the landlady letter assignment

Roald Dahl Fans

Fan site for author Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

“The Landlady” – Exploring Foreshadowing Through Letter Writing

This exercise was sent in by Jessica Atkinson , a seventh grade English teacher in Pennsylvania. It’s designed for seventh graders. Thanks Jessica!

Pretend you are Billy and you are staying in the bed and breakfast. As you go up to bed after tea, you decide to write a letter to a friend or relative expressing your growing concern that something is not right with your situation.

In your letter, include five clues (examples of foreshadowing) that are making you nervous about staying in the bed and breakfast. Express your concerns but do not change the plot. You cannot, for example, throw the tea in the landlady’s face and make a run for it.

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Teaching The Landlady by Roald Dahl

If you are teaching  “The Landlady”   by Roald Dahl, you may be looking for tips and strategies for analyzing the story. I wanted to take this opportunity to share my best tips for helping you navigate all elements of this spooky tale with your students!

In Roald Dahl’s story, a young businessman travels to a local bed and breakfast run by a landlady. The only two other guests who have ever stayed at the B&B have names that he recognizes, and the reader may soon learn that the landlady is not as innocent as she initially seems.

So, where to begin when teaching “The Landlady?” Below are some tips to bring this story to life for your middle or high school students.

Build Background Information

Before introducing any short story to your students, I would suggest providing any context that students may need to fully understand the background of the story. When teaching “The Landlady,” I like to provide relevant information on the following two elements of context in particular:

• Publication

Start by giving students a little bit of background information on Roald Dahl himself. I explain to students that Dahl’s books have sold more than 250 million copies, for example, and that he has been referred to as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century.” I also like to show students clips from books that have been adapted into movies that they will likely recognize. For this, I refer to adaptations like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda. These examples highlight Dahl’s distinctively strange and creative style.

I also tell students that “The Landlady” was first published in The New Yorker in 1959 and was awarded an award for “Best Short Story Mystery” the following year. I then have students make predictions about the story based on its intriguing title. One of the great things about Dahl’s short story is the way it subverts the reader’s expectations. Students are often way off in their predictions. The title “The Landlady,” which refers simply to a woman who rents out property to a tenant, evokes something along the lines of a rent disagreement when in reality the story is about something much grimmer!

Pre-Reading Vocabulary

Before diving into the story, I like to give a preview of some of the included vocabulary to students. There are some challenging words used in “The Landlady,” some of which whose meanings are relevant to understanding the overall story. Instead of dealing with them as they come in the text, I prepare students for them ahead of time through a pre-reading activity. I give students quotes from the text like the ones below with the vocabulary words bolded. They need to match each one with the correct definition by reading it in context to get a mystery word. Here are a couple of examples:

• “Now and again, he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell that seemed to  emanate  directly from her person
• “Each word was like a large black eye staring at him through the glass, holding him,  compelling  him, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house”

What’s great about this pre-reading activity is that it helps broaden students’ vocabulary while also giving them a snapshot of what’s to come when they read the story. This, too, helps with comprehension!

During and Post Reading

There are parts of “The Landlady” that require readers to make inferences in order to understand the significance. Because of this, I like to stop and ask questions every so often while students are reading. This helps ensure that everyone is catching onto the more subtle elements of the story—important clues Dahl leaves for the reader.

Reading Questions

Then, once they’ve finished the story, I try to ensure comprehension by providing students with reading questions that allow them to dig a little deeper into the key literary elements of the story. For these, I focus largely on foreshadowing, irony (both verbal and dramatic), and setting, all crucial elements of “The Landlady.” I usually let students work on these in groups, and then we go over the answers together as a class afterward. I try to have  my own answers prepared ahead of time for this. Doing so helps ensure the ensuing discussion is as focused as possible!

Characterization Text Evidence

Another element of the text that I focus on is characterization. I use the characterization of Billy Weaver and the landlady to get students to practice using text evidence. In my experience, students tend to struggle to provide evidence to support claims they make about a text. To help them with this, I ask students to identify three character traits for Billy and the landlady. They need to provide text evidence to support their choices in the form of a quote or a description of events. If they say Billy is “trusting,” for example, they need to cite text evidence that supports this.

