Waiting for Godot Lesson Plan

Godot and the "Theatre of the Absurd"

Kind of Activity:

Group Discussion

Objective:

To discuss the first act of Waiting for Godot through the lens of a well-known secondary source

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1

Structure:

Students should come to class having read the Introduction (p. 19-29 in the Knopf Doubleday edition, available for free as a Google eBook) of Martin Esslin's book The Theatre of the Absurd (see "Additional Homework" section). They should then be divided into small groups (3-5, depending on class size) to discuss the following questions:

1. Esslin offers this...