Let’s Play With A Play

In honor of Shakespeare’s 400th birthday, 11th grade students recreated the world’s best-known couple Romeo and Juliet by putting some cultural elements to their story or by imagining them living in 21th century.

Romeo and Juliet is probably the most famous couple in history. Have you ever imagined how their story would be if they lived in 21th century? Would living in a modern era change some elements of their life and/or their tragic end?

11th grade students took part in an Etwinning project and collaborated with Saint-François-Xavier Private High School students in order to find answers to those questions.

The first step of the project consisted of working on the cultural and literal aspect of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” and exchanging information about what they discovered about the play. Then, they imagined a Turkish/French Romeo and Juliet or a brand-new 21th century modern Romeo and Juliet. Thus, our students created Ottoman Romeo and Juliet, Turkish Romeo and Juliet as well as Ramon who communicated with Juliet via whatsapp and a modern couple who had to separate due to their family. Lastly, they chose one scene of the play. They rewrote the script, acted it out and finally sent the video to the partner school. The script and the videos were voted upon by the partner school’s students.

The main objective of the project was to combine literature with linguistic skills. The project also aimed to develop students’ creativity and imagination as well as their interpersonal relations.