“I think it’s just an important aspect to see where our languages come from,” Kimberly Philipp, English teacher, said. “Today there’s a lot of slang words and a lot of sayings and even just basic vocabulary that has derived from that and I do think it’s important for students to be disposed to it.”

Quotes from Macbeth such as “Now, if you have a station in the file, Not i’ the worst rank of manhood, say‘t” (Act 3 Scene 1) are difficult for students to understand.

“My biggest struggle was reading in Elizabethan text because there are a lot of ‘made up’ words that are really hard to pronounce,” Jessie Puccinelli, sophomore, said. “ I really did enjoy learning about Macbeth because I personally love Shakespeare and his work is exemplified in this play.”

Philipp has been teaching English for a few years and she sees a pattern between her freshmen and sophomore students.

“I think my sophomores, just from experience, have been the tougher group[compared to freshmen] to enjoy reading,” Philipp said. “I think my freshmen get excited because it seems, for whatever reason, that they are always excited to act and there’s definitely some students who aren’t.”

According to Philipp, Romeo and Juliet is just a cheesy love story that everyone knows and it is easy and self explanatory. Students do not struggle as much with this reading of Romeo and Juliet. Philipp prefers Romeo and Juliet instead of getting to read Caesar or Macbeth, which is kind of harder.

“I try to show visuals and I try not to read it too fast,” Philipp said. “As we read, we talk about what’s happening and we talk about the actions like who’s involved. Trying to make character connections and also talking about their purpose in the play and why they might be doing something so I try to do a little bit of verbalizing, visualizing, and actually speaking the lines. It’s utilizing speaking and listening skills throughout the unit.”
According to Puccinelli, she feels that her teacher, Philipp, really helped her to understand the text of Macbeth because she broke down every scene and helped explain what was going on.