Analysis Notes

At this point, I like to fill in the gaps by doing just a little bit of direct instruction. This is where I go deeper into different elements of the story with some analysis notes of my own. For these, I analyze individual characters in more detail, discuss important themes that emerge (I focus on the theme that appearances can be deceiving), and talk about the story’s mood, for example.

The mood is an especially important aspect of “The Landlady”—one that students might not pick up on right away. The slow-building suspense in the story establishes a mood that is sinister and uncomfortable for readers. It is largely responsible for the overall spookiness of Dahl’s tale!

Video Interpretation

Have you seen any video adaptations of Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady” yet? One thing I like to do when teaching this story is show students this video interpretation of the story. I tell them to note any differences they notice between this adaptation and the story itself. We discuss the similarities and differences as together as a class after it’s finished.

Creative Writing: The Bath Telegraph

As a final creative assignment for teaching Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” I have students do the Creative Writing Bath Telegraph activity . For this assignment, students write a headline newspaper article. In the article, students will reveal what happens to Billy after the story ends (according to what they think happens). For example, they might write an article in which they talk about how Billy escaped from the house. Their responses should be something believable based on the story. I tell students that their articles should be written in a formal objective style. They must also use the information they read in the story to ground their articles. They will also draw a picture to accompany their headline article.

There you have it! I have always enjoyed teaching “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, particularly around Halloween, and I hope you do too. If you would like to grab a  ready-to-teach bundle  with all the resources mentioned above, you can grab all of my resources by clicking the button below. Prefer to purchase it on TpT? No problem, just  click here.

Here is what a few teachers who have used these resources already had to say:

• “This was incredibly organized and my students were incredibly into the story. The booklet was perfect to make sure they understood the story and characterization.” Katharine C.
• “This was a great way to get the students to delve deeper into the text. They were able to make connections to some of the more subtle points in the story.” Beckie L.
• “This was a great resource. It was better than giving them a story with questions. Instead, these questions were more discussion focused so we could all talk about the answers together instead of finding surface level answers and not thinking further. I loved the newspaper article as well! The kids were very creative with that.” Alyssa E.

Looking for more stories like this one? Check out this  blog post on my favorite spooky stories  to teach in middle and high ELA.

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"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl

"The Landlady" Online crossword puzzle.

"The Landlady" This kit includes prereading activites, historical background, vocabulary, the text of the story, and audio files of the story.

"The Landlady" Exploring Foreshadowing Through Letter Writing This activity focuses on writing and close reading with emphasis on foreshadowing.

"The Landlady" Students note details as they read. Includes text-dependent questions and suggested evidence-based answers, academic vocabulary, a culminating writing prompt and model essay, and additional learning activities. Word processor required for access.

"The Landlady" Comprehension questions, writing tasks, word search puzzle, companion nonfiction article and postreading questions, follow-up activity. 7 pages, Adobe Reader required.

Playing Detective Students learn about foreshadowing and how it contributes to plot development in a text.

Why the Short Story The Landlady is My Favorite Lesson of the Year

If you’re looking for an engaging activity for middle school ELA, the short story The Landlady by Roald Dahl is a student favorite. Read on to see how I teach this short story and the activities that I pair with it.

Let’s play a quick would-you-rather. Would you rather introduce a unit or review one? That’s a tough one for me! I absolutely love introducing a new unit and hooking kids into what we’re learning. But I also equally love reviewing what we’ve learned and wrapping up our unit in a fun way. I think you can make any lesson or unit fun, but I’ve got to be honest. Teaching the short story The Landlady by Roald Dahl is my favorite lesson of the year from start to finish.

It’s such a powerful story to read during October or any time of year, and it’s a great way to review the elements of literature because it’s engaging AND it’s challenging. Read on to see how I teach the short story The Landlady to my middle school students in an unforgettable way.

