Ayumi's Romeo & Juliet

Jessica's Romeo & Juliet

Romeo and Juliet Plot Chart

Plot Structure of Romeo and Juliet

"No fear Shakespeare":

Below on the right side is a "translation" into modern English of the first scene of Act V of Romeo and Juliet. In this scene, Romeo has been thrown out of his home city.  He killed another boy in a street fight, and if he returns, the government will punish him with death.  But he just married beautiful Juliet. They cannot be together. He learns here from the servant, Balthasar, that Juliet has died.

The Original Text on the left is from the online Sparknotes site: Sparknotes R & J.  Compare these two.  This is the section of the play which is in your brown Exploring Literature textbook, pages 442 - 461.  You are responsible for knowing this section for test and final exam.

Act 5, Scene 1

	Original Text	Modern Text
	Enter ROMEO	ROMEO enters.
5 10	ROMEO If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep, My dreams presage some joyful news at hand. My bosom’s lord sits lightly in his throne, And all this day an unaccustomed spirit Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. I dreamt my lady came and found me dead— Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think— And breathed such life with kisses in my lips That I revived and was an emperor. Ah me! How sweet is love itself possessed When but love’s shadows are so rich in joy!	ROMEO If I can trust my dreams, then some joyful news is coming soon. Love rules my heart, and all day long a strange feeling has been making me cheerful. I had a dream that my lady came and found me dead. It’s a strange dream that lets a dead man think! She came and brought me back to life by kissing my lips. I rose from the dead and was an emperor. Oh my! How sweet it would be to actually have the woman I love, when merely thinking about love makes me so happy.
	Enter ROMEO’s man BALTHASAR	ROMEO’s servant BALTHASAR enters.
15	News from Verona!—How now, Balthasar? Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar? How doth my lady? Is my father well? How fares my Juliet? That I ask again, For nothing can be ill if she be well.	Do you have news from Verona!—What is it, Balthasar? Do you bring me a letter from the friar? How is my wife? Is my father well? How is my Juliet? I ask that again because nothing can be wrong if she is well.
20	BALTHASAR Then she is well, and nothing can be ill. Her body sleeps in Capels' monument, And her immortal part with angels lives. I saw her laid low in her kindred’s vault And presently took post to tell it you. O, pardon me for bringing these ill news, Since you did leave it for my office, sir.	BALTHASAR Then she is well, and nothing is wrong. Her body sleeps in the Capulet tomb, and her immortal soul lives with the angels in heaven. I saw her buried in her family’s tomb, and then I came here to tell you the news. Oh, pardon me for bringing this bad news, but you told me it was my job, sir.

Some websites for story reading and writing

1. Resources

http://www.merlynspen.org/ (a site with stories written by students)
www.rong-chang.com/qa2/ (contains 100 free one-page English stories for ESL learners)
http://www.short-funny-stories.com/ (for one interested in humorous stories)
http://www.short-stories.co.uk/ (a wide range of stories of different types and lengths)
http://www.shortstoryradio.com/ (a site where one can listen to short stories)
www.storiesmania.net/community/ (contains a wide range of stories and offers good examples of readers’ comments and responses to stories)
www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heroMachine/classic.asp (a site where students can make their own comic strips)
www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/ (a site where students can make their super hero)
www.squidoo.com/famousdiaryandjournalwriters (contains information on real and fictionaljournal writers)www.baddteddy.com/stories/index.htm (contains stories involving heroes or feats of heroism)
http://www.inspirationalstories.com/ (a good collection of inspirational and motivational stories)
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/
www.eurekalert.org/kidsnews
http://www.sciencenews.org/ (for science news targeting younger people)

2. Classic short stories:

www.bnl.com/shorts/
www.literaturepage.com/category/stories.html
www.readbookonline.net/
www.storynory.com/category/fairy-tales/ (a large collection of classic fairy tales)www.faerymists.tripod.com/fytales/chinese.htm (a selection of Chinese fairy tales)

Story-telling: Narrative Writing

(from: Reading, Writing and Rhetoric for the 21st Century, New Perspective Graduate Series. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2007)


Narration means telling of an incident or a series of incidents. It can be purely imaginative, such as short stories or novels, or on the other hand, it can be a record of actual facts, such as, histories, biographies, or news stories. The scope of narration can range from a relatively insignificant incident such as “I saw a horror movie on TV last night” to a great and philosophically illuminating novel such as Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.

Man is born with a need for narrative; cavemen gathered round small fires and exchanged tales of magic and hunting. Modern men are no different; we all know how soap operas and best sellers form an important part of our lives. Besides entertainment, narration is important both in the classroom and in the workplace. You may be required to narrate the causes of food shortage in history class, or you may be asked to tell why China has emerged as one of the world's leading powers in just fifteen years. And in chemistry class, you record steps of an experiment. At work, a police officer may record events leading to an arrest, a nurse may report on a patient’s changing attitudes toward surgery, and a department manager may prepare a report of his subordinates; all this involves narrative writing.

Let us first look at the main features of narrative writing, and then we shall go on to the examination of a model essay illustrating the main characteristics of narrative writing.


⑴ Organization
A narrative essay is like a story; it has a beginning, a middle and an end. It should be complete. Most narrative essays emphasize the middle of the story.


The rest of this chapter on story-writing can be read at Google Documents by clicking here: Narrative Writing

New Zealand Adventure

Image via WikipediaListen and Learn about New Zealand


Todd: So, Monica, you are from New Zealand.
Monica: Yes, that's right.
Todd: So, for people going to New Zealand, what would you recommend? What are three or four places that you must see in New Zealand?
Monica: Oh, OK, three or four places you must see. Well, it depends what you're looking for really. I think a lot of people that come to New Zealand enjoy an outdoor lifestyle, so there's lots of outdoor activities and places you can go to to enjoy in New Zealand. Personally, I find theSouth Island of New Zealand very scenic in comparison to the North Island, so for me, a must-do is the West Coast of the South Island. It's very pretty.
Todd: The West Coast.
Monica: Yeah. In particular, there's two glaciers. Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers, which are very stunning to look at, and you can either have a look at them by foot, or you can pay for a helicopter ride that takes you up and shows you an ariel view of them.
Todd: Now, do people ever walk across the glaciers?
Monica: There are guides that can walk you across. Yeah, I haven't done it personally, but it is possible.
Todd: So what else would you recommend for New Zealand? What other places should people see?
Monica: I think if you want to see ... let me think ... rural New Zealand. It's quite a nice idea to drive the length of the country and then you can see the interesting farming that is taking place, in particular in the South Island. The lower part of the South Island, and a lot of the North Island as well. There's a lot of sheep in New Zealand and there's a lot of cattle as well, so I think it's interesting to go for a drive to see that firsthand.
Todd: So, you just start up in Auckland in the north and drive all the way down south?

Monica: Yeah, well, there's many ways you can do it, but I recommend one way of doing it is too arrive in Auckland and to have an experience of a big city, well a big city for New Zealand, and then drive down the center of the North Island and maybe have a farming experience somewhere. There's a lot of farm stay opportunities available for tourists who come to New Zealand, so depending on how you do it. You might want to stay two or three days with a family and experience a farming lifestyle. So that's, yeah, one thing I'd recommend. And another is to maybe go to a city like Rotorua which is really in the center of the North Island, and experience Maori culture.

Mythology Video

elllo | English Listening Online

elllo English Listening Library Online <-- excellent listening materials on a wide variety of topics

Hero Machine - UGO.com

Create your own comic strip hero at this website:

or, make a Super Hero here at this other site