Animal Farm GCSE – Must-have resources for teachers
This curated collection of effective and engaging Animal Farm resources will help you teach this cautionary novel…
- by Teachwire
- Classroom expertise and free resources for teachers
If you’re looking for Animal Farm GCSE teaching resources, you’re in the right place. Like a trusty sheep dog, we’ve rounded up the best lesson plans and worksheets for you to use in the classroom…
Table of contents
Animal Farm GCSE resources
Chapter 1 lesson plan
Use this free, detailed PowerPoint to introduce students to chapter 1 of Animal Farm. You’ll analyse all the major characters introduced in chapter 1 and look for clues about context and deeper symbolic meaning.
Generate powerful discussions
This lesson plan from English teacher Dan Silverstone explains how to use small groups to generate deep conversations about the novel. The aim is to get students to develop their analysis of the text and practise building strong arguments in order to justify their answers.
Satire and symbols
This free satire and symbols PDF includes activities on how Orwell uses language and style in Animal Farm. This includes rhetoric, irony, symbols, rhymes and using political speeches to convince the masses that what the party wants is in their best interest.
Propaganda techniques
This is a list of propaganda techniques found in Animal Farm and there are also two tasks for students to tackle.
Orwell’s proposed preface
‘The Freedom of the Press’ is George Orwell’s proposed preface to Animal Farm. In it, Orwell discusses the difficulties he faced in getting the book published due to its criticism of the Soviet Union.
He highlights the self-censorship prevalent among British publishers and intellectuals who feared public opinion more than government censorship.
Orwell emphasises the importance of intellectual freedom and the right to criticise all political regimes, including the Soviet Union, which was then an ally of Britain. He argues that genuine freedom of speech means allowing even unpopular opinions to be heard.
Use this resource to provide historical context on censorship and publication challenges. You can also use it as the basis for literary analysis and critical discussions on press freedom and its contemporary relevance.
Animal Farm summary
If you’re looking for a succinct summary of the plot and individual chapters within Animal Farm, take a look at this Rapid Revision resource from York Notes. It sets out five key things about each chapter, explains what happens, and provides key quotes and exam questions.
All about George Orwell
For some background about George Orwell (which, of course, also puts the novel into context), watch this video which does a great job in just under 14 minutes.
And in this video, Orwell’s biographer and his son unpack the amazing story behind the book – from its initial rejection onwards.
Animal Farm characters
This video will do nicely to provide a quick overview of the novel’s characters. It explains the characteristics of the following characters and talks about who their their real-life counterparts are:
- Napolean (Joseph Stalin)
- Snowball (Leon Trotsky)
- Mr Jones (Tsar Nicholas II)
- Squealer (Joseph Goebbels)
- Boxer (Proletariat)
- Old Major (Karl Marx/Vladimir Lenin)
- Benjamin (Educated people)
Animal Farm quotes
This free revision worksheet pack asks students to colour-code a range of key character and theme quotes. They then have to pick their top three quotes and create a paragraph plan for the given exam questions.
Animal Farm questions
- Sample Edexcel exam question on BBC Bitesize
- Edexcel exemplar answers
- OCR example answers
Strategies for teaching Animal Farm
Karen Hart outlines some strategies for engaging students with the themes and observations of George Orwell’s evergreen totalitarian satire…
Animal Farm is a great book to study. It provides a wide range of themes for inspiring both class discussions and written work.
Getting started
I’ve found that exploring some background on Orwell’s life and ideology with students is a good idea before starting the book. Next, proceed to reading a chapter or two at a time, working on separate themes as they present themselves.
The book begins by introducing us to the story’s main characters, so talk about these. Can students predict any possible conflicts between Old Major’s plan for a life free of human tyranny and what we’re told of the other characters we meet?
How would Molly, for example, with her fancy ribbons and portrayal as a dainty, pretty creature, find this new way of life?
Perhaps her life will be more difficult going forward, since her present role of pulling the farmer’s trap doesn’t seem too demanding?
Discuss the meaning and implications of the slogan ‘Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.’
Can the pupils see how Orwell’s personal beliefs are already evident here, especially when Old Major talks about the way animals blindly do as they’re told, when in reality they could run the whole farm? That it’s humans who need animals, rather than the other way round?
Do pupils see how Orwell is really talking here about how the rich use the poor in the same way?
Writing activity – Creating characters
Ask students to re-write the first chapter of Animal Farm using their own cast of animals. Instruct them to start from, “Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions.”
