Designed by Dr Kate Rumbold (Honorary Associate Professor, University of Birmingham) and developed and delivered by Kate and Theatre(ish) ‘Shakespeare and Me’ invites people to use quotations from Shakespeare as springboards to discuss their own life experiences. Quotations such as ‘to thine own self be true’ and ‘love is blind’ provide powerful stimuli for sharing stories.
120 adult learners took part in the spring of 2023. Not only did they all go on to pass their external assessments in their English studies at the end of the year. Many of them said they now had more confidence in their studies and in their chances of future success, as well as a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s work, which they have found useful in helping them to make sense of their lives, their experiences, and the world today.
To celebrate the success of the project in 2023 we have brought together a series of testimonial videos and quotes from the learners and their tutors below.
Shakespeare & Me - BAES Testimonial #01 Video tease...
‘I really enjoyed this course about Shakespeare’
CONFIDENCE is the thing which our learners tell us (over and over) that they would like to develop. It is difficult to measure, but I saw it. I really saw it in Shakespeare and Me. I can think of several individual learners who by April still hadn’t made significant contributions to class discussion, yet by July were holding forth about the rights and wrongs of Shakespeare leaving his little family and heading off to the big smoke. I was delighted to see how communication across the groups developed during the project.
Lucy Ellenor, Programme Manager for Entry Level English at Birmingham Adult Education Service (BAES)
Shakespeare & Me - BAES Testimonial #02 Video tease...
‘It’s helped me be more confident and be more myself’
I’m convinced that ‘Shakespeare and Me’ played a part in our phenomenal achievement rate. The learners found the project enormously engaging. Not only was this reflected in attendance in the Summer Term, but the teachers tell me that there was marked improvement in the quality of written work during the process.
Lucy Ellenor, Programme Manager for Entry Level English at BAES
Shakespeare & Me - BAES Testimonial #03 Video tease...
‘It kind of shows you can start from nothing and become something … it kind of boosted that confidence in me that I never had before’
…the best way to unlock writing potential is to find something that the learners want to write about. It seemed that Kate, Antonia and Marcus did just that.
Lucy Ellenor, Programme Manager for Entry Level English at BAES
Shakespeare & Me - BAES Testimonial #04 Video tease...
‘And my son said, “Mum, you know Shakespeare?”’
I saw an increase in motivation during the project. There seemed to be more impulse behind the writing. Learners took more care over their work and as a result their spelling, punctuation and grammar improved.
Kate, Teacher at Yardley Wood
Shakespeare & Me - BAES Testimonial #05 Video tease...
‘[I enjoyed] the acting most’
When learners are less confident, they address all remarks to the teacher and rarely challenge one another. During Shakespeare and Me we started to have real debate. Kate, Antonia and Marcus are all very skilful workshop facilitators. There is a lightness of touch which encourages learners to participate without ever applying pressure on them to do so. Tapping into the learners’ lived experience offered them a platform from which to contribute. No one knows more about their own lives than they do. They will take these verbal communication skills with them as they head towards the next steps on their learning journeys.
Lucy Ellenor, Programme Manager for Entry Level English at BAES
Shakespeare & Me - BAES Testimonial #06 Video tease...
‘It was fantastic’
The learners really enjoyed the writing tasks in the Shakespeare project. They were happy to draft and re-draft.
Viv, Teacher at BAES Northfield
Shakespeare & Me - BAES Testimonial #07 Video tease...
‘Even some of my children now, when they are talking [about Shakespeare], I can discuss with them’
If you have a community or class of adults, Dr Kate Rumbold and Theatre(ish) may be available to deliver the programme in your setting.
‘Shakespeare and Me’ can be run as a one-off workshop or a five-session programme, and the design and scheduling is flexible, to suit your needs.
Interested education providers and community organisations can email birmingham@literacytrust.org.uk
Read all about the 2023 Shakespeare & me trip to Stratford-upon-Avon here.