Saturday 18 September 2010

research extracts

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), `The Bard of Avon', English poet and playwright

While Shakespeare caused much controversy, he also earned lavish praise and has profoundly impacted the world over in areas of literature, culture, art, theatre, and film and is considered one of the best English language writers ever

At this time of prolific writing, Shakespeare began his association until his death with The Lord Chamberlain's Men. With the accession of James I they became the King's Men, who bought and performed most of Shakespeare's plays. The troupe included his friend and actor Richard Burbage. They performed frequently at court, and in the theatres that Shakespeare was co-owner of including the Blackfriars, The Theatre, and The Globe in London until it burnt down during a performance of King Henry VIII.

It is generally agreed that most of the Shakespearean Sonnets were written in the 1590s, some printed at this time as well. Others were written or revised right before being printed. 154 sonnets and "A Lover's Complaint" were published by Thomas Thorpe as Shake-speares Sonnets in 1609. The order, dates, and authorship of the Sonnets have been much debated with no conclusive findings.

Tragedies

Some probably inspired by Shakespeare's study of Lives (trans.1597) by Greek historian and essayist Plutarch and Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles (1587). Some are reworkings of previous stories, many based on English or Roman history.

1.) The most important reason to study Shakespeare is because his plays provide windows into human nature. Though the costumes, the language, and the environments have changed, this is the one aspect of his plays that will always remain. People are the same today as they were then. In life, you will find the easily misled (Brutus), the vengeful (Iago, Hamlet, and others), the insecure and gullible (Othello), the overly ambitious (Macbeth and his wife), the lovers, the fighters, the innocent, and the villains. You can find the good, the bad, and the ugly - remember those witches? Any personality you can think of is represented somewhere, and by reading a Shakespearean play, you can understand those personalities better. Companies have been known to study Shakespearean plays to educate corporate executives on human nature.

2.) Focus on the DRAMA. My students often became lost in the language, but the real focus should be on the drama. These plays were some of the very first soap operas, filled with politics, family problems, insanity, murder, revenge, love, war, manipulations, the supernatural, humor, heartache, and the list goes on. These plays are popular for the same reasons that we enjoy television shows and movies today. The action is nonstop.

3.) Don't hate the language; learn to respect it. Shakespeare wrote most parts of his plays in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a series of 5 sets of unstressed followed by stressed syllables.

ta - DA / ta -Da / ta - DA / ta - DA / ta - DA

Most lines in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets formed this rhythmic beat. This is not an easy thing to do. You should take a few minutes and try to formulate your own lines of iambic pentameter. If you can do that, you can at least develop an appreciation for the skill involved. Of course, the poetry can be overwhelming, but usually"

Shakespeare's writings greatly influenced the entire English language. Prior to and during Shakespeare's time, the grammar and rules of English were not fixed. But once Shakespeare's plays became popular in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century, they helped contribute to the standardization of the English language, with many Shakespearean words and phrases becoming embedded in the English language, particularly through projects such as Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language which quoted Shakespeare more than any other writer. He expanded the scope of English literature by introducing new words and phrases, experimenting with blank verse, and also introducing new poetic and grammatical structures

"William Shakespeare's influence extends from theatre to literature to present day movies and to the English language itself. Widely regarded as the greatestwriter of the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist, Shakespeare transformed English theatre by expanding expectations about what could be accomplished through characterization, plot, language and genre. Shakespeare's writings have also influenced a large number of notable novelists and poets over the years, including Herman Melville and Charles Dickens. Finally, Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the history of theEnglish-speaking world after the various writers of the Bible, and many of his quotations and neologisms have passed into everyday usage in English and other languages.

• A laughing stock (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

• A sorry sight (Macbeth)

• As dead as a doornail (Henry VI)

• Eaten out of house and home (Henry V, Part 2)

• Fair play (The Tempest)

• I will wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello)

• In a pickle (The Tempest)

• In stitches (Twelfth Night)

• In the twinkling of an eye (The Merchant Of Venice)

• Mum's the word (Henry VI, Part 2)

• Neither here nor there (Othello)

• Send him packing (Henry IV)

• Set your teeth on edge (Henry IV)

• There's method in my madness (Hamlet)





They both connect differently. The adults take much more of a rehearsed approach. They already know Shakespeare and relish the chance o perform. Whereas the students throw themselves into it as for them its something new and exciting. Being able to perform outsider seems to add to the atmosphere it gives you something that you wouldn't get on a normal stage. With the students that have been here for a while find it a lot easier to just slip into the Shakespeare roles, and sometimes they begin to ad-lib, which we don't really encourage but it still shows the students vast understanding of Shakespeare.



THE RSC HOLDS A VARIETY OF WORKSHOPS FOR THE AGES BETWEEN 8-18. ALL ARE GEARED TOWARDS THE SEPARATE AGES GROUPS, BELOW ARE INFORMATION ABOUT THEM AND WHAT THEY DO.

