Cobar High School English teacher, Nick Short, has been announced as one of 30 recipients of the Bell Shakespeare 2020 Regional Teacher Mentorships.
The program provides teachers from regional, rural and remote schools with a fully-funded year-long mentorship with the Bell Shakespeare Company.
Mr Short, who has been teaching for three years, was encouraged by Cobar High English head teacher Dan Inkley to put forward an application.
“He spotted the opportunity and encouraged me to apply.
“Having checked out the opportunities the program offered, I decided to go for it,” Mr Short told The Cobar Weekly.
The teachers will receive specialist training in teaching Shakespeare and collaborate and network with each other.
Mr Short, who has a passion for ‘The Bard’, said Shakespeare really represents the highest point of English literature that many people will be exposed to.
“I find it very rewarding to be the person that gets to deliver that experience to students and hopefully inspire them,” Mr Short said.
Although Shakespeare’s language can be hard for students of today to learn, Mr Short thinks the challenges are the same as they always have been.
“We need to show how Shakespeare is still incredibly relevant because of the ideas he explored and the stories he told, which are the same ideas and stories our students experience everyday,” Mr Short said.
He said the mentorship program will help make Shakespeare more relatable for students.
“A key focus of the program is helping bring Shakespeare fully into the classroom and make it feel alive for the student, especially in regional areas.
“I’m very keen to see what they have to offer and to bring it back to our community,” Mr Short said.
