Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
The people in this story suddenly realize how precious their language is to them. What shows you this? Why does this happen?
Solution
The crowd surrounding the bulletin-board, the presence of the villagers in the class, the silence in place of the routine hustle and bustle of the school, the emotions that gripped M. Hamel and Franz, representing that of the teacher and the student community respectively, were all indicators of the realisation of the importance of their language to them.
In the story, M. Hamel says that people realise the importance of somebody or something in their lives very often when it is lost to them. Similarly, it was the order from Berlin that made people realise the importance of their language for them.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
The entire classroom, M. Hamel as well as those present in the class, is full of regret. For what and why?
Answer the following question in 120 − 150 words :
How different from usual was the atmosphere at school on the day of the last lesson? (The Last Lesson)
Answer the following question in 120-150 words :
How did the order from Berlin change the situation in the school ? (The Last Lesson)
The Last Lesson shows that people suddenly realised how precious their language was to them.
Comment.
How did Franz's feelings about M. Hamel and school change?
Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?” What could this mean?
“When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.”
Can you think of examples in history where conquered people had their language taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?
Find out about the following (You may go to the internet, interview people, consult reference books or visit a library.)
(a) Linguistic human rights
(b) Constitutional guarantees for linguistic minorities in India
Answer the following question in about 40-50 words.
When do the residents of Alsace realise how precious their language is to them?
Mr. and Mrs. Agarwal of Pushp Farms, Kolkata, are hosting a party on the occasion of the twenty-first birthday of their daughter, Vinita. Write a letter of invitation to Sonakshi, their niece, giving details of the date, time and venue in about 50 words.
Form groups of three. Write three sentences of three words each.
Form groups of four. Write four sentences of four words each.
Find the explanation for ‘participles’ given in the book.
In what region does the story take place?
What is it like when your school begins? Tell it in short.
Why is the iron ruler said to be ‘terrible’?
How did M. Hamel dress up on special occasions?
Think and answer:
Is the school closing down?
Think and answer:
Why is it the last lesson?
With the coming of the Prussians, will language be the only thing that will change? What other changes may take place?
Why does the author say, ‘I never saw him look so tall’?
Find five examples of commonly used past participles from the story. For example, said, learnt.
See if you can make a sentence with as many words in it as there are students in your classroom.
Write the sentence in big letters on chart paper and display it in the classroom.
