My cat: a short text in English for kids, with questions

Aylara A.

Kids' teacher · founder of AylaraTalks

November 4, 2026 · 5 min read

The first text most children write in English is about their pet, and the pet is usually a cat. This one is written the way they will write theirs: first person, "I have", "she is", "she likes". Read it, take it apart, and they have the frame for their own.

Level: Pre-A1 to A1, ages 6–11. The cat is called Lily; change the name to a cat the class knows and the text is theirs.

The text

I have a cat. Her name is Lily.
Lily is small and grey. She has green eyes, soft fur and a long tail.
Cats have whiskers. Whiskers help a cat feel things in the dark.
Cats can see well when it is dark.
Cats sleep a lot. Lily sleeps all day on my bed!
Lily eats cat food and drinks water. She likes fish.
When Lily is happy, she purrs. When she is angry, she says "Hiss!"
Cats can jump very high. Lily jumps on the table.
A baby cat is called a kitten. Lily was a kitten two years ago.
I love my cat. She is my best friend.

One sentence is in the past on purpose ("Lily was a kitten"). Do not teach it; just let it sit there. Children who meet "was" in a text they understand ask about it a month before the coursebook gets to it.

Words to teach first

cat, kitten — the animal and its baby
fur — stroke your sleeve: soft fur
whiskers — draw three lines each side of your nose
purr — the sound; the class does it once, quietly
jump — on the table, in the air; act it
in the dark — lights off for three seconds, if the room allows

Questions about the text

What colour is Lily? (Grey.)
What helps a cat feel things in the dark? (Whiskers.)
When does Lily purr? (When she is happy.)
What does Lily like? (Fish.)
What is a baby cat called? (A kitten.)

Three things to do with it

True or false: "Lily is black." (false) "Cats can see well in the dark." (true) "Lily likes fish." (true)
Change the cat. Same text, the class's own cat: black, big, called Tom, likes chicken. Say the new sentences together; the frame holds, the words change.
My pet, six lines: "I have a ___. Its name is ___. It is ___ and ___. It has ___. It likes ___. I love my ___." No pet at home? A toy, a neighbour's dog, the school fish.

Pets games Pets flashcards to print The kangaroo and lion texts

What your pupils will get wrong, and why

"I have a cat" comes out as "I have cat" from Russian speakers (no articles at home) and as "I have got a cat" from children taught the British coursebook form; both are fine to accept, one to correct. Spanish speakers write "Lily has the eyes green": possessions take no article in English and the adjective goes first. Arabic speakers write "Lily small" without "is", and "she" for a cat comes naturally to all three groups: here it is correct, Lily is a she.

Teachers also ask

Why is the cat a "she" and not an "it"?

Because she has a name and an owner. English uses he or she for a pet you know and it for an animal you don't. Both appear in the text on purpose: "Cats can see" (they), "Lily sleeps" (she).

How long should a child's own text be?

Six lines in the second year, ten in the third. Longer is not better: a child who writes ten correct sentences has done more than one who writes twenty with "is" missing from half.

Take this with you

A first-person text about a cat is the frame for the first text every child writes in English about their own pet. Read it, change the cat, fill the six-line frame: three lessons from one page.

Put it into play

Everything here pairs with our free classroom games — no prep, no accounts.

Open the games

About the author

Aylara A.

Kids' teacher · founder of AylaraTalks

Aylara is a kids' teacher who spent years hand-making every classroom game — cutting cards and drawing boards on paper sheets. She created AylaraTalks so no teacher has to start from a blank page again.

Read Aylara's story aylaratalks@gmail.com @aylaratalks