In high school, I noticed that many Chinese immigrants struggle to adapt to the English-speaking environment. What they struggled significantly with is grasping the Shakespearean texts they were taught in high school. This is what inspired me to begin this independent project of sharing Shakespeare to my community. Chinese-Canadian immigrants need a guide, someone with the experience of ELA and Shakespeare courses, to aid with their successful transition into high school ELA courses. During the winter of last year, Bingxuan and I personally developed a two-day ELA course at the Central Library. I taught Chinese immigrants tips on public speaking, reading comprehension strategies, and tips on reading Shakespeare. Many students gave positive praises after taking the course. They wanted me to teach them more, specifically on Shakespeare. The funny thing is, initially, I thought none of the immigrants found my course useful. None of them were actively answering my questions — and I was internally desperate for them to respond, yet they just sat in their seats, staring at me blankly. Later, one of the students timidly told me that I was speaking too fast in English. I experienced a rare moment of epiphany. No wonder none of them were responding. Teaching is really a double-sided learning process for both the students and I. And because they wanted to learn more, I gladly continued to serve their needs.
Early this year, I collaborated with two other LinkCC members — Qinkai and Bingxuan — and taught a two-day spring course to guide Chinese immigrants through the process of analyzing Shakespeare, specifically Macbeth. We explored the methods of tackling such a heavy Shakespearean text. We guided the Chinese immigrants through the process of not only understanding Shakespeare, but also finding wonder and awe in his works. I felt like I was opening a door for them, mentoring them through the process of grasping Macbeth. In our presentations, we weren’t just simply exploring the different themes of Macbeth. We were peeling back the layers and layers behind each act and scene. Though someone can argue that we didn’t analyze deep enough (I noticed that in literature, there isn’t really a limit to how much you can analyze from a text, because every well written text just has too much substance to it), there was something that we did that was a success. We ignited a spark of curiosity within these Chinese immigrants. A few of the immigrants even stayed behind and praised our remarkable analysis of Shakespeare. Ultimately, this spring camp was just as successful as the winter camp. However, after the course was over, after I returned to school, I noticed that there are still students who find Shakespeare daunting. It was fear that held them back from becoming passionate in Shakespeare. So together, with Bingxuan, we decided to embark on another ambitious journey.
We’ve decided present the beauty of Shakespeare by blending his texts with works from different genres to create unique, double-genre videos — videos that we translate into Mandarin and post to numerous different platforms online. This idea stemmed from an ELA IB class assignment, where my group and I reimagined a scene from Macbeth by merging it with elements from another genre/movie. When we watched every group’s screenplay, I was completely fascinated by each screenplay, how they seamlessly integrated two completely distinct genres into one, and how this inter-genre work allowed me to appreciate Shakespeare’s brilliance through a different lens of curiosity and marvel. And so, I’m ambitiously creating more of these inter-genre videos to inspire a broader audience with the wonders of Shakespeare. Find Shakespeare boring? What about a fantasy version of Macbeth’s Act III Scene IV? Through this creative approach of combining different genres with Shakespeare, I hope to rip away the fear that students associate with Shakespeare, and replace it with curiosity. I hope to make Shakespeare's works more compelling and fascinating for those who find them challenging to understand.