'Macbeth': differentiated resources on the apparitions scene, Act 4, Scene 1;designed for EAL pupils

This resource is designed to help pupils explore the rather complex apparition scene. It works well for an EAL Year 8 class but could be tweaked for Year 7 also.

I suggest re-reading Act 4, Scene 1 from Macbeth’s entrance on line 47, together as a class.

Then divide the class into groups of four so that students work on the symbolism of the four different apparitions, each being given individual question prompts attached. The worksheets are designed to encourage students to answer on the significance of their assigned apparition to Macbeth; comment on the language used and discuss how it would work when staged.

You could then run a jigsaw activity whereby a nominated member of each group moves around the class to “teach” the other groups about the results of their symbolism enquiry, whilst others make notes on their findings.