I will never forget the first time I read Romeo and Juliet. Fear is a memory maker. I was a freshman who didn’t attend middle school with the rest of my classmates, so I was new, shy, and worried that I wasn’t as smart as everyone else. My 9th-grade English teacher was almost as intimidating as the language, but she had a knack for teaching Shakespeare. Once she helped me gain comprehension confidence, I remember thinking that if I can read this, I can read anything. What a gift Mrs. Babcock gave me– a gift I would love to pass along to you and your students too! Though it can be challenging, with some engaging Romeo and Juliet activities, lessons, and teaching ideas, you’ll be able to help your students fall in love with the play and boost their reading confidence in the process.
Considered Shakespeare’s most famous play, Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story set in the city of Verona, Italy. The main characters are Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, who fall deeply in love despite their families being bitter enemies.
One night, at a masquerade party hosted by the Capulets, Romeo and Juliet meet and instantly fall in love. However, once unmasked, they soon discover they belong to families of sworn enemies who will forbid their relationship.
Despite the danger and opposition from their families, Romeo and Juliet decide to marry secretly with the help of Friar Laurence. However, their happiness is short-lived when a series of misunderstandings and tragic events unfold.
The main themes of Romeo and Juliet are the power of love, hate, and fate. A fun way to introduce these themes and other topics is with a Romeo and Juliet BINGO board. As you can see, students can use the board to see how well they relate to topics, try to guess how they might all be connected, and get a visual general overview of the play. Would you like a copy of this Romeo and Juliet BINGO board? You can grab FREE resources by signing up for my Building Book Love Letter here:
My favorite way to provide an overview of the play without plot spoilers is to hand out a playbill with a synopsis and preview of the characters. Not only does this spark interest and give them a general overview of Romeo and Juliet, but it also helps keep student readers organized.
Students need to keep Romeo and Juliet events in order so that they don’t get confused. One way to do this is to create a timeline of events on your board and add to it each day. This will serve as a visual review reference point for key events and classroom discussions. For a fun twist, you can have students choose which emojis best summarize the events. You can either draw or print these images to add to your timeline.
Like with every unit, it’s important to hook students from the start with engaging pre reading activities! Here are some Romeo and Juliet intro ideas that will spark their curiosity and help set the tone of the play:
Once high schoolers get over the challenging Shakespearean language, Romeo and Juliet can be a lot of fun because it lends itself well to performance and imagination.
Teaching Romeo and Juliet allows students to gain a deeper understanding of universal themes such as love, hate, and fate while helping them tap into their creativity through set design, reenactments, and group activities.
With some engaging Romeo and Juliet activities, you’ll be able to help students appreciate the beauty and richness of Shakespearean language while developing their critical thinking skills.
The unifying elements of this Romeo and Juliet unit plan are the Interactive Notes and Acting Troupe Drama Activities. They’re incorporated through the entire unit plan for Romeo and Juliet, ensuring that your students not only understand Shakespeare’s language but also bring it to life. The interactive notes help students decipher the text and encourage critical thinking, while the drama activities add an element of fun and gamification. Together, they create an engaging learning experience for your students.
Teaching the prologue of Romeo and Juliet only takes a few minutes, but the confidence (or lack thereof) you instill in students will last the entirety of the play. Therefore, I think it’s well worth slowing down during the prologue and the first few scenes to make sure students understand the premise before moving on. One way to do this is to have students read and analyze the first pages of the graphic novel version of Romeo and Juliet.
Just like when Romeo meets Juliet, first impressions are everything. Make sure your Romeo and Juliet lessons for Act I lure students in, keep them interested, and most importantly set them up for Shakespeare success. As I mentioned above with the prologue, I think it’s worth taking your time with Act I. It’s much easier to make up time later than to rush through the groundwork. That said, you’ll need some fun Romeo and Juliet activities to break up the challenging reading and engage students with the text such as:
If you ever get the chance to visit Verona, I hope you take it! I feel like it’s often an overlooked Italian destination, but it was honestly one of my favorite stops. We were staying in Venice (which is magical too) and took a day trip to Verona so that I could see the famous Juliet balcony. I don’t care if it’s not real. It was real in my heart haha! I wish I could bottle up that experience and share it with every English teacher. But since you are likely reading this from your classroom rather than an idyllic café in Italy, we’ll need to get creative. Here are some ways to bring Act II to life with fun Romeo and Juliet activities:
Now that the stage is set, it’s time to dig deeper into the conflicts of the play to better understand the stark choices that the star-crossed lovers are facing. This is also an act where you can speed up the pace a bit by summarizing or showing scenes rather than closely reading the entire act. To do this, here are some Romeo and Juliet teaching ideas:
The biggest plot-driving elements of the play are miscommunication and dramatic irony. Act IV is a great place to incorporate Romeo and Juliet lessons on irony and the juxtaposition of love and hate. Here are some Romeo and Juliet activities:
Ahh, Act V. The act that makes English teachers question why so many people, including Taylor Swift, view this play as a love story more than a tragedy. Though the prologue literally tells us how this play is going to end, it’s still a shock and will be something your students will always remember. Here are some Romeo and Juliet lessons that will end the play on a reflective note:
Just because the curtain has fallen doesn’t mean the learning ends. Post-Romeo and Juliet activities are an excellent way to solidify understanding and extend the conversation, ensuring Romeo and Juliet’s lessons and legacy live on. Here are some Romeo and Juliet activities for after you finish reading the play:
Plays are meant to be watched! One of the best ways to review Romeo and Juliet and ensure comprehension is to watch a production of the play. Here are some choices for a Romeo and Juliet Movie by William Shakespeare.
Please note that just like the play itself, all Romeo and Juliet movie adaptations contain violence, nudity, and sexual content. They may also glorify suicide. I highly recommend listening to this podcast episode about themes of youth and how it plays into the film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
As we know, Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, so if you are looking for something that will make the content a little lighter, here are some Romeo and Juliet cartoons and animations.
Diverse classrooms require diverse teaching strategies, and when approaching a complex text like Romeo and Juliet, adaptability is key. If you are looking for Romeo and Juliet ESL activities or ways to make sure every student has an opportunity to engage with the play, here are some adaptation ideas:
Remember, while you guide your students through the pages of Romeo and Juliet, you are not just teaching them about literature; you are teaching them about love, tragedy, and the human condition. With some engaging Romeo and Juliet activities, lessons, and teaching ideas, you’ll be well on your way to making memories with Shakespeare’s plays!
