COD 2025 - D1089

Webinar - A Pound of Words. Approaches to Teaching The Merchant of Venice (AS&A Level 2024-2026 set text)

Language and Literature teachers interested in teaching literature, in general, and The Merchant of Venice, in particular. Literature lovers interested in discussing this dramatic piece from a critical perspective

1 sessions, start: 04-Apr

Course detail

Year: 2025
Level: Distance
Language: English
Status: Ended
Lugar: Distance
Facilitator/s: Cecilia Lasa PhD
Print course
ESSARP Schools
Free of charge
Exams Schools
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Non affiliate
Free of charge

Sessions

Sessions Dates Start Finish
1 04 April 2025 05:30 pm 07:30 pm

Facilitator/s

Cecilia Lasa

Cecilia Lasa holds a Ph. D. in Literature and a Master's Degree in Literatures in Foreign Languages and in Comparative Literatures (FFyL, UBA). She is a Teacher of English (IESLV "Juan R. Fernández") and a Teacher of Literature (FFyL, UBA). She has a Higher Diploma in Research in Humanities (UBA) and has done a Specialisation in Reading, Writing and Education (FLACSO) and in Writing and Literature (Ministerio de Educación, Argentina). She has worked as a teacher of Literature and of academic reading and writing in Teacher Training Colleges in Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires and national universities as well. She is currently working as a teacher and researcher in English Literature and American Literature (FFyL, UBA). She is the author of Academic Writing and has edited and co-authored Literatura y formación docente. Proyectos de lectura y de escritura.
Language and Literature teachers interested in teaching literature, in general, and The Merchant of Venice, in particular. Literature lovers interested in discussing this dramatic piece from a critical perspective
- To identify the main problems and challenges teachers and student may face when studying The Merchant of Venice
- To account for the main conflict(s) in the play
- To explain how the construction of characters and the setting contributes to the main conflict(s) in The Merchant of Venice
- To analyse the cultural and political implications of the play
- To discuss possible strategies, activities, resources and dynamics to tackle The Merchant of Venice in class
- Contextual aspects: society, politics, economy and gender in Renaissance England.
- Character construction.
- The foreign and the exotic.
- Gender, politics and religion.
- Shakespeare’s intervention in cultural aspects.
- Recovery of attendees' main difficulties when teaching literary texts and of their previous knowledge about the play and its author
- Discussion of aspects related to the contexts of production and reception
- Introduction to William Shakespeare’s dramatic world and the importance of this play
- Exploration of specific features of the play –stage directions, characters, setting, conflict, etc.
- Guided group analysis of the play.
Source text

Shakespeare. W. The Merchant of Venice.

Critical and theoretical material

Dollimore, Jonathan. Radical Tragedy: Religion, Ideology and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries. Hampshire and London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Cambridge's Bibliography about Literature in English

Cambridge International Examinations (2018). Learner Guide IGCSE® Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Russell, C (2018). Cambridge IGCSE® and O Level Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whitthome, E (2018). AS & A Level Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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