Hello Dear Students,
At this time of unprecedented crisis, I request all of you to stay home to stay safe. Put your questions in the comment box.
Introduction-- The last lesson is the first chapter of your book Flamingo. It becomes very ironical in the sense that it is the first lesson of your book
yet it is named or titled as the last lesson. This lesson is composed by Alphonse Daudet. He was born in 1840 and died in 1897. He was a French novelist
and short story writer. The background of this story is the war between France
and Prussia. This was won by Prussia. France was defeated and they had to
surrender their land and entire resources. French districts of Alsace and Lorraine had been captured. Daudet is narrating all those things in this lesson.
You may not have the books with you presently. You can download the PDF copy of the chapter here.
The main
characters of this lesson are Franz and M. Hamel.
Franz is a student while M.Hamel is the name of the teacher.
The summary of the first three pages----
Please read the text also.
1. At the beginning of the story it is told to us that Franz did not want to go to school on account of two reasons--- the first reason was
that weather outside was very brilliant. The birds were chirruping at the edge of
the votes and he wanted to see the prussian soldiers who were drilling. The second
reason was that his teacher was going to ask him the rules of particles but the
real situation was that he did not know even a single word about the participles.
2. But he had power to control his fear so he started for school when he
reached the school he found that before the bulletin board (Notice board) so many people were standing there. He had a doubt in his mind because all the bad news had come
from that bulletin board only. He wanted to see the bulletin board but he had no time that's why
he went to the class of M. Hamel.
3. As soon as
he entered into the class he found that classroom was unusually silent on that day. Previously it was very noisy and he used the noisy atmosphere of the class to
enter into the classroom without being seen by the teacher but on that day it was very silent. As soon as he entered into the class everybody saw him including his teacher and all the
students. He was embarrassed but the teacher did not say anything to him. He did
not scold him for coming late and he allowed him into the class.
4. After entering into the class he found that all the students of the class were fully focused towards their study. His teacher was wearing a special green coat with filled shirt and little black Silk cap which he generally used to wear only on
inspection and prize days. He was very surprised to see some of the villages
also sitting at the back benches of the class. Suddenly M hamel announced that
it was going to be his last lesson of French. He informed all that an order had come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of France. These words were like thunderclap to him. He was completely shocked. He was not
expecting that. He was in a regretful mood for not learning his language.
Important Questions from the first three pages
Q.1 Why did Franz not want to go to school?
Q.2 What was the importance of the bulletin board?
Q.3 How did Franz use the commotion of the school to enter into the class room?
Q.4 What strange things did the writer find on the day of the last lesson?
Q.5 How did Franz react when M.Hamel announced about the last lesson?
