Starting a Shakespeare play? Add this freebie handout to your intro packet for students or keep it for yourself as a reference for sample wording about what we gain from reading Shakespeare. The handout explains how reading Shakespeare plays develops our thinking and communication skills and increases our self-awareness. It helps students understand why Shakespeare makes multiple appearances throughout the high school English curriculum! Check out my other Shakespeare resources! Intro to Shakes