Tips for Teaching Animal Farm to High School English Students

Teaching Animal Farm by George Orwell provides an excellent opportunity to discuss themes like power, corruption, propaganda, and societal dynamics. With American politics growing more contentious by the day, its also a timely opportunity to discuss power and corruption in American leadership. Whether you’re teaching it in a general English class or as part of an ELA elective, here are some practical tips to make the novella engaging and meaningful for your high school students.

It’s important to know the context of how I teach Animal Farm. The text is in our sophomore ELA course and I teach it to both honors and on-level students.

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Getting Started

Before we dive into Orwell’s text, I need my students to be ready for the rich allegories we’re going to study. Therefore, we spend some time exploring the historical and literary contexts that shaped his writing.

• Orwell’s Life: Begin with George Orwell’s fascinating background, particularly his experiences in journalism, his idealization of communism, and his ultimate criticism of totalitarian regimes. Connect these experiences to his satirical approach in Animal Farm.
• Teach Historical Context: Discuss the Russian Revolution and its key figures. You could begin by using a chart or timeline to compare characters in the novella to their real-life counterparts (e.g., Napoleon and Stalin, Snowball and Trotsky). I prefer to let students make the allegorical connections as we read, so I only teach the historical content before the novel.
• Political Allegory: Introduce the concept of allegory and satire. The conceptual and character allegories are crucial to understanding the meaning behind Animal Farm, so be prepared to teach these early and often. I hand out bookmarks to help students keep track of these as they go.
• Review Rhetorical Appeals: To help students understand how the pigs manipulate the animals, I remind students to look for evidence of ethos, pathos, and logos in the writing. Squealer especially uses fear to motivate the animals, as well as outright lying!

Themes to Discuss

There are many rich themes in Animal Farm. Here are some that resonate particularly well with students:

• Power and Corruption: Discuss how power corrupts the characters in the story, particularly Napoleon. Ask students to explore real-world examples where leaders abused their power, tying the discussion to Orwell’s commentary.
• Propaganda and Manipulation: Analyze Squealer’s role as the propagandist. Compare his speeches to real-world examples of political propaganda and discuss the power of language to control narratives.
• Revolutions and Cycles of Oppression: Highlight the cyclical nature of oppression in Animal Farm—from Jones to Napoleon. This is most easily done by constantly relating Animal Farm to history through the allusions. Ask students to reflect on whether true equality can ever be achieved in society.
• Equality and Exploitation: Explore the theme of inequality through the shifting  motto  of the pigs. What starts as “all animals are equal” morphs into “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” This exploitation is only possible after years of gaslighting and manipulation, which students should keep track of while reading.

Creative Lesson Ideas

In addition to guided reading notes and discussion questions, here are some interactive and creative ways to engage students with Animal Farm:

• Propaganda Posters: Have students create propaganda posters from the perspective of one of the pigs. Encourage them to use slogans and imagery that would resonate with the animals on the farm.
• Modern Applications: Ask students to consider politics from the past and today under the lens of Animal Farm. What political leaders from history are similar to Napoleon, Snowball, or even Boxer?  
• Rewrite the Commandments: Challenge students to rewrite the Seven Commandments of Animalism to reflect a more equitable society. Then discuss why these ideals might still fail in practice.

Cross-Curricular Connections

Collaborating with other teachers can enrich your unit on Animal Farm. Here are some interdisciplinary ideas:

• History: Work with a history teacher to create a unit that aligns the study of Animal Farm with lessons on the Russian Revolution or other revolutions in history.
• Art: Have students design their own covers for Animal Farm, incorporating symbols and imagery that reflect its themes.

Literary Pairings

Below are some novels and short stories with themes that align with Animal Farm:

• 1984 by George Orwell – Another of Orwell’s masterpieces, this novel explores the dangers of totalitarianism and propaganda in more detail.
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding – Golding’s novel explores how power dynamics and societal breakdown occur in a group of stranded boys, echoing themes of leadership and corruption.
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – Collins’ dystopian YA series features rebellion, power, and propaganda in a dystopian society.
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – Another staple in my sophomore class, this novel’s message on censorship and the power of knowledge connects to Orwell’s ideas about controlling information.
• The Pearl by John Steinbeck – This short novella is about greed and power that complements discussions of corruption in Animal Farm.

