Download Thou Shalt Create Thine Own Vocabulary Insults now!
What’s great is that this is a silly Shakespeare lesson plan designed to get students to feel more comfortable with Shakespeare’s language, but I have adapted it to also demonstrate to students how they too can coin phrases to make erudite, if vitriolic, points. This lesson really works with most age groups as students can quickly catch on to form and meaning, and use the words they have studied to create their insults.
I will note that I stressed with students that these were insults directed at no one in particular, and they were not to be used in any negative manner towards a peer (it also notes that on the downloadable).
For students who want more of a challenge can use use any vocabulary words-not just the ones that were originally negative-to come up with a great phrase. The results have been awesome, including ““thou art a bovine in visage!” and others.
-Thou corpulent, bovine abomination!
-Thou art crass in thy speech, bovine in thy thoughts, vitriolic in thy stench, and corpulent in thy body.
-Thou cadaverous, vapid devil-monk.
-Thou art nominal in speech, corpulent in stature, and crass in nature. With your megalomaniac ways, thou speakest scathing drivel, thereby debasing you to the level of a bovine.
-For fun-Your mother is so excessively corpulent, she sits next to everyone in the theatre.
In the end, my students had a great time crafting their phrases, and many students were quite proud of their end results-especially students who do not always find vocabulary rewarding.
I would love to hear some of your students’ best examples or how you might have modified this lesson-made them positive phrases rather than insults. Go forth and create (insults)!
BONUS SHAKESPEARE LESSON PLAN:
Language Standard 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts.
Language Standard 4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown words
Language Standard 5. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meaning.
Language Standard 6. Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge
Reading Literature/Informational Text Standard 4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text
Reading Literature/Informational Text Standard 10. Read and comprehend complex literary texts