As of: February 15, 2024, 4:16 p.m
By: Carmen Ick-Dietl
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Why is Shakespeare Square here?
The students of the Max Josef Foundation – here at the Julia statue – have found answers that can be accessed via QR code.
© Jens Hartmann
Why is Shakespeareplatz actually called Shakespeareplatz?
Bogenhausen high school students have developed digital offerings about the writer and the place in their neighborhood.
William Shakespeare is one of the most important writers in world literature - but not necessarily the most exciting topic on the English class curriculum.
There is another way, thought teachers Nadine Lux and Michael Weinberger from the Bogenhauser Max Josef Foundation and encouraged their students to take a more practical look at Shakespeare.
They immediately used their work and want to improve the nearby Shakespeareplatz.
Students have creative ideas
“At first we didn’t find Shakespeare that interesting, but over the course of the project it became really fun,” report Lina Büchner and Nika Barancic.
“It was a change because it wasn’t so theoretical.” The girls’ ideas were extremely creative.
This resulted in an interview with a Shakespeare expert, a podcast, and a Romeo and Juliet comic.
Everything is bilingual in German and English.
The results will be published on a website shortly.
The seventh graders also discovered that there is a Shakespeare Square just around the corner from their high school, where there is a statue of Juliet from the Shakespeare tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” - an identical copy of the Juliet figure at the Old Town Hall in the city center.
“But many people here don’t know who Shakespeare was and why this park exists,” the girls report.
That's why they created a flyer for the park where the famous court actor and court councilor Richard Stury, who was celebrated for his Shakespeare roles, among other things, once lived in his artist's villa.
Information about the park should be available via QR code
Fittingly, a theater mask looks down directly onto the bronze Juliet from the south gable of the now listed building.
Information about the park will soon be available to the public via QR codes on small metal plaques.
The Bogenhausen district committee has already given its approval for this.
“The Shakespeare project is part of the 'Learning through Commitment' program,” explains the principal of the girls' high school, Kristina Kalb-Heubisch.
It's about connecting the lessons with the environment and combining them with an authentic, practical result.
More is conveyed than just the life and work of the writer.
The students had to deal with how to create a website or a podcast, how to create their own images with an AI or a comic with drawing software, what to consider when it comes to copyright or permissions, and how to deal with experts, politicians or the press.
Teachers are proud of the result
“In addition to the material, you have acquired technical, digital and other skills,” says Kalb-Heubisch.
The teachers, who are now proud of the result and their students, emphasize that they worked very independently and excellently as a team.
In the end, what was the most interesting thing about Shakespeare for the girls?
“That he never studied and could do everything just like that.”