1) How did people react when they realised that they will never be able to learn their language?
2) How was M. Hamel's last class different from his previous classes?
3) The people in the story suddenly realize how precious their language is to them. What shows you this? Why does this happen?
When M. Hamel declared that he would be holding his last lesson Franz exclaimed, "My last French lesson! Why, I hardly knew how to write! I should never learn any more! I must stop there, then! Oh, how sorry I was for not learning my lessons, for seeking birds’ eggs, or going sliding on the Saar! My books, that had seemed such a nuisance a while ago, so heavy to carry, my grammar, and my history of the saints, were old friends now that I couldn’t give up."
Even the old men of the village decided to sit for their last French lesson with M. Hamel. They were sorry for not attending school when they could have. It was their way of thanking M. Hamel for his forty years of service.
M. Hamel, in turn was dejected that the colonisers would rebuke the people of France for pretending to be Frenchmen when they could neither speak nor write their own language.
Also, old Hauser, Franz noticed was holding his primer in both hands and was spelling the letters with the young children. His voice trembled with emotions.
2)On the last day, Monsieur Hamel was much more invested in his work, as if he wanted to impart all his knowledge in one day. He explained everything with a lot of patience, to put all his knowledge into their heads at one stroke. Post the grammar lesson, there was a lesson in writing and M. Hamel had brought new copies for them to write in. These copies were written in a beautiful round hand-France,Alsace,France, Alsace. As everyone set to work, M Hamel sat motionless in his chair and gazed first at one thing, then another, as if he wanted to fix how everything was in the school as the last measure before he had to leave. There was an urgency in his work that day and wish to fill them in with as much knowledge as possible
3).M. Hamel told the students and villagers that henceforth only German would be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Those who called themselves Frenchmen would neither be able to speak nor write it. He praised French as the most beautiful, the clearest and most logical language in the world. He said that for the enslaved people, their language was the key to their prison. Then the people realised how precious their language was to them. This shows people’s love for their own culture, traditions and country. Pride in one’s language reflects pride in the motherland
Even the old men of the village decided to sit for their last French lesson with M. Hamel. They were sorry for not attending school when they could have. It was their way of thanking M. Hamel for his forty years of service.
M. Hamel, in turn was dejected that the colonisers would rebuke the people of France for pretending to be Frenchmen when they could neither speak nor write their own language.
Also, old Hauser, Franz noticed was holding his primer in both hands and was spelling the letters with the young children. His voice trembled with emotions.
2)On the last day, Monsieur Hamel was much more invested in his work, as if he wanted to impart all his knowledge in one day. He explained everything with a lot of patience, to put all his knowledge into their heads at one stroke. Post the grammar lesson, there was a lesson in writing and M. Hamel had brought new copies for them to write in. These copies were written in a beautiful round hand-France,Alsace,France, Alsace. As everyone set to work, M Hamel sat motionless in his chair and gazed first at one thing, then another, as if he wanted to fix how everything was in the school as the last measure before he had to leave. There was an urgency in his work that day and wish to fill them in with as much knowledge as possible
3).M. Hamel told the students and villagers that henceforth only German would be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Those who called themselves Frenchmen would neither be able to speak nor write it. He praised French as the most beautiful, the clearest and most logical language in the world. He said that for the enslaved people, their language was the key to their prison. Then the people realised how precious their language was to them. This shows people’s love for their own culture, traditions and country. Pride in one’s language reflects pride in the motherland