The story of William Shakespeare for kids

The Life of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare Biography

PRE-ROMANTICISM-since the middle of the 18th century

• melancholy
• love for nature
• revival of mystery and folklore
• interest in the wild, the irrational (Gothic vogue)

ROMANTICISM (1798)

• a reaction against reason
• imagination
• emotions
• individual experience
• a new vision of nature
• childhood
• exotic settings
• interest in the world of horror

SOCIAL CONTEXT-THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• INCREASE IN POPULATION                                                     

         TOWARDS 1750

         The demand for food and goods increased

• NEW TECHNOLOGY AND INVENTIONS       

       The spinning jenny ,The steam engineThe water frame

• NEW SOURCES OF POWER                                                 

        Coal and steam  

• NEW FACTORIES WERE BUILT                   

        From handwork to work done by machines 

        From work at home to work in factories   

• TRANSPORT IMPROVEMENTS

                 New waterways

                 Road conditions improved

                New roads were built

• CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE

Improvements in agriculture-New farming methods, New farming machinery

• ENCLOSURE OF OPEN FIELDS AND COMMON LAND (Enclosure Acts)

(Poor farmers couldn't buy the land)

• THE RURAL POPULATION moved to the cities to find work

Sessione straordinaria 2018 Seconda prova scritta

Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’ Università e della Ricerca 

PL01 – ESAME DI STATO DI ISTRUZIONE SECONDARIA SUPERIORE

 Indirizzi: LI04, EA03 - LICEO LINGUISTICO Tema di: LINGUA STRANIERA

Sessione straordinaria 2018 Seconda prova scritta

 - INGLESE A - ATTUALITÀ How to manage AI's risks and rewards

Technological advances in artificial intelligence (AI) promise to be pervasive, with impacts and ramifications in health, economics, security and governance. In combination with other emerging and converging technologies, AI has the potential to transform our society through better decision-making and improvements to the human condition.

But, without adequate risk assessment and mitigation, AI may pose a threat to existing vulnerabilities in our defences, economic systems, and social structures, argue the authors of the Wilson Center report, Artificial Intelligence: A Policy-Oriented Introduction, Anne Bowser, Michael Sloan, Pietro Michelucci and Eleonore Pauwels.

Recognizing the increasing integration of technology in society, this policy brief grounds the present  excitement around AI in an objective analysis of capability trends before summarizing perceived benefits and risks. It also introduces an emerging sub-field of AI known as Human Computation, which can help achieve future AI capabilities by strategically inserting humans in the loop where pure AI still falls short.

Policy recommendations suggest how to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks for science and society, particularly by incorporating human participation into complex socio-technical systems to ensure the safe and 15 equitable development of automated intelligence. The report offers a number of key recommendations:

Planning in an Age of Complexity: recommendations for policymakers and funders

AI is a critical component of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), “a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.”

Compared to previous revolutions involving processes like mechanization, mass production, and automation, the fourth industrial revolution is characterized by the convergence of new and emerging technologies in complex socio-technical systems that permeate every aspect of human life.

Convergence also implies the increasing interaction of multiple fields, such as AI, genomics and nanotechnology, which rapidly expands the range of possible impacts that need to be considered in any science 25 policy exercise.

Ten years ago, nanotechnology was celebrated largely for its impacts on chemistry and material sciences. But the ability to precision engineer matter at genetically relevant scale has resulted in significant advances in genomics and neurosciences, such as creating the ability to model networks of neurons. This example illustrates how the convergence of two emerging technologies - AI and genomics- leads to advances beyond 30 the initial capabilities of either alone. Meeting the challenges of convergence requires drawing on a wide range of expertise, and taking a systems approach to promoting responsible research and innovation.

As “outsiders” to the AI design processes, it is extremely difficult for policymakers to estimate AI development due to limited comprehension of how the technology functions. Many may also draw inspiration from traditional regulatory models that are inadequate for AI, playing a catch-up game to decode the terms of 35 reference used by researchers, or fall victim to the human fallacy of overestimating the short-term capabilities of new technologies.

