Fun Teaching Strategies for Sonnets

Use fun activities to make Shakespearean and other sonnets more accessible.

Sonnets are intimidating to teachers as well as students. The typical sonnet has 14 lines and a strict rhyme scheme. Teachers may find sonnets difficult to teach, whether the piece is written by the great master of the sonnet, William Shakespeare, or a less influential writer such as the American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. One of the primary obstacles to sonnets is accessibility. Make the sonnets more accessible to your students with simple classroom activities.

Sonnet Rap

If hip-hop is more intuitive to your students than Shakespearean language, try making the sonnets into a rap song. Assign one sonnet to each student and give them a few nights to turn their sonnet into a rap song. For example, as illustrated at PBS online, the first two lines of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, which begins, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day ..." can be transformed into rap form: "Baby, I think I shall compare you to a summer day -- But, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calm ..." For a humorous presentation, have each student first read the sonnet in its original form, followed by the rap interpretations. This activity may be a bit on the lighthearted side, but it will allow students to express their understanding of the sonnet creatively.

Circle Game

A fill-in-the-blanks sonnet game will aid in memorization as well as basic understanding of the sonnet format. Choose one sonnet for your students to memorize for the week. Throughout the week, to help them memorize the text, play a fill-in-the-blanks game. Sit in a circle with your students and begin by reciting the first line of the sonnet. The next person in the circle has to recite the next line of the sonnet. If the student can't remember, it passes to the next student. Go around the circle until the sonnet is complete.

Write Your Own

Allow your students to express their creativity while also teaching them about sonnet structure. Give your students a basic sonnet form, such as the basic Italian sonnet, and allow them to write their own sonnet over the course of a few nights or a week. At the end of the week, have a sonnet reading day. Invite students to bring in snacks and beverages that relate to the historical period or geographical origin of the sonnet. For example, for an Italian sonnet, ask students to bring in Italian soda, espresso and biscotti. Have the students take turns reading their sonnets at the front of the class.

Sonnet Types

This activity teaches students about the differences between the major types of sonnets: Spenserian, Italian and English. Begin the activity by dividing the class into teams. Group sizes should be about four to five students. Assign a group leader to each team and give the leader a bell. As you read sonnets, the groups will have to determine which kind of sonnet it is by tracking the rhyme scheme. The first team that answers correctly by ringing in with its bell receives a point. Play as many rounds as you can.

References

• PBS: Shakespeare's Sonnets
• Sonnet Central: Basic Sonnet Forms
• International Reading Association: Discovering Traditional Sonnet Forms