Signing Shakespeare
Opening the world of Shakespeare to every learner
Every young person wants to feel like they belong in the classroom, and that they have the tools they need to thrive. But when Shakespeare, the most challenging and linguistically dense part of GCSE English, is taught without adapted support, deaf and hard of hearing learners can feel left behind before the lesson has even begun.
Signing Shakespeare is our commitment to changing that.
This pioneering suite of resources, developed in partnership with the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute, are designed to support deaf and hard of hearing learners to access Shakespeare, while also offering an engaging multimodal experience that benefits all learners.
What is Signing Shakespeare?
Signing Shakespeare brings Shakespeare’s most studied plays to life through a blend of British Sign Language (BSL), Sign Supported English (SSE) and Visual Shakespeare (VS).
Created with the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute, these resources are designed to remove barriers, widen access and help all learners feel represented in one of the most important cultural texts they’ll study at school.
What's included?
Available to all UK secondary schools for Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, the free resources include:
Sign Language video interpretations of key scenes
Young deaf actors bring key moments from the plays to life through British Sign Language (BSL) films, Sign Supported English (SSE) versions and Visual Shakespeare (VS) videos. The films align directly with the activities in each workpack and can be accessed through curated YouTube playlists.
Workpacks for Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet
Each play is supported by a comprehensive GCSE level workpack designed to guide teachers through the full sequence of lessons. The workpacks include schemes of work, drama-based activities, literary analysis tasks and accessible pathways into key themes and characters.
They also provide integrated guidance for supporting deaf and hard of hearing students, as well as wider SEND and EAL learners.
Front-of-class presentations and printable handouts
Each section of the workpacks includes a downloadable front-of-class presentations with key images, character signname films, visual cues for language and narrative, and slides covering literary terms, maps, timelines and themes. The presentations are designed for on screen use to make lessons fully multimodal and accessible.
To help you deliver lessons with confidence and save preparation time, every workpack also contains ready to print handouts, including text extracts, task sheets, writing scaffolds, character charts, theme grids, visual organisers and exercise specific resources.
Braidwood School in the spotlight
We spoke to teachers and students at Braidwood School about their experience using Signing Shakespeare in their classroom. We were joined by BSL advocate and TV Personality, Jodie Ounsley, who witnessed first-hand the positive impact that the resources had on the students' engagement with Shakespeare.
“Signing Shakespeare has what it takes to transform the way students connect to Shakespeare and English. This is such a fantastic resource for young people – I just wish this had existed when I was at school!”
- Jodie Ounsley, aka Fury from the BBC hit Gladiators, and BSL advocate
Why Signing Shakespeare matters
For too long, many deaf and hard of hearing students have been excluded from the joy, richness and power of Shakespeare, not because they lack ability, but because the tools and resources to support them simply haven’t existed.
With more than 50,000 deaf and over 300,000 hard of hearing children in the UK today, that gap in access has real consequences. Research shows that deaf learners achieve, on average, a full grade lower at GCSE compared to their hearing peers.
Shakespeare should never be a barrier to progress. Whether you’re a SEND teacher, an English teacher, a head of department or a specialist in a deaf school, these resources are designed to give you the tools you need to inspire every learner in front of you.
Talk to us
If you’d like to speak to a member of the team about how our qualifications and resources can support in making English accessible and engaging for everyone, fill in this form and a member of the team will be in touch.
Let’s work together to create a classroom where every student feels included, inspired, and empowered to achieve their best.