Lesson video

Hello.

Welcome back.

My name is Mrs. McGowan.

We have been learning all about the story of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

In today's lesson, we get to meet the main man himself, Macbeth, as he and his friend, Banquo, meet the witches.

I'm really excited to get started on today's lesson.

I hope you are too.

So if you're ready, let's begin.

In this lesson, you're going to need some space to work in, making sure the area's nice and safe and that nothing's in your way.

You will also need a chair and a pen and paper.

Pause the video now if you need to go and get these.

So, let's have a look what we'll be doing during the lesson.

We'll start off with a freeze frame and slow motion activity.

We'll then move on to thought tracking Macbeth and Banquo.

We'll end today's lesson with hot-seating Macbeth.

Let's look at the keywords for this lesson.

Freeze frame is where action is halted and frozen, thought tracking lets us share aloud the thoughts of a character, a prophecy predicsts what will happen in the future, and hot-seating allows us to question the character in the hot seat who responds in role.

Let us recap now on the story.

What is Macbeth all about? Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare.

Set in Scotland, Macbeth begins as a brave and loyal general to King Duncan.

After a battle, Macbeth meets three witches who tell him he'll become king.

Macbeth's character starts to change and he becomes overcome by ambition and greed.

Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills King Duncan and takes the throne.

This greed in power eventually leads to his downfall and he is overthrown and killed.

And now it's time for our first question.

How is Macbeth described at the start of the play? Is he frightened? Is he brave? Is he angry? Or is he excited? Correct.

Macbeth is described as brave.

In the story, we learn Macbeth and his friend, Banquo, together with a Scottish army have just come back from battle where they have defeated invading troops from Ireland Norway.

Now we can imagine how grizzly and horrible this battle scene would have been.

So we're going to look at now how we can create this battle.

How can we show Macbeth using drama? Well, we're going to imagine this battle scene and we're going to imagine that somebody has pressed pause.

Meaning whey can create freeze frames.

Let's look in more detail how we're going to do this activity.

First, we need to pick our weapons.

Things like swords, bow and arrows and daggers.

Next, we will decide on our freeze frames.

Imagine you are holding your weapons and using them to fight.

Think about this action and then freeze.

I want you to come up with four different freeze frames.

I want us to think about using slow motion to get from one freeze frame to the next, remembering all the while in this activity, the determination and the bravery of Macbeth in defending his beloved Scotland.

I'll demonstrate this activity for you now to give you an idea of what you need to do.

I have also brought you some music to play in the background that'll also create some atmosphere and try to help you get into the mindset of the battle.

So, have a little look and then it will be your turn.

And now it's your turn.

Choose your weapons, choose four freeze frames, move in slow motion between each freeze frame and use facial expression as well as your body to show Macbeth's determination.

Get yourselves ready and when you hear the music you can begin.

Fantastic, well done.

I wonder which weapons made you feel like the brave warrior, Macbeth.

Now it's time for our next activity.

Let's find out some more of the story.

At the beginning of scene three, lightning strikes and the witches appear again.

A drum beat is heard and the witches announce Macbeth is on his way.

As Macbeth and Banquo enter the scene, they are faced with the witches.

Listen and read along to these lines taken from scene three.

What are these so withered and so wild in their attire that look not like the inhabitants of the earth and yet on it? Speak, if you can.

What are you? In this activity, we're going to speak aloud the inner thoughts of Macbeth and Banquo when they first see the witches.

Can we imagine what they're thinking? Well, we can look for clues in what they say.

But we can also think about the situation they find themselves in and what might be running through their minds.

I have listed here some sentence starters that can help you.

Try and use as many as you can.

Finish them off as if you were Macbeth or Banquo.

Try and perform in character, thinking again about how you can show this in your face and your body language.

I will do a short demonstration of this now to give you an idea of what to do.

For the example, I have taken on the role of Banquo.

I wonder what they are.

I wonder what they're doing here.

I feel worried.

I don't think this is going to end well.

And now it's your turn.

Pause the video while you complete this activity.

Then when you're finished, come back and join me.

Well done.

Did you enjoy the activity? Good.

Okay, let's carry on and find out some more of the story.

The witches make three prophecies.

The first is that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, the second is that Macbeth will become King of Scotland, and the third is that Banquo will be father to kings, but never King himself.

Immediately after, the witches vanish into thin air.

And now it's time for a question.

A prophecy recalls an event from the past.

True or false? That's right, it's false as a prophecy predicts what will happen in the future.

So, the witches have told Macbeth that he is going to be king.

I wonder what he is thinking about now.

If we had the opportunity to ask him questions, what would we ask him? In this first part of the activity, we're going to think about what we could ask Macbeth.

We are going to choose three or four questions.

It's really important to try to keep the questions open.

We want to avoid questions where Macbeth could answer just yes or no.

We want to invite him to give us as much information as possible.

So pause the video now, grab your pen and paper, and have a think about what questions you could ask Macbeth.

Now it's time to take on the role of Macbeth in the hot seat answering your questions.

Once you sit in that chair, you are going to become Macbeth and think about his inner thoughts and feelings when you answer your questions.

I'm going to give you an example now to show you how this works and then it will be your turn.

Welcome, Macbeth.

Where had you been before you came across the witches? We had been fighting a war.

Norway and Ireland send troops across the sea, but they were no match for us.

We defended Scotland as we always will.

What did you think when you saw the witches? I didn't know what to think.

There were suddenly there in front of me these creatures.

I have never seen anything like this before in my life.

Now it's your turn to complete this activity, Macbeth in the hot seat.

Answer ur own questions as Macbeth.

Pause the video while you complete this activity, then join me again when you've finished How did you get on? Did you enjoy that activity? I bet you had some fantastic questions and I bet you were also fantastic in the role of Macbeth.

Sadly, that is the end of the lesson now.

However, join me for the next lesson where we'll be introduced to the character of lady Macbeth.

It's a lesson not to be missed.

If you'd like to share your work on Twitter, I would love to see it.

But remember to ask a parent or guardian to help you with this.

For now, it's goodbye.

See you next time.