Students participate in debates, prepare role plays, and conduct interviews. They complete creative art projects. They draft a variety of writing assignments, including formal essays. They prepare a bibliography. Students conduct research to extend and enhance their study of the play. They review the pre-Raphaelite movement in English literature. They compare Victorian and contemporary language and comedy. They learn to critically evaluate plot.

Supplementary materials include a variety of tests with answer keys.

Literary Form

• British Drama

21st-Century Skills

• Collaboration
• Critical thinking
• Social and cross-cultural skills

Overview

The Importance of Being Earnest is a three-act comedy written in 1894, which reveals the author’s superior command of language, wit, and mocking of Victorian pretensions and unforgettable epigrams. It presents a plot of four lovers, sometimes partners, sometimes rivals, in witty dialogue. The play allows students to see the art of play writing merged with social criticism, to produce a comedy in which readers are lured to look at themselves.

Includes 12 lesson plans and 21 handouts.

Grades 9–12. High school. Reproducible. 73 pages.  ­

Book Download: PDF. Adobe® Reader® required to view PDF.

Print Book: Spiral-bound. 8 x 11 inches.