Least Tern > English Class > Shakespeare

A Day in London

A WebQuest created by John McIlvain
for Middle School students reading Shakespeare

Task ~ Specific Questions ~ Resources ~ Note to Teachers

Introduction ~ In this quest, you will become a resident of Elizabethan London. The guided research you will do will prepare you to write a detailed account of one day in your life.

Task ~ You are between 12 and 21 years old and you live in London in 1592-1604. It is summer and you decide you need to go see one of the latest Shakespeare plays. Your task is to write a diary entry for this day. In the entry you should allude to or indicate your age, marital and social status, occupation (if appropriate), religion (if relevant), level of learning and other information you feel is important for us to imagine your character.

Specific questions to answer ~ Supply the following information about yourself ~


Age
Name – please select a name from Elizabethan Names or Faire Names for English Folk
Sex
Marital status
Occupation (if any) - find ideas at the Services and Occupations listing from Life in Elizabethan England
Income
Where in London do you live? Tudor London map
How much education did you receive?
What were you taught?
What is your religion?
How has your religion affected your life in terms of how you are treated by people in power?
What play do you go to see?
How did you know it was playing?
What other Shakespeare plays might you have been able to see?
What play by Shakespeare was your favorite until now?
What actor in the company is your favorite actor?
How are you dressed when you attend the play?
Describe some of the costumes the actors wear.
You are planning to go to a ball (fancy dance party) after the play. How will you dress for that?
What did you dine on before going to the theater?
When did you eat?
What did you drink?
How much did it cost?
How much did you pay for your ticket?
Where did you sit?
A number of your friends chose to spend the afternoon seeing another kind of entertainment, What was it?
Who was the most important person you recognized in the audience?
Who ruled England at the time?
What was some gossip about the ruler?
Who was the Lord Mayor of London at the time?
What is the last book you read?

Resources ~ these are recommended starting points. Please share your own site discoveries with the class.


Life in Elizabethan England: a Compendium of Knowledge - http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/index.html - information on almost everything, including religion and education
Shakespeare's Life and Times - http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html - short articles cover just about everything
The Guild School Association - http://www.likesnail.org.uk/ - Shakespeare's school and schooling at the time
Educating Shakespeare - http://www.likesnail.org.uk/welcome-es.htm - what you learned in school
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet (Palomar) - http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/ - big Shakespeare page, many links.
Shakespeare's 3D Globe - http://www.acslink.aone.net.au/sandhurst/globe/globe.htm - page on the Globe Theater
Elizabeth Dress Diary - http://www.raveness.com/elizabethandiary/index.html - diary of a contemporary woman who sews a replica of an upper-middle class dress, with all of its many pieces
Elizabeth Period Costumes - http://www.renfaire.com/Costume/ - page on costume
Elizabethan Food and Drink - http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/elizfood.html - page on food and drink
The Elizabethan Cost of Living - http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/society/cost.html - what some items cost.
How Much is That Worth Today? - http://www.eh.net/ehresources/howmuch/poundq.php - a way to figure out how much something would cost today relative to another time.
17th Century English Coinage - http://www.portsdown.demon.co.uk/coin.htm - an explanation of the English monetary system.
The Collected Works of William Shakespeare Arranged Chronologically - http://www.dlhoffman.com/publiclibrary/Shakespeare/by-year.html - a chronology of Shakespeare's plays.
Shakespeare's Actors (1) - http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/stage/burbage.html - a listing of names and some discussion

also visit the resources in the Midsummer Night's Dream Study Guide and the Theme Park webquest

Notes to Teachers ~

  1. This assignment involves a webhunt and journal writing. The students in the class had read "Catherine Called Birdie" which is a novel in journal form; its entries served as models for the writing assignment. Information was shared at times, but each journal was highly individualized. Many students imagined themselves transported to1600, but others chose a persona other than their own. There are a great number of relevant sights and so students often gathered their information from different sources.
  2. The most difficult piece of information to find was the name of the Lord mayor of London. Several students provided a Lord mayor, other selected "the" Lord mayor at another specific time.
  3. The assignment was evaluated both for the quality of the writing and the quality of the research.
  4. Some students asked if they could move the date forward or backward to see a favorite play (usually Romeo and Juliet) and they were permitted to do so.

Least Tern

John McIlvain - 2/1/04