Then go on to describe a group of farmyard animals arriving and making themselves comfy while they wait for Old Major.
The chapter can end with all the animals assembled in the barn waiting for the speech to begin.
A rules-based order
With the animals’ commandments written on the board, ask the pupils if they think these represent a good choice of rules. Can pupils think of any changes, or additional commandments that could benefit the animals within this new way of living?
The last commandment states that ‘All animals are equal’. Maybe there should be an additional commandment such as – ‘All animals have equal say on the running of the farm’? What do students think?
Writing activity – Changing the commandments
Have the students copy the seven commandments into their workbooks, and underneath each, write at least two carefully thought-out additions or changes they would make to benefit the farm animals as a whole.
Tell the students to think how food will be distributed, the way work will be designated, the chain of command and so on. Ask volunteers to read their amendments to the class.
Discussion activity – Thinking about manipulation
Re-read the ending of Chapter 3 – from ‘The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up…’ to the chapter’s end.
Explain how, from this point on, we start to gain a clear perspective on the way things are progressing within the hierarchy of the farm.
When Squealer gave the other animals his explanation for why the milk and apples were given to the pigs, he said it was required to keep the pigs healthy, because they contained certain substances necessary for the pigs’ wellbeing, as proven by science.
Do students think this is true? Why would he say this? What does this show us about the way the pigs think about themselves, compared to the rest of the animals?
Writing activity – ‘The Idea Thief’
In Chapter 5, we see the disagreements between Snowball and Napoleon come to a head, resulting in Snowball being forced out of the farm.
Thinking about the way Napoleon goes on to take credit for Snowball’s clever plans for the windmill, ask the students to write a short story on the same theme, titled ‘The Idea Thief’.
Begin by discussing some story ideas as a class, with pupils sharing their ideas for potential scenarios – such as, for example, a cook who invents a recipe for delicious donuts, only to have the recipe stolen by a rival who then passes the recipe off as their own. Ask volunteers to read their stories to the class.
Dramatising deceit
The character of Squealer is interesting to examine in more detail, as he uses clever tactics such as fear, lies and what we would now term as gaslighting to manipulate and motivate the rest of the animals.
Students might like to try acting out a scene from the book that shows Squealer’s use of propaganda techniques on the other animals.
We could, for instance, look to the scene when the animals discover that the pigs are sleeping in human beds. Working in groups of four, students can play the parts of Boxer (misguided but loyal), Muriel the goat (one of the oldest, wisest animals on the farm), Clover (a kind and motherly figure who questions the pigs’ rules) and Squealer.
Creative task – Create a propaganda poster
Extend the students’ study of the book into their art activities by tasking them with designing their own A3 propaganda poster, in the style of those produced circa WWII.
There are some great examples to be found online that you could use for inspiration.
Students can choose any of the slogans from the book – for example, the classic ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ – though remind them that it’s often the simplest designs that are the most powerful, and that they should aim to convey the book’s overall tone and message in their work.
Discussion activity – Equality and exploitation
As the book’s narrative unfolds, we see how the animals’ original seven commandments are constantly rewritten until they’re eventually replaced altogether by one simple maxim: ‘All Animals Are Equal, But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others’.
This ironic phrase exposes how the pigs have manipulated language to justify inequality and oppression. Squealer is shown as being particularly adept at using language to manipulate the other animals; can the students think of any specific examples where Squealer is shown as being manipulative in what he says or does?
- George Orwell gave Animal Farm the subheading ‘A Fairy Story’. Talk about how this is a clever use of irony.
- Discuss the vocabulary associated with the book – e.g. ‘hierarchy’, ‘manipulation’, ‘satire’, ‘comrade’, ‘propaganda’, ‘allegory’ and ‘corruption’. Ask pupils to research and write a definition for each word.
- Talk about how Moses the raven tells the animals about Sugarcandy Mountain. What do the students feel this represents? And why does Napoleon allow Moses to stay on the farm?
- As life on the farm becomes more difficult, Napoleon organises ‘Spontaneous demonstrations’. Ask students why they believe these were introduced.
- Talk about how the animals in the book could be turned into human characters. These could include having Squealer be a politician, seeing Boxer as a poor, exploited worker barely making ends meet, or portraying Mollie as a modern-day influencer.
Karen Hart is a teacher, author and freelance writer. Browse resources for Banned Books Week and more revision resources for GCSE English Literature.