FOR THE YOUNGEST CHILDREN, THEY CAN PERFORM YPS HAMLET, YPS COMEDY ERRORS, A VARIETY OF OTHER PLAYS DONE BY STRATFORD AND PUPPET WORKSHOPS. BELOW IS A LITTE INFOR ABOUT THE COMEDY OF ERROS.

We believe students have the best possible introduction to Shakespeare if actively introduced to the themes, characters and language before seeing a production. Depending on your students' knowledge of a play, school workshops can offer a first introduction or a more in-depth insight to the play and creative choices made for this production.

These 90 minute workshops delivered by our artistes will offer an active insight into the characters, themes and text of the play. They are ideal sessions for engaging students new to Shakespeare.
Thursday 9 September, 1.30-3pm

Oh defiantly! I have seen kids grow from the age of 7 up to 18 and leave and the way they hold themselves completely changes over that time. By learning Shakespeare, their vocabulary immediately improves. By performing his plays they become more confident with themselves and their use of language. Its interesting to see how responsive they actually are, because what they learn from us i.e the fundamental interaction skills in groups, the confidence of performing and reciting, they ease of creating a character, these are all skills that they can adapt and take on later in life. This is the same with anything a child performs, but more specifically with Shakespeare, they earn a respect for the writing and the english language as well as understanding part of or countries great history. Those are things you just cant learn from performing in a Pantomime for example.


The globe offers a great opportunity for kids to interact with Shakespeare in a well known and historic place. They run a few workshops but their interaction with kids is mostly through schools. They have set a large chunk of the actors time aside to help teach the kids and get them involved with Shakespeare in a hands on way.


Thursday 16 September 2010

LAST facebook group


http://www.facebook.com/lastnetwork

I really don't like the graphics for this campaign. I don't think they suit the campaign and dont really relate to the information that is being given. If anything i think its slightly insensitive, it looks like spilt blood and i dont think thats very encouraging to people wanting to get involved. the colours have no relation and doesnt really seem to correlate with the information.

Human trafficking Stats

- thousands of people estimated to be working as slaves within the uk, in highly exploitative conditions, no rights and under threat of violence.

- slavery terms: severe economic exploitation
the absence of a framework of human rights
control of one person over another by the prospect or reality violence
coercion distinguishes slavery from poor working conditions

- it is however very difficult to compile precise statistics about the extent of slavery in the uk and official figures are widely recognized to be substantially underestimated.

- The UK has tended to address trafficking as an issue of migration not one of human rights

- most trafficked people in the uk come in legally but later are forced into labour through debt, intimidation, the removal of documents and an inadequate understanding of rights

- major destinations include Western Europe, North America, and the Middle east

- women are involved in 77% of trafficking cases world wide with 87% being sexual explotation factor

- police believe 4,000 have been brought in the country and forced to work as prostitues

- gangs buy and sell the women for between £2,000 to £8,000. Some have been forced to work 16 hours and have sex with 30 men a day

- most come from - Eastern Europe, Lithuania, Russia, Albania, Ukraine

- victims tend to be between 18 - 24, and children

- human trafficking is tied with the illegal arms industry as the secound largest criminal industry in the world today

- worldwide there are nearly 2 million children in the commercial sex trade

- estimated 600, 000 to 800,000 people trafficked across international borders annually

- approx 80% of human trafficking victims are women and 50% are minors

- the total market value for human trafficking is $32 billion

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Shakespeare Evaluation so far

Well from the primary research of Shakespeare i have done i have gained an understanding that children from all ages, from 7 to 18 have a great understanding of shakespeare and not only that they love learning about him. From speaking to professionals i undertsand that the best way to learn about Shakespeare is to fully interact with his plays, whetheer that be a 'watered-down' version of his scripts or performing small extracts tge effect is much the same. It was most interesting talking to the variety of students from either Tolethorpe or Cophtill because their responses to the questions were very similar. They found it hard at first to understand Shakespeare but once they were performing and surrounded by the language and atmosphere it was easier to slip into the roles.
Shakespeare is all about context, in which is performed. With either the roles or the plays itself. Shakespeare is diverse and covers a variety of life topics which is good for young students. All his skills as a writer and linguist really help children appreciate the use of language and how powerful it can be when used correctly.
I have really enjoyed researching Shakespeare, its been good having time to investigate something so fully.

Saturday 11 September 2010

Stats taken from LAST

"6. How many women are trafficked into the UK each year?

In 2000, the Home Office Police Research series, paper 125 put forward that 1,420 women were trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation in 1998. In 2003, the Home Office estimated 3,812 trafficked women in the UK. Various media reports place the figure much higher, but these numbers are impossible to verify.

1,000 - 4,000 is probably the most accurate we can be. However, due to the covert nature of trafficking, both the lower and upper estimates are incredibly difficult to confirm. What can be said is that there is definite evidence (sourced from research, convictions and referrals from government, academic and third sector agencies) to show that trafficking exists in the UK, and that this exploitative practice, regardless of exactly how many people are trafficked, needs to be abolished.

