Students in Mrs. Hockley’s grade 10 English class are allowed to pull out their cell phones and text away as they complete a recent assignment for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

If Romeo and Juliet’s love story unfolded in Verona today, chances are that the young maiden would not hail her lover with a cry from the balcony but with a text message sent from her smart phone.

The students’ task was to recreate one of the famous scenes from the play as it would be communicated through text messaging while maintaining Shakespeare’s meaning, plot developments, and characters’ personalities.

Translating the Bard’s language into a text messaging format proved to be an assignment which not only engaged the students’ interest, but also demonstrated their understanding of the play.