Film Pairings

While Animal Farm has been adapted into films (e.g., the 1954 animated version and the 1999 live-action version), here are some other movies with similar themes:

• Animal Farm (1954) – I only show clips of this movie, and not because it is good! This movie was financed by the CIA and includes a revised ending showing the animals overthrowing the pigs. It’s an ironic twist on Orwell’s novel, which buckles under American propaganda.
• V for Vendetta (2005) – This dystopian political drama discusses rebellion, propaganda, and the fight against oppression.
• The Social Dilemma (2020) – This documentary, popular with parents of Gen Z students, highlights how manipulation through media shapes public opinion, much like Squealer does on the farm.
• The Hunger Games (2012) – Use this if you don’t have time for the book!
• The Truman Show (1998) – I use this book in my thematic unit on disillusionment, but it works here too. This fantastic movie questions the power of media and manipulation in controlling individuals, drawing parallels to Orwell’s message.
• Snowpiercer (2013) – This movie about climate change examines inequality and the cyclical nature of oppression in a dystopian setting.

Writing Prompts

My students don’t typically write an essay on Animal Farm, as we focus more on discussion and historical application while we read. However, there are many essay prompts that would work with Animal Farm, including:

• Power and Corruption: George Orwell’s Animal Farm demonstrates the corrupting influence of power through the rise of Napoleon and the pigs. Analyze how Orwell portrays the gradual shift in power dynamics on the farm. How does this shift reflect the theme that “absolute power corrupts absolutely”? Use specific examples from the text to support your argument.
• The Role of Propaganda: In Animal Farm, Squealer plays a critical role in maintaining the pigs’ control over the other animals. Write an essay analyzing how Orwell uses Squealer to demonstrate the power of propaganda. How does Squealer manipulate language and information to justify Napoleon’s actions and decisions?
• Leadership and Betrayal: Orwell uses the character of Napoleon to critique leadership and the betrayal of revolutionary ideals. Write an essay analyzing how Napoleon’s leadership style evolves throughout the novel. In what ways does he betray the original principles of Animalism, and what message does Orwell convey through this betrayal?
• Allegory: Animal Farm is an allegory for the Russian Revolution and the rise of totalitarianism. Choose three characters or events from the novel and explain how they represent specific people, events, or ideologies from history. How does Orwell use these parallels to critique human behavior and political systems?
• The Cycle of Oppression: One of the central messages in Animal Farm is the cyclical nature of oppression and the idea that revolutions can result in new forms of tyranny. Analyze how Orwell illustrates this cycle through the events of the novel. How do the animals’ lives change under Napoleon’s rule, and how do these changes reflect Orwell’s broader commentary on power and society?

Assessment Ideas

Here are some summative assessment options to wrap up your unit on Animal Farm:

• Socratic Seminar: Discuss open-ended questions about the novella’s relevance to modern politics and society.
• Trading Cards: With so many characters and allegories to keep track of, students could make trading cards or posters to keep track of them all.
• Political Cartoons: Animal Farm is a great opportunity to teach students about editorial and political cartoons. I usually show some timely ones from politics today and encourage students to make some of their own. They could make two, one from the point of view of an outsider of Animal Farm and another from someone who has been brainwashed on the farm.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve linked some resources that I’ve made for Animal Farm throughout this blog post, available for free or purchase on TpT. I also have a full unit available if you want a no-prep approach to getting the most out of Animal Farm!

Other Animal Farm Resources

• There are several autobiographical essays from George Orwell that pair well with Animal Farm. Check out “Why I Write” or “Shooting an Elephant” to learn more about the man behind the novel.
• This blog post includes tricky ways to manipulate students in the classroom, modeling how the pigs control the animals. I wouldn’t recommend doing all of them, but implementing one could be a creative way to bring Animal Farm to life!
• This article from Time discusses the cyclical nature of history and how the world still hasn’t learned its lesson from Animal Farm.

What strategies have you used when teaching Animal Farm? Share your ideas in the comments below!