The Cats of Ulthar (no-prep lesson plan)

Last year, I recorded my reading of one of my favourite Lovecraftian stories, the Cats of Ulthar. Maybe you’ve used it in your classroom, but in case you haven’t, I’ve decided to tie up loose ends and make a simple lesson plan.

Lesson: The Cats of Ulthar
Time: 45 mins
Age: 15+
Level: B2 and above
Areas covered: storytelling, past tenses

Introduction (10 mins)

Start your lesson with talking about stories and animals. Ask about stories with animal protagonists and make a short brainstorm on the most popular animal which appears in stories. You will probably end up with a cat, as you’ll have them in old tales (like Puss in Boots) and their modern counterparts (like Tom & Jerry or the Lion King). Explain that today you will become familiar with a gothic story by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, one of the most important authors of weird fiction (in case your students don’t know this genre, explain what weird fiction is).

Listening/reading (15 mins)

It’s time for the story – you can use my recording:

But you can also use the written story (available here: click!) and read it individually or aloud. Make sure to stop once in a while and ask questions to check your students’ comprehension, as the language will probably be somewhat unusual to them – but hey, that’s the beauty of the story!

When you finish reading or listening, make sure to sum up the story, so that everyone knows what’s happened in Ulthar.

Retell the tale (20 mins)

Divide your class into three groups and tell them they will make their own versions of the story. One group will tell the story from the perspective of the little boy Menes, the second group will tell the story from the perspective of a villager, and the third group will tell the same story from the perspective of a village cat.

Give them 10 minutes to prepare the story and another 10 minutes to retell the story from their new perspective. Whose story is the best? You can ask your students to vote for the best story – their creators should be proud of their storytelling skills!

Homework

The best idea for a storytelling homework is to tell (and/or record) a tale, or write a new story. You can ask your students to write their own story based on The Cats of Ulthar (in more modern language!) or write a short story on their imaginary trip to Ulthar, years after the incident.

I hope you’ll have a lot of fun! Meow!