There will be significant systems’ transformations through AI over the next few decades, but perhaps it will be more incremental than we fear or imagine.

Conduct broad and deep investigations into AI with leading researchers from the private sector and 40 universities.

In the US, early reports from policy bodies and researchers at institutions such as Stanford offer high-level roadmaps of AI R&D. Expert groups convening under organizations like IEEE compliment these overviews with in-depth considerations of things like ethically-aligned AI design to maximize human well-being.

In the near-future, AI researchers involved in collaboration with policymakers should conduct additional in45 depth studies to better understand and anticipate aspects of AI related to (for example) job automation at a more granular level, considering impact across time, sectors, wage levels, education degrees, job types and regions. For instance, rather than low-skill jobs that require advanced hand-dexterity, AI systems might more likely replace routine but high-level cognitive skills. Additional studies could investigate areas like national security.

Advocate for a systems approach to AI research and development that accounts for other emerging technologies and promotes human participation.

AI seeks to replicate human intelligence in machines – but humanlike intelligence already exists in humans. Today there is an opportunity to develop superhuman intelligence by pairing the complementary abilities of human cognition with the best available AI methods to create hybrid distributed intelligent systems. In other 55 words, it is in our reach to build networks of humans and machines that sense, think, and act collectively with greater efficacy than either humans or AI systems alone.

 The emerging subfield of AI known as Human Computation is exploring exactly those opportunities by inserting humans into the loop in various information processing systems to perform the tasks that exceed the abilities of machine AI. For this reason, human computation is jokingly referred to as “Artificial AI”. […] [760 words]

World Economic Forum: Geostrategy platform Available on line: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/how-to-manage-ais-risks-and-benefits Accessed on February 25th 2018

COMPREHENSION AND INTERPRETATION Answer the following questions. Use complete sentences and your own words.

 1. Why can it be said that AI is going to be pervasive?

2. What makes it possible for AI to potentially improve the human condition?

 3. Why is it important to deliver an adequate risk management process for AI, according to the authors of the Wilson Centre report?

4.How can the benefits of AI be maximised to outweigh the harm for both science and society?

5. What are two distinctive traits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) which are mentioned in the report?

6. What example do the authors offer which shows the interaction of AI with multiple fields?

7. Why does it become difficult for those in charge of designing policies to estimate the impact of AI?

8. What do the authors suggest is the result of the collaboration between AI researchers and policymakers? 9. How can human cognition and available AI methods complement each other and to what effect?

10. What is the authors’ purpose in writing the report and what kind of readers do you think is it intended for?

PRODUCTION Choose one of the following questions. Number your answer clearly to show which question you have chosen. 
Either

1.      The rapid development of robotics and AI might have the potential to transform our lives and work practice and offer enormous economic and innovative benefits for our society. Explain how important it is to ensure a sustainable coexistence between robots and humans and for researchers and robot designers to operate in accordance with legal and ethical standards and provide a “safe and equitable development of automated intelligence” (lines 14-15). Write an essay of about 300 words.

2.      Or 
2. A student magazine is inviting readers to contribute to series of articles called “Amazing Future” on some societies imagined by science fiction writers. Submit an article describing a future scenario you imagine and explaining how humans and robots can interact and what people could be dependent on for feelings of emotional satisfaction in this future. Write your article in about 300 words

Working In The Theatre: The Globe

Shakespeare; The Globe Theatre London tour

ELIZABETHAN THEATRE

The ELIZABETHAN PLAYHOUSE was small
It was CIRCULAR or OCTAGONAL in SHAPE.
It was built around a COURTYARD or PIT (PALCO), where the poorer spectators stood, exposed to the rain or the sun.
It had three tiers (rows) of galleries, where those who paid more could sit.
THE GROUNDLINGS
The ordinary people of London streets
They paid one penny to stand in the yard around the three open sides of the stage.
There was intimate communication between the audience and the actors on the stage.
People who paid two pennies(or five?) could sit in one of the galleries