Reading & Digesting the Short Story The Landlady

Roald Dahl wrote the short story The Landlady in 1959 and placed the story in the UK – just outside of London. So there’s a tiny bit of British-English dialect in the story that gives it a fun flavor. I LOVE to use this Youtube read-aloud for the first reading because she reads the story with an accent! 

Before reading, I either provide students with a paper copy of the story or assign it on Google Classroom to follow along with while she reads. We discuss what a “landlady” is before reading and we make predictions about the story based on the title.

As we read the story, I pause periodically and ask comprehension questions that encourage students to dig into the story just a little bit, that way everybody knows what’s going on and has a better chance at “getting it” at the end.

Here are my guided questions that I use throughout the reading:

• Why do you think “briskness” is important to Billy? What does it reveal about him?
• Describe the setting of the story.
• What internal conflict is Billy Weaver facing? How might this affect the story?
• Why does Dahl repeat the phrase BED AND BREAKFAST again and again?
• Billy seems surprised by how strongly he is drawn to the house and the landlady. Why might this be important?
• Describe the landlady.
• Why might the memory of Mr. Temple & Mr. Mulholland be important?
• What “red flags” do you notice as the story progresses?
• How might Billy’s realization about the dachshund and the parrot change things?
• How might this relate to Billy?
• What do you think happened at the end? Why?

If you’d like to save time and snag my editable Google Slideshow that has these guided reading questions already loaded, you can sign up for my email list and grab it here for free.

Once we finish the story, I often have many students who get it and are totally, absolutely creeped out. The other handful often needs to chat with their table groups to figure out what exactly the landlady does. Once they get it, it’s game on! 

Almost every class asks me if we can reread it. A 2nd read? Absolutely. With our second read, I invite students to annotate the text. I want them to look for foreshadowing or find all the clues they missed the first time through. 

If I’m working with one of my lower-level groups, we will listen to the audio version again. If I’m working with one of my higher-ability groups, I let them do the 2nd read independently. 

This usually takes an entire class period, so we’ll wrap up day one, having read and understood the text so that we can get to some fun applications on Day 2.

Digging Deeper into The Landlady

Students return on day two totally pumped. We pull out our copies of The Landlady, and we start digging into the plot. The Landlady is a GREAT story for reviewing plot structure because it’s not cut and dry and requires students to think a bit (and have great discourse!). 

Identifying the exposition, inciting incident, and rising action is often easy for students. However, there’s usually quite a bit of debate over the climax, falling action, and resolution. Does the story ever get resolved? How do we plot a story when it ends with a cliffhanger? Those are great questions to discuss with students, and I always err on the side of allowing multiple ideas as long as students can reasonably back up their thinking. 

Once students have completed their plot structure, I give them a choice on their second assignment, which is usually a higher-level task. Students can choose from the following Landlady activities :

• Create a WANTED poster for The Landlady
• Write a feature article for the New York Times on the Landlady
• Create a one-pager for The Landlady
• Think through alternate scenarios with “What if” questions

I usually give them the rest of the class period to work on this, plus another period if needed. The best part is yet to come because, on day four, we tackle our Landlady escape room!

Putting it All Together With a Landlady Escape Room

If days 1-3 of teaching The Landlady weren’t already a hit, day four will knock your student’s socks off! This is my students’ favorite day of the year – and mine too! We put it all together and try to attempt to escape The Landlady .

Before school starts, I spend 20 minutes making my classroom spooky. I grab a few cheap props from the dollar store (caution tape, flickering candles) and bring some Halloween decor from home. I close the blinds and find a spooky Youtube playlist like this one . 

This escape room has four separate breakouts:

• Plot Structure
• Miscellaneous Literary Elements (a catch-all)

Our library has a handful of Breakout EDU kits, so I set up actual breakout boxes in four separate corners of the room. Next to each breakout box, I place a few copies of the breakout so multiple students can be working on one breakout at a time. I allow students to work with a partner, but they can’t share answers with another group, and they must clear the locks after each attempt.

