Helbling Shakespeare Series

The playwright Ben Jonson said of Shakespeare: ‘He was not of an age, but for all time’. Up-to-date themes such as love, revenge, ambition and racism, exposure to key literary techniques such as descriptive language and persuasive devices, as well as the beauty of Shakespeare’s language, and the emotional and intellectual satisfaction of bringing meaning to his words, all make Shakespeare an essential for learners of English.

A knowledge of Shakespeare can be a powerful instrument to help students develop their language awareness and fluency, vocabulary knowledge, understanding of figurative language and imagery, and critical thinking capabilities.
Learners from all over the world, not just in English-speaking countries, have much to gain from studying Shakespeare. This series is an important step towards making his works more accessible to students in countries where English is not the main spoken language.

Each play is presented through several key scenes in Shakespeare’s original language with a special focus on performance. Presentation of drama techniques guide students in making choices about staging the scenes and gives them the chance to actively experience the play as a performance.

Linguists, studying and researching Shakespeare’s language over time, have found that most grammar structures and vocabulary present in his plays and poems are part of the language that we use today. Their evidence demonstrates that learning Shakespeare is also learning English.
Helbling Shakespeare Readers present key scenes in Shakespeare’s original language alongside modern English parallel translations, making the texts accessible to learners in an attractive and approachable way.

• As You Like It
• The Tempest