Title:
For Young Offenders, a Sentence of Shakespeare's
Sentences
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
In the American state of Massachusetts, some
teenagers who break the law are sentenced ... to
Shakespeare. Twelve young actors rehearse the
opening of "Henry the Fifth." They started meeting
in May. They have less than two weeks to go before
they must perform the play for the Shakespeare in
the Courts program. Like most of the others,
fifteen-year-old Tim was not a fan of William
Shakespeare. He is here for a violent crime --
assault and battery. He says: "The judge sentenced
me here, so my first thoughts were, 'Shakespeare is
not my thing. I'd rather not.' It's a lot easier
than picking up trash, so I gave it a try." And he
discovered there is a lot to like about the English
writer who died in sixteen sixteen. The young actors
return the trust and respect that director Kevin
Coleman shows them. They clearly enjoy working with
him -- and with Shakespeare. Mr. Coleman says: "If
you present it to them in a way that engages their
imagination, that engages their playfulness, that
engages their willingness, they really come alive."
Kevin Coleman is education director for Shakespeare
and Company, a theater group in Lenox,
Massachusetts. Many years ago, the principal of the
local high school came to him to develop a theater
program for the school. That principal, Paul Perachi,
later became a juvenile court judge for Berkshire
County. He wanted to copy the program, to help the
teens in court develop self-esteem and communication
skills and better control their anger. More than two
hundred kids have been sentenced to Shakespeare. The
program is ten years old. And it has received a lot
of recognition, including an award in two thousand
six from the White House. Paul Perachi left the
court last year at seventy, the age when judges in
Massachusetts must retire. But Shakespeare in the
Courts is still going strong under the direction of
Kevin Coleman.He says: "We're not there to fix them.
It's not about fixing them. Will they get into
trouble after they have done this program? Sure,
because they are adolescents. Will they get into as
much trouble? No." Fifteen-year-old Tim already sees
a change in himself. He says he has more patience to
get through long scenes. Paul Perachi says all the
hard work is clear in the final performance. And
that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You
can watch a video of this report at
voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