Inside the breakout boxes, I put little prizes like stickers, Jolly Ranchers, fake poisonous tea, etc. I’ve also done this without the breakout boxes using a Google Form that won’t let students move on until they’ve answered correctly. This works just as well and actually takes less time to prep.

Most students can make it out in 45 minutes or less. Frontloading some information or tasks makes a big difference – like using the guided reading questions I’ve suggested above or working through the plot structure beforehand. I also offer students lifelines. If they show me their failed code, I’ll let them know which parts of the code they got correct and which ones they need to go back and review.

This makes a big difference because then they aren’t wasting time second-guessing questions they got right. I encourage early finishers to do the same and help me guide the rest of the students through to the end!

Wrapping Up the Short Story The Landlady

On our last day with The Landlady, we watch a short film adaptation and compare it to the story. This one is about 8:00 and follows the story very closely. This one is 24:00 and elaborates quite a bit (the ending is scary). I definitely recommend watching both beforehand to be sure they are appropriate for your students/parents.

Making ELA Unforgettable with The Landlady

I’m not kidding when I say this is both my and my students’ favorite lesson of the year. Middle schoolers LOVE creepy, and who am I kidding? I do too! It lends itself well to engaging and challenging activities that are a win-win for both teacher and students. 

If you’re thinking about teaching the short story The Landlady, don’t forget to grab my free guided reading slideshow and check out The Landlady activities I mentioned throughout this post below.

I hope you feel invigorated and are ready to find a spot for The Landlady in your curricular map this year. Leave a comment below or find me on IG and let me know what you think!

I’d love to hear your thoughts or answer any follow-up questions you might have.

Looking for additional recommendations? You might like this similar post on The Monkey’s Paw !

The Landlady

46 pages • 1 hour read

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Introduction

Before Reading

Reading Context

During Reading

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After Reading

Discussion/Analysis Prompt

Essay Questions

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1. C (Paragraph 10)

2. B (Paragraph 11)

3. D (Paragraphs 59-61)

4. D (Paragraph 2)

5. C (Paragraphs 62-67)

6. A (Various paragraphs)

7. B (Various paragraphs)

8. A (Various paragraphs)

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Long Answer ­

1. Dahl’s story is written in a third-person narration style, with limited insight into Billy’s thinking. Since the narration focuses on Billy’s reaction to the landlady, as opposed to providing insight into the landlady’s motives, the reader makes the journey along with Billy. (All paragraphs)

2. Dahl’s story takes place in post-WWII, mid-20th-century Bath, England. The narrator describes Bath as a decaying city, which contrasts with the modern, businesslike character of Billy. (All paragraphs)

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The Landlady

Ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions, billy weaver, mr. greenslade, christopher mulholland, gregory w. temple.

Screen Rant

The sympathizer episode 2 recap: 8 biggest reveals.

The Sympathizer episode 2 "Good Little Asian" follows The Captain & The General's new lives in Los Angeles and introduces a new RDJ character.

WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for The Sympathizer episode 2.

• The Sympathizer episode 2 introduces new characters and explores the aftermath of the tragic events from episode 1.
• Professor Hammer, played by RDJ, and Sandra Oh's character Sofia Mori play key roles in The Captain's journey in Los Angeles.
• The intricately woven plot includes coded messages to Man, suspicions of a spy by The General, and a shocking set-up by The Captain.

The Sympathizer episode 2 titled "Good Little Asian" chronicled the aftermath of episode 1's tragic cliffhanger ending. The Sympathizer's cast is led by recent Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr. as Claude , an eccentric yet incredibly resourceful CIA operative, who is just one of the four characters that RDJ plays in the series . His second character, Professor Hammer, is an Asian-American Studies professor at a college in Los Angeles who used to teach The Captain (Hoa Xuande). The Captain was one of Professor Hammer's most prized students before the events of The Sympathzier take place.