THE STAGE
APRON STAGE
It was a long platform which jutted out into the pit and was surrounded by the spectators on three sides.At its back there was a curtain, which could be drawn, thus revealing a second stage.
INNER STAGE
It was generally used by the actors as a room where they could rest or change their costumes.
When necessary, the inner stage was also used to represent taverns, tombs....
UPPER STAGE
Over the inner stage and at the level of the second gallery, there was the upper stage, which could be used to represent the walls of a castle or of a town, or for scenes where an upper level was required

• It seems that all social classes went to the theatre
• Performances took place in the daylight
• There was no scenery
• The costumes were rich
• There were sound effects and music
• The language was rich in imagery and metaphors
• Women were not allowed to act. They were replaced by boy actors
• Both in speech and gesture, acting was more formal than modern acting

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613.^[ A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.

A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfgeLdXA87I#action=share

The difference between Great Britain, United Kingdom and the British Isles

The Industrial Revolution (18-19th Century)

The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Exp...

Lake District National Park from Above - Our Best Bits (HD)

1)Activity:

Write at least 3 adjectives to express the emotions and feelings suggested by the images of that video.

That activity always proves to be successful as students can say out loud lots of adjectives!

2) Activity:

Students in groups of four make an imaginary conversation between William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. The situation is the following one: Wordsworth wants to move to the Lake District, which he really did in 1799, and he tries to get his sister to go there!

Students are asked to build up a conversation using linking words, modal verbs and the adjectives they said out loud in the previous activity. That activity is also successful and students do really well!

William Wordsworth.wmv

https://www.martini-schio.it/images/doc/go_for_English/22._WORDSWORTH.pdf




http://www.mlkmuggio.gov.it/sites/default/files/risorse-didattiche/wordsworth.ppt

Man and nature

Wordsworth is interested in the relationship between the NATURAL WORLD and the HUMAN 

CONSCIOUSNESS.

When a natural object is depicted the main focus of interest is the poet's response to that object.

NATURE 

1)COUNTRYSIDE-LANDSCAPE

2)LIFE-FORCE

3)A MORAL GUIDE

1)Nature is the countryside as opposed to the town. Even the urban landscape in Composed upon Westminster Bridge becomes a sort of natural landscape because of the beauty of the morning sun and the proximity of the countryside.

2) Nature is a source of feelings (joy, quietness, happiness, pleasure). It is an active force.it is a sort of goddess. It is a living presence. It is permeated by God.Through the contact with nature, man can rediscover the image of God and become aware of his own inner life. It is a pantheistic view of nature.

3) Nature is a friend and a comforter to man. It is the only great teacher from which man can learn virtue, love, wisdom. It is a guide to the moral an d spiritual life of man.

CHILDHOOD and NATURE

In a short lyric Wordsworth wrote: "the child is father of the man". The state of childhood is the closest to God, because the child has not progressed far "from God who is our home", in his journey through life. Thus, childhood is the best part of man's life.What the child sees is more imaginative and more vivid than the perceptions of the adult. A Child is naturally in tune with nature.

Yet, as the child grows into a man, his relation to the world of nature changes-the world remains the same but he cannot feel its splendour. In his view of childhood, Wordsworth was influenced by Rousseau. Rousseau saw childhood as the most important period in man's life, because it is closer to the "ideal state of nature" and therefore the least corrupt.

RECOLLECTION IN TRANQUILLITY

What we read in the poem is the result of the active, vital relationship of present to past experience. Poetry is "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings", but these feelings are not immediate. They take their origin from "emotion recollected in tranquillity", recreated by the subjectivity of memory.object 

              sensory experience

              emotion

              memory=recollection in tranquillity

              kindred emotion

              poem

              reader

              a new emotion

The object gives rise to an emotion. It is recreated through memory and it is reproduced and purified in a poetic form so that a second emotion, kindred (=similar) to the first one is generated.

The Preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads

1)Subject matter of poetry

Poetry should deal with incidents and situations from simple, rustic life, transfigured by " a certain colouring of imagination", so that they appear to be unusual

2)Poetic Language

Poetry should use familiar, simple, clear language (" the language really used by men")- it's the language of humble and rustic people who can express their feelings and emotions in simple and unelaborated expressions

3)The poet's role

The poet is a man speaking to other men who has more lively sensibility.He is endowed with imagination, so he can express what he feels better than common men. He also has a greater knowledge of nature. The poet is a moral teacher.He reveals the beauty of nature and teaches men how to stay in contact with nature and in doing so how to improve their moral being

4)The creative act of the poet 

Poetry is "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings-it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity"

VERBS-gerund or infinitive

CONSTRUCTION  with IT   INFINITIVE

It’s dangerous/easy/amazing/difficult to_____________________________________________________

PROMISE

He promised to write to me every week

He promised me that he’d cook dinner tonight

He promised to me that he’d clean his room

SPEND   SPENDERE  She spends too much money on clothes, The company has spent lots of money on improving its computer network

SPEND TRASCORRERE  He spent 6 months working  on the project

DESERVE  He deserves to get a prize, He deserves to be locked up for life

FORGET He’s completely forgotten about the quarrel, He forgot to take his pills

HAVE FUN/HAVE A HARD TIME/HAVE A GOOD TIME I had fun dancing at the party,  I had trouble finding somewhere to park

TRY = ATTEMPT I tried to open the door but I couldn’t,  Try not to make so much noise

TRY=TEST, TASTE, EXPERIMENT Try using a different shampoo!!

TRY=to examine facts in a court of law  He was tried for attempted murder

ORDER He ordered them to leave

REMEMBER I must remember (not forget) to send my friends a message, I remember going to the beach when I was a child, I don’t remember getting to know you before

REMIND Will you remind me to make Jim a phone call?, You remind me about my youth

ADMIT He admitted taking drugs, She admitted being guilty

SUGGEST He suggested having the meeting at his house. I suggest that we park the car here and walk into town

He suggests that I should go home

 I suggested what to see

INFINITO SOGGETTO

To live alone requires great courage (formal)

Living alone requires great courage

It requires great courage to live alone

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS TO TALK ABOUT LOVE
Create some sentences about Romeo and Juliet using the following expressions:

HAVE A CRUSH ON                              

ASK SOMEONE OUT

BLIND DATE

AT FIRST SIGHT

GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER 

FALL IN LOVE WITH

PROPOSE

EXCHANGE LOVE VOWS

BREAK UP

HEARTBROKEN

MARRY SECRETLY



Write a scene where a boy declares his love for a girl:
At the beach during the sunset
JACK Hello, Daniela! How are you?
DANIELA Hi, Jack, I'm good, how about you?
JACK I'm fine, but my head is full of thoughts these days, because I've something to tell you
DANIELA What's up? I'm here for you, tell me everything...
JACK It's hard to say... but I have to....
DANIELA OK.....go on...don't worry
JACK My dear,  I've loved you since the first time I saw you at the disco and I'd like to know your feelings....
DANIELA Oh, I've been waiting for this moment a lot..... and I'd say that it's the same for me....
JACK So... wonderful! I'd like to start a relationship with you
DANIELA I'm so happy, why don't we go and have an ice cream together?
JACK Awesome!!! Let's go!
IV AL

Romeo + Juliet (1996) - Love at First Sight Scene (1/5) | Movieclips

Romeo + Juliet (1996) - Star-crossed Lovers Scene (2/5) | Movieclips

Romanticism, Lesson 1: Historical Contexts and Core Principles

HISTORY OF IDEAS - Romanticism

1. What does Romanticism refer to?
2. What does the word mindset mean?
3. When and where did Romanticism begin?
4. Did the way to consider children and nature change thanks to Romanticism?
5. What did Romanticism react against?
6. What did Rousseau like about being a child?
7. Who was Thomas Chatterton?
8. What did he become a symbol of?
9. Why is the Romantic hero a Christ like figure?
10. What does The sorrows of young Werther deal about?
11. Who was the most important  Spanish Romantic painter?
12. Who was the most important English Romantic poet ?
13. What’s the name of the place where he lived for some years?
14. What was the main subject of his poetry?
15. What did the American painter Thomas Cole paint?
16. What does the loafer, described by Budelaire, stand for ?

