Transition Students Tackle ‘Hamlet’

In a series of performances meant to showcase their talents and English proficiency, a class of 28 fifth-graders at Gridley Street elementary school presented their version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” Wednesday.

The 10- and 11-year-olds are what the Los Angeles Unified School District call transition students, said Joe Martinez, the students’ teacher and drama coach.

“Their whole year is dedicated to going from mostly Spanish-speaking to all-English classrooms when they go to middle school,” Martinez said. That’s what makes Shakespeare’s sometimes tongue-twisting dialogue such a good demonstration of their accomplishment.

“Shakespeare is kind of a symbol of the ultimate in English,” Martinez said. “My goal is to give them the top, so that the rest is gravy.”

Now in its sixth year, the elementary school’s mini-Shakespeare festival gives students an opportunity to show their teachers, parents and fellow students what they have learned.

The first performance of the morning thrilled the audience of about 150 students with its sword fights, ghosts and costumes.

“It was a lot of fun to do,” said Ismael Martinez, who dressed all in black and played Hamlet. “It also taught me some words I didn’t know.”

Other students looked at the whole drama class as means to a new career.

“I learned I want to act,” said Gil Ruic, who played a jester dressed in a blue wig and a baggy yellow and blue clown suit complete with oversized shoes. “I want to make the people laugh.”

The annual Shakespeare performances have become an integral part of the fifth-grade curriculum, Martinez said.

“Their motivation to read, write and speak English comes from performing in front of the whole school,” Martinez said. “At the beginning of the year the highest any of the kids read at is the third-grade level. By the end of the year they are doing ‘Hamlet.’ ”