The Sympathizer episode 2 also introduces Sandra Oh's character Sofia Mori who works in Professor Hammer's office. RDJ also appears as the CIA operative Claude in The Sympathizer episode 2, although Claude and Professor Hammer do not meet in the episode. Following the shocking conclusion of The Sympathizer episode 1 , The Captain must continue to keep tabs on The General (Toan Le) in the United States for Man (Duy Nguyen) and the Viet Cong. Despite The Captain nearly dying in the artillery strike at the end of the first episode, he does not question the attack in his covert communications with Man.

Set in the 1975, The Sympathizer is a work of historical fiction that is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name written by Vietnamese-American professor Viet Thanh Nguyen. The HBO limited series will run for seven hour-length episodes from April to May 2024, with its series finale premiering on May 26, 2024. The acclaimed series currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 87% and is already being heralded as one of 2024's must-watch miniseries. The series was created by Don McKellar and Park Chan-wook, the celebrated writer and director of Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016), and Decision to Leave (2022).

8 The Captain & Bon Make It To The United States

The captain sends a coded letter to man back in vietnam.

The Sympathizer episode 2 begins with The Captain and Bon (Fred Nguyen) driving through the desert of the American West. The Captain drives through Oklahoma and makes a stop in Texas where he purchases corn starch in order to send a coded letter to Man back in Vietnam. At the end of The Sympathizer episode 1, it was unclear whether Bon and The Captain made it to the American airplane during the artillery strike, but episode 2 confirms that they were able to make it on the plane at the last second. Bon is traumatized from losing his wife and his young son during the attack and is clearly still deeply affected by it in the United States.

The Captain sends a coded letter back to Man using the book "Asian Communism and the Oriental Mode of Destruction: On Understanding and Defeating the Marxist Threat to Asia". Man, who received a promotion by the Viet Cong and is still stationed in Vietnam, uses the same book to relay cryptic messages back to The Captain in the United States. While Man uses rice starch, The Capitan uses corn starch based on their geographical differences. The Captain would write the page number, the line number, and the word number in a corn starch based liquid in the spaces underneath the lines of his letters, which Man would be able to discover using an iodine solution.

7 The General & The Captain Arrive At Refugee Camp In Arkansas

The general begins to suspect there is a spy among them.

The Sympathizer episode 2 jumps back in time five weeks before The Captain and Bon make it to Texas when The General and the plane occupants make it to a refugee camp in Arkansas. It's revealed that Bon had to bury his wife and child in Guam before the plane reached its final landing zone at a refugee camp in Arkansas. While at the refugee camp, The General starts to realize he is losing the faith of his supporters in South Vietnam, and several mothers of fallen soldiers attack him. This leads The General to suspect that a sympathizer among them has been working against him , although he has no idea that it's The Captain.

6 The Captain Reunites With His Old College Professor In Los Angeles

Professor hammer gives the captain an unusual assignment.

Once the Captain arrives in Los Angeles to scout for a place for The General and his family to live, one of the first things he does is reunite with his Asian-American Studies college professor, Professor Hammer. The eccentric professor, the second character played by Robert Downey Jr., is excited to see The Captain, although his true name has yet to be revealed. It's in Professor Hammer's office that the Captain meets Sofia Mori for the first time , who listens in as The Capatin is interviewed by a college student for the college newspaper. Professor Hammer invites the Captain to a party and asks him to write about what makes him both "Oriental and Occidental."

5 The Captain Tells Sofia Mori A Shocking Story At Professor Hammer’s Party

This leads to the two of them becoming intimate & starting a fling.

The Captain arrives at Professor Hammer's party wearing a particular suit that Professor Hammer had lent to him in his office. The Capatain gets to know Sofia Mori better at the party after reciting his elaborate answer to Professor Hammer's prompt aloud to his party guests, explaining what parts of him he believes to be Oritental and Occidental. Sofia Mori hands out deviled eggs at the party, which triggers an obscure, unexplained flashback for the Captain that is sure to be expanded on later in the season.