Romeo and Juliet OST What is a youth +eng sub

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Summary

Video SparkNotes: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet summary

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/uk-now/literature-uk/shakespeare-romeo-and-juliet

https://wordwall.net/resource/122004/english/romeo-and-juliet-quiz

https://wordwall.net/resource/16921701/romeo-juliet-bingo

Speak English Fluently - 5 Steps to Improve Your English Fluency

SUMMER HOMEWORK

SUMMER HOMEWORK

The books which students who will be in 5 Bl are advised to read:

Hard Times or Oliver Twist  Charles Dickens

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte

Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde R. L. Stevenson

The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde

1984 George Orwell

Brave New World Aldous  Huxley

The Great Gatsby F. S. Fitzgerald

Never let me go Kazuo Ishiguro

The books which students who will be in 4 Bl are advised to read:

Romeo and Juliet W. Shakespeare

Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift

Dracula Bram Stoker

Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte

1984 George Orwell

The Great Gatsby F. S. Fitzgerald

Never let me go Kazuo Ishiguro

The books which students who will be in 4 Al are advised to read:

Romeo and Juliet W. Shakespeare

Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift

Frankenstein Mary Shelley

Dracula Bram Stoker

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde R. L. Stevenson

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

W.H. Auden reads 'The Unknown Citizen'

https://youtu.be/nf1klIiCdwQ

The Unknown Citizen  
was written in 1939, when Europe was in flames.It looked like a totalitarian system could prevail in Europe and take the place of democracy.

The Unknown Citizen is both satirical and disturbing. It was  written by Auden to highlight the role of the individual and the increasingly faceless bureaucracy that can arise in any country, with any type of government.

The unknown citizen is reduced to a mere number, a series of letters; there is no name, no birthplace or mention of loved ones.

From the beginning it is clear that the state is in total control. It has created a complete conformist, an ordinary man having a clean identity.

The state even calls him a saint, not because he was holy or he was particularly religious in his acts.

He was a good role model and he did everything that was expected by the government. He worked hard all his life and never did anyone complain about him. He satisfied his employers.He paid his Union dues.

He was married with five children. He bought a paper every day. His reactions to advertisements were normal in any way.He had all the necessary material goods to a modern man-a radio, a car, a fridge…but he never rebelled against the system, he never broke the rules. He served his country when there was war he never questioned the proper opinions. He had some mates and he liked having a drink with them. He never interfered with his children’s education.

He is a perfect citizen, a perfect conformist. He is the flawless result of a perfect system of propaganda, which takes away the citizen’s real control of his life. He has lost his critical thinking, his freedom of speech, so that an effective social unrest and protest is cut off and made impossible.

He is just a number and his process of dehumanization is complete. He didn’t have any original thoughts in his life, he just did whatever the government wanted, he had no real identity

Auden reminds us about the potential dangers in any system of government, in any bureaucracy anywhere, anytime - the individual can lose their unique identity, become a non-person, without a voice, without a say in how things are run.

At the end we have two rethorical questions, which are two examples of dramatic irony, For the speaker the answer is Yes, but for the reader the answer is No, of course.

No data or statistics about the man could have truthfully determined if his friends really cared about him or if he was really happy and free. He will die unremembered

The poem rhymes, but in a strange way.

Difficult words

 EUGENIST he is a scientist who works to improve society by manipulating the population

TO FUDGE present or deal with something in a vague or inadequate way, especially so as to conceal the truth or mislead(= evade, avoid)ex “The authorities have fudged the issue”

To FUDGE manipulate facts or figures so as to present a desidered picture  “ The company has been fudging figures to make it look as though targets have been met” (= falsify, fake, manipulate).

A few days before taking second class students  to see the performance The Canterville Ghost, organized by Erasmus Theatre, working in pairs, I had them write a short story, which was supposed to be quite scary and disturbing, like the extraordinary one written by Wilde.

