Shakespeare's great and all that, but it's much better to read his plays in your own time and speed rather then having to analyse just what Romeo and Juliet were going on about and what their relationship together meant in the whole scheme of things.
I was going to say something along these lines, myself. I liked Shakespeare, myself, long before it was ever brought up in school. But the lessons in Shakespeare were... not the most inspiring.
Technically accurate, looking at the meter of the prose, identifying dramatic themes, having us memorise various speeches ("Friends, Romans, Countrymen...!"[1], "He jests at scars, that never felt a wound; But soft...!", etc)... All very useful if we were to go on to the classical stage, but in any given theatre the audience tends to (ought to!) outnumber the players by dozens (or even hundreds!) to one... And the lessons... ahem...
lessened the tendency for us to to ever want to see any Shakespearean play. (Never stopped me, of course. But I've still never recited lines of Shakespeare for pay[2], and I somewhat doubt anyone else in that class got anywhere close, either.)
I'm not saying it wasn't useful to learn some things about the meaning of the plays, but (in a play totally uncovered by either the English or specifically English Literature classes I took, fortunately!), I'd already worked out what "A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!" meant when I was far younger... Watch the plays and if they're done well enough to draw you in you'll surely get the context. (OTOH, being forced to take parts, whilst sitting at cramped desks, and reading the plays out sight-unseen was soul-destroyingly tedious and pretty much had no value at all.)
How would I have taught Shakespeare? I don't know. But not like that. Perhaps go to see some productions. I've seen some
particularly good versions of The Tempest[3] and Hamlet[3] in the last few years... Big budget productions, in many ways, but I've also seen Richard III performed in the courtyard of an old-style inn with just as much reason to pay rapt attention despite there being barely any scenery on the rickety old stage, and the players being pretty much amateur in status.
(Oh, and I've never read TGG, but have heard a couple of audio dramas of same. Not being a 'Merkin was probably one of the reasons it never got
ruined taught in school.
)
[1] So very well remembered that very recently I was tempted to reword that to "Friends, Miners, Yorkshiremen, I come to bury Thatcher, not to praise her...", except that my intent would have been the opposite of the original, and "...the noble Blunkett has told you she was vicious, and Blunkett is an honourable man" wouldn't have deserved the implicit <nod nod, wink wink> of the original.
[2] OTOH, I've been an
extra in a Shakespearean film. Non-talking part, for a flat fee. The film did quite well, actually, but as I've not even manage to identify myself, on-screen, so anonymous was I among the crowds, so it's never been a verifiable bragging right at all, amongst those who know me by sight.
[3] Hmmm... Just occurred to me that as the former starred Derek Jacobi and the latter had John Simm in the title roll, it's a pity I can't add anything featuring Roger Delgado to that list... (Not that everyone reading this will understand
why, without looking them up to try to find the link...
)