Homeschool Resource of the Day: No Fear Shakespeare

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

12 Aug 2008 04:44 PM

I stumbled across mention of this site while reading a teachers blog. The teacher was struggling with getting kids to read Shakespeare and was also dealing with the fact that a previous teacher had given students "American Shakespeare" because original Shakespeare was "stupid".

"American Shakespeare" I thought. What is that? Therefore, I did some investigation and came across the site No Fear Shakespeare. No Fear Shakespeare is a website that translates the plays of Shakespeare into modern American English. It is a subsidiary of Spark Notes and is a free resource that students can use to understand Shakespeare or to just read it in everyday language while hopefully comparing it to the original old English version. Notice I used the word "hopefully". The biggest problem with having access to No Fear Shakespeare is the fact that students may altogether ignore the proper version of a Shakespeare play and just read the Americanized version.

So why am I even recommending this site? No Fear Shakespeare is an invaluable resource for students who are having trouble struggling through the original text and figuring out the meanings of the words. It must however, be used with strict supervision to ensure that the students are not only getting the modern translation, but also the original text.

Reading both versions will help to develop the student's ability to translate Shakespearean English. When using No Fear Shakespeare with your homeschooled or other students I recommend having students memorize (all or part) of the plays and then to discuss what the lines mean using the website as a guide. I would not recommend sending a student to the site to read the translation his or her self unless they are disciplined enough to read both versions.

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Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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deedee1231 (4030) 12 Aug 2008 05:00 PM

I LOVE sparks notes! Love it, love it, love it! I have been using sparks notes for the last 2 years to devise my own literature program for my 15 year old. It is GREAT! It is a wonderful resource for homeschoolers. The No Fear Shakespeare section of the sight is very helpful, (as is the whole site IMO) in helping parents focus study questions and direct discussion over the plays.

I am an English Lit major and I have studied most of the Literary works featured on Sparks as well as most of the Shakespeare in college and I know it pretty well. But I don't want to overwhelm her with too much, and there are a lot of different ways to attack some of these works, so even if you know your stuff it is a valuable tool.