Activity 1
What does being alive mean to you? How do you assign value to life? What makes life challenging? What makes it worth living? Describe a few examples that help show your thinking about how people should value life.
Grammar 1
What is wrong with these sentences? How do you know?
1. In 2010 Roger Ebert is sitting down to watch a movie with other movie critics.
2. He came to the screening room since 1976.
3. Today Ebert has decided to watch only one film. He did not have the time or energy for more.
Grammar 2
Double-underline/RED the complete verb phrases and underline the subjects in the following paragraph. Circle/Yellow highlight the time markers. Remember a time marker can be implied by the context of the passage. Fill in the chart below. In the fourth column, label the time frame of the verbs: past or present/future.
Earlier today, Ebert’s publisher sent him two copies of his newest book, Great Movies III. Ebert turned them over in his hand. He wrote most of the book while in hospital beds. Then he put the copies on a shelf in his office. Ebert’s readers have asked him to write his autobiography next, but he looks up from his laptop and shrugs at the thought. He’s already written a lot about himself, and he does not want to say the same things twice. Besides, tonight he has a review to finish. He returns his attention to his laptop. Its glow makes white squares in his glasses. Music plays. Words come.
Rhetorical purpose: Why do you think the writer switches time frames?
Activity 7
Considering the Structure of the Text Look again at the structure of Hamlet’s soliloquy. Then answer the following questions with a small group or partner about how this speech is organized:
1. Where does Hamlet ask the central question of his soliloquy?
2. Where does he restate this question in greater detail?
3. Does Hamlet ever answer this question?
4. Does he ask any other questions in this speech?
5. Who or what interrupts Hamlet at the end of his soliloquy? Do you think he was finished talking?
Activity 9
Characterizing the Text - Plus (+) or Minus (-) positive/negative
Activity 10
Paraphrase Hamlet's Soliloquy
To be, or not to be—that is the question:
Whether ’tis* nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep—
5 No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ’Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep—
To sleep—perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,
10 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
15 Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus* make
20 With a bare bodkin*? Who would fardels† bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue* of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
30 And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
Activity 13
Charting Hamlet
Precis: William Shakespeare's play, "The Tragedy of Hamlet" depicted....
• What is the text’s big issue? Here you will identify the “main idea” of the text.
• What claim does the text make? This asks you to identify the writer’s perspective on the main idea.
• What are examples or quotes from the text? This is where you would put examples given by the writer to help the reader understand his or her claim. The quotes and paraphrases you worked on earlier will fit well here. Be sure to include page or line numbers (or both) to identify where you found the quotation or idea.
• What do you think about the text’s claim? In this box, you will explain your response to the text’s claim, including to what extent (if any) you agree with it.
• What are your examples? In this column, give a few examples from your own experiences that help explain your response to the text’s claim.
• How does this text connect to other texts? If you see a similarity to another text, make note of it here. Connections can be made even among texts that have very different claims.