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Showing results for tags 'plays'.
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I've heard some differing opinions on whether or not plays should be assigned as reading in English classes in school. People who don't think it is a good idea generally seem to be of the mind that plays are meant to be seen, not read, which I don't neccessarily disagree with. Personally, I had to read several different plays in English throughout my high school/primary school years. I found that the times I retained the most and was most engaged was when my class read Hamlet and Death of a Salesman out loud together, with each person being assigned a different part. Hearing the play out loud definitely aided in comprehension. Those two also ended up being some of my favorite pieces of literature I read in school, too. I feel as if there are both pros and cons to it. On the negative side, you are not getting the full picture of what the play was intended to be by just reading it, and trying to make sense of a play by just the written words can be frustrating (shoutout to Shakespeare). I recall a great deal of my peers disliking it. On the positive side, reading plays in school exposes students to a whole area of literature they may not otherwise be exposed to, especially considering that not everybody has the means or interest/motivation to go see live theatre. Seeing it written out like that, it seems like there's a lot more negatives than positives, but I still feel like there is something really valuable in exposing students to plays as literature. What do you guys think? Is it a good, bad, or neutral? I'm also only looking at this from my experience with the American school system. Are plays usually part of the English curriculum in U.K. schools?