As the party goes on, Sofia Mori establishes to Professor Hammer and the group that while she may be of Japanese descent, she is an American who was born in Gardena, Califronia. Sofia is intrigued by The Captain and claims to see through his "teacher's pet" facade , although she can't quite place what exactly it is that the Captain is concealing. The Captain goes on to explain a wild story from his childhood in which he pleasured himself with a dead squid. Sofia Mori makes fun of the Captain for his bizarre tale but ultimately ends up sparking an affair with the Captain, who takes her to the apartment he shares with Bon.

Robert Downey Jr's New 88% RT Hit Makes Me Glad He Turned Down This Show HBO Canceled After 2 Seasons

4 the general & his family move into a new home in los angeles, the general’s suspicions of there being a spy continue to grow.

The General and his family arrive in Los Anegels from Arkansas, where they move into a modest home, although The General's wife does not seem very thrilled about it. During his first days in Los Angeles, The General essentially hides out at the house and doesn't do much besides indulge himself in cigarettes and alcohol and his suspicions of a mole in among them grow stronger. The Captain takes note of The General's increasing sense of paranoia and vows to discover who the mole is . The General takes out a gun and points it at the Captain's head in an attempt to intimidate The Captain to work harder to find the spy, oblivious to the fact that he is sitting right in front of him.

3 The General Opens Up A Liquor Store In Los Angeles

The captain meets an old college rival at the grand opening.

Eager for a way to establish his newfound residency in Los Angeles, The General opens a liquor store which offers a picturesque view of the famous Hollywood sign in the background. Bon is enlisted to help The General operate the liquor store once it is opened, which provides some sense of responsibility and purpose for Bon in his new life in California. At the grand opening of the liquor store, the General makes a speech announcing that there is a spy among them and that it has become their top priority to discover who it is and have them killed. The Captain has no choice but to join in the chanting for what is secretly his own death.

Before the opening of the liquor store, someone sprayed graffiti on the side of it calling The General a butcher, which The General uses as more evidence that there is a spy among them, since what American would have that type of knowledge about his reputation in Vietnam? The Captain also encounters an old classmate and apparent academic rival from college at the grand opening of the liquor store named Tran Thuyet Son, who goes by Sonny. Sonny provides a glimpse of The Captain as an American student before he became a mole for the Veit Cong and could become a bigger character in later episodes of The Sympathizer .

2 The Captain Tells Claude & The General That Oanh Is The Spy

He makes up a theory that oanh has connections in saigon through candy.

After The General announces that he will be cracking down on discovering who the spy is among them, The Captain makes up the lie that it is Major Oanh, one of the "presumably capable but incapable" officials he had handpicked to board the plane out of Vietnam to the United States. Oanh has been giving out Vietnamese candies to people in the United States , which The Captain is able to spin as evidence that Oanh has secret connections to Vietnam that he is not being fully transparent about. The General, who is eager to kill the mole, starts to support The Captain's theory alongside Claude, who helps out with the investigation.

1 The Captain Asks Bon To Help Him Kill Major Oanh

The captain thinks about asking for permission from man, but doesn’t.

Realizing the severity of the predicament he is in, The Captain thinks about asking Man for authorization to kill Major Oanh before deciding to take matters into his own hands. The Captain had initially intended to send a coded message to Man asking for permission to kill Oanh, but later burned that evidence and asked Bon to help him take out Oanh himself. Bon agrees, and the episode ends with this new lead. While it's possible that Oanh is actually another sympathizer like the Captain, it's much more likely that the Captain is setting Major Oanh up to take the blame for his deceitful role in The Sympathizer .

When The Sympathizer's Finale Releases & How Many Episodes There Are

The sympathizer.

Based on the novel by Viet Thanh Nuyen, The Sympathizer explores the last days of the Vietnam War through the eyes of a half-Vietnamese, half-French spy serving for the communist regime. The TV series adaptation is set-up as a mini-series and will likely still be framed as a confession from the protagonist as they make their way through the war. Photo is of the original novel cover.