Amnesty International states that there is evidence of cases of trafficked victims in sectors such as the hospitality and catering trade, domestic labour, care sectors, agricultural and food processing sectors, construction and prostitution within the UK.

Sex in the City, a 2004 report by survivor support agency, the POPPY Project, found that women from Eastern Europe, South East Asia and West Africa are known to be trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation."

Friday 10 September 2010

what LAST are doing now in order to raise awareness.


"What is Freedom Ticket for Life?

Every year thousands and thousands of girls are trafficked.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The longer a girl is in education, the less vulnerable she is to being trafficked. When she is in school, she is in a safe environment and on finishing, she has more choices.

You can be a part of preventing trafficking. By either donating or raising £15+, you can take part in a run and raise vital funds to help keep girls in education.

Your valuable donation and/or sponsorship will go to one of four projects working to support girls in trafficking hot spots around the world. You can choose which one you’d like to donate to so click here to read more about what they do.

What, when, where?

LAST has teamed up with STOP THE TRAFFIK – an international anti-trafficking organisation – and Park Run – a national running club – to bring you the Freedom Ticket for Life Run in Leeds.

To participate in the run all you need to do is register.

Registration is £15 and includes a fairly traded STOP THE TRAFFIK t-shirtwhich will be given to you at the start of the run.

If you are able to gather sponsorship money in addition to this then please do! The more money we raise, the more girls we can support. Click here for a sponsorship form.

On Saturday 9th October 2010, supporters from all over the UK including London, Bristol and Liverpool will be running for freedom to raise money for girls in need of our support. Do something brilliant that day and start it by changing someone’s life.

Time: 9.00 am start
Place: Hyde Park, Leeds – meet at the corner nearest Leeds University
Distance: 5 km (2 ½ times around the Park)

How do I register?

It’s super easy. Just follow the two simple steps below and you’re good to go!

Step One...

First you need to register with Park Run.

Once you have registered once with Park Run you are registered for life so you can go along to their sessions any time you want! (Think New Year’s resolutions etc etc).

If you are already registered with Park Run, ignore this step and go straight to Step Two.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER WITH PARK RUN

Step Two...

Now simply register with STOP THE TRAFFIK on their Just Giving page.

Don’t forget to fill out the comment field with the:
- city you’ll be running in: Leeds
- project you wish to donate to
- your t-shirt size

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER WITH STOP THE TRAFFIK

Now you’re done! All you need to do now is turn up and run! Or jog...or stroll...

On the day, members of the Leeds Anti-Sex Trafficking Network will be there running with you in support and providing a helping hand to anyone that needs one.

If you have any questions which haven’t been answered here or in the Park Run FAQ section please don’t hesitate to contact us oninfo@lastnetwork.org.uk

Happy Running...
...and thank you for taking action on trafficking "

Thursday 9 September 2010

Interview with Cophtill School Kids






today i went into Cophtill school, which is a local school near me and i know they put on productions of Shakespeare. I managed to speak to them for about 20 minutes at the end of the day. I was amazing to talk to these kids because they were so intellectual, i was anticipating me having to drag answers out of them but once we got onto the topic of Shakespeare you couldnt shut them up!

Who i interviewed: Catherine Golby - 10, Sarah Stevenette - 10, Ben Dimbleby - 10 and Arianna Weaving - 10 ( All of them in year 6)

Question 1:
So did you enjoy performing Macbeth (The latest production they had done)

- Yes, we hadn't done anything like it before and it was good to do something new.
- It was a completely different atmosphere to when we did the cowboys and indians play
- It was something different to a normal play

Question 2:
Did you find it easy speaking Shakespeare?

- Slightly harder than what we are used to
- Used to ordinary speaking plays so a big change
- Easier when everyones doing it, helps with understanding the meaning and the context
- You get used to it
- You being to use other words to help work out what other words mean
- (the recited a speech to me, which meant they could remember it, that was impressive)
- Mrs. Russell (teacher) went through the words and explained the meanings to us to help us understand what the play mean for example, stage = life not the stage you walk on

Question 3:
Did you find it easy to learn the scripts?

- Few more weeks to learn and it was better in situation
- Actions helped to understand the words
- Slow at first but gradually picked it up
- Pronunciation was hard too but when you start to perform it gets easier

Question 4:
Do you enjoy learning about Shakespeare?

- Enjoy he whole thing, its nice doing something from a different angle
- It nice doing something that everyone else knows and can appreciate

Question 5:
Don't think your too young to perform Shakespeare?

- No, no ones too young
- Adapting to different rules but its fun
- The cowboys and indians play was easy whereas this challenged us
- Theres a sense of grandeur with Macbeth and his other plays

Other comments:
Ben - "He was a heavy duty writer, and you have to know his stuff to get into his stories"
"once you know some things its easy to learn more"



I also asked if any of them had been to see any plays at Tolethorpe this year, and Sarah had, this is what she had to say:

" I've been to see Othello, there was a lot of drama going on but i understood it... this was because of the stuff we had learned here so it made it easier to follow"