Teaching Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat Pre-reading activities
The following activities and approaches are intended as possible ways into the text for school pupils, and as such may be helpfully modelled, discussed and adapted in ITE English sessions with student teachers.
Pairs / small groups: consider the associations and connotations of the words 'cat' and 'black' in that order, using large sheets of paper to jot down any ideas. Then take the two words together: how do they modify and change each other's meaning? What sort of story might you expect under this title?
Whole class: report back / display resulting ideas and impressions, focusing through guided discussion on the connotations of key words – especially controversial senses of the word 'black'.