I gave them the starting situation and they wrote down the  rest of the story.

The purpose was also to make them use Past Continuous, a tense we had recently focused our attention on.

The students themselves chose the best story-, considering  the content, the characters and the way in which it was organized.

They gave it a score and the  best story was considered to be the one that got the most scores.

They were really enthusiastic on the day they chose the best story.

This is the starting point

One night a boy was going home after he left a pub. There wasn't anyone in the street and everything was quiet. While he was walking he suddenly stopped, because he was distracted by the sight of a deserted church. It was scary and mysterious, but the boy was curious and he wanted to come in, but in that moment he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and he saw a woman dressed in white with blood on her mouth.

and here's the following story written by the students with the title : A passionate crime

she was a ghost and she was asking the boy to help her. The boy got scared and suddenly he fainted.When he woke up he was inside that church.The ghost stayed in front of him..He tried to run away but the doors of the church closed and he was trapped.

The woman started telling her story. In 1935 she was a happy and gorgeous girl, she had a boyfriend who asked her to marry him. She said yes.On the wedding day she wore a beautiful white dress and her magnificent veil, she was ready to marry the man of her dreams, but before going down the aisle, something terrible happened.

The butler of her family house was in love with her and he wanted her to stop the wedding and to go away with him.The woman told him the truth about her feelings, she didn't feel anything for him and she begged him to let her go.

The butler was disappointed and after he got furious and started beating the girl. It was a nightmare, she had no strength to react and at the end she died bleeding.

She never had any justice for that murder. The butler fled without leaving a trace and nobody could see him again. Vanished into thin air forever.

As soon as the ghost finished speaking, the boy stood up and started screaming at her. He didn't understand what he was supposed to do. The woman wanted to find the killer, who probably had got really old now, and kill him. In exchange she would give him the immortality after a deal with the devil....

the students said the story was supposed to be continued.......

Brave New World themes

LITERATURE - Samuel Beckett

Waiting for Godot full play

"Waiting for Godot" Explained with Philosophy | Philosophy Tube

Waiting for Godot (ending)

 10 things the two novels BRAVE NEW WORLD and 1984 have in common

  

BRAVE NEW WORLD vs 1984

     1.   The concept of family is abolished

1984 Family isn’t a safe place

Brave New World----no family is allowed

2.    A central theme is the importance of CONTROL

1984  Control through fear

BRAVE NEW WORLD  Control through pleasure

3.    No interest in books and reading

1984 Books are banned---there’s a sort of  machine writing books

BRAVE NEW WORLD  No one wants to read books anymore

4.    No real information

1984 People are deprived of true information about current events and the past ones

BRAVE NEW WORLD  No one has a real interest in what really happens in the world. Everyone is entrapped in his own self and basically he is passive

5.    No TRUTH

1984 truth is concealed from us

BRAVE NEW WORLD  truth will be drowned in a sea of meaningless and useless pieces of information

6.    No CULTURE or real ART

1984 passivity

BRAVE NEW WORLD  trivial culture

7.    No real feelings

1984 no love, no real friendship, no solidarity

BRAVE NEW WORLD  only happiness connected with sex and the use of a drug-soma

8.    Disruption of traditional language

1984 Newspeak a new dictionary. It seeks to reduce language to the functional minimum so people cannot express their thoughts and fight against the system

BRAVE NEW WORLD  In Brave New World, language has been changed in many ways. 'Mother' is an obscene term. People are brainwashed with banal slogans like "I take a gramme and only am"

9.    Technological advance used against human beings

1984 new technology is used to constantly control people everywhere

BRAVE NEW WORLD   mass producing babies, the feelies-movie theatre enhancing all your senses

10.                    No individualism

1984 people wear a uniform, they have no real freedom, they cannot express their real thoughts, they cannot change class or condition, freedom is slavery is one of the slogans of the Party

BRAVE NEW WORLD   people wear the same colour as others in their class, they are born with a specific purpose to fulfil, they cannot move from one caste to another; the motto is community, identity, stability

1984 Mind map