Describe the events of the last lesson that M.hemel conducted in his class
Answers
Answer:
Alphonse Daudet
Born in 1840 in France
Died in 1897
Alphonse Daudet was a French novelist and short-story writer.
Formerly, a schoolteacher, he quit it to make a living as a journalist in Paris. He took to writing, his poems collected into a volume called “Les Amoureuses”.
Advertisement:
The Last Lesson Summary
Given below is the Summary of the lesson - "The Last Lesson". This summary is followed by a detailed explanation and Question and Answers
The story is narrated by a French boy, Franz. He is lazy but sensitive and likes to play. He dislikes studying French and hates his teacher M. Hamel.
After overpowering their districts of Alsace and Lorraine in France, Berlin has ordered that German language instead of French be taught in the schools there.
It is the last day of their French teacher M. Hamel, who has been there for forty years. He is full of grief, nostalgia and patriotism. As a mark of respect to his hard work, the village men also attend his ‘last lesson’. They are sad as they did not learn their mother tongue, French in their childhood.
Franz is shocked to know that it’s his last lesson, as he does not know French. Now, suddenly, he gets interested in learning it and understands everything taught on that day!
He develops an instant liking for the teacher, M. Hamel and respects him for his sincerity and hard work.
He feels sad at departing from him and is ashamed for not being able to recite the lesson of participles.
M. Hamel tells them that they all are at fault for not being eager enough to learn, putting it off to the next day. He blames himself for not teaching them sincerely.
His patriotism is reflected in his praise for the French language as being the most beautiful and most logical language in the world. He tells the class to guard their language as being close to one’s language is the key to escape from the prison of slavery. It will help them in getting free from the Germans.
They realize the importance of learning their mother tongue and that they have been defeated by the Germans because of their illiteracy.
Franz feels that it is not possible to take away one’s language from a person as it is natural to each being, may it be the “coo” to the pigeons or “French” to the Frenchmen.
The Last Lesson Explanation

in great dread of: fear of
I started for school very late that morning and was in great dread of a scolding, especially because M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles, and I did not know the first word about them.
The narrator of the story is a young school going boy named Franz. That morning, he was scared as he was late for school. Also, as their teacher M. Hamel had announced the previous day that he would test them on the topic of ‘Participles’ and Franz did not know anything at all, he was more scared of being scolded.
For a moment I thought of running away and spending the day out of doors. It was so warm, so bright! The birds were chirping at the edge of the woods; and in the open field back of the sawmill the Prussian soldiers were drilling.
Sawmill: a factory for cutting wood
Drilling: exercising
Franz had another option in his mind – to miss school and enjoy the day out in the warm and bright weather. He describes the scene – there were birds chirping on the trees and the noise of the Prussian soldiers doing the drill behind the sawmill could also be heard.
It was all much more tempting than the rule for participles, but I had the strength to resist, and hurried off to school.
Tempting: attracting
Resist: to stay away
The scene outside was more attractive than the school but Franz controlled the temptation and chose to attend school.
When I passed the town hall there was a crowd in front of the bulletin-board. For the last two years all our bad news had come from there — the lost battles, the draft, the orders of the commanding officer — and I thought to myself, without stopping, “What can be the matter now?”
bulletin-board: a notice board for putting up the latest news and communication
As Franz walked past the town hall, he noticed a huge crowd at the notice board. The war with Prussia had begun two and a half years ago and since then all the bad news like losing the war, occupation of Alsace and Lorraine by the enemy i.e. Prussia, etc had been communicated to the people through this bulletin board. Franz kept on walking towards the school and thought in his mind that what news could have been put up at the board now.

Apprentice: trainee
Then, as I hurried by as fast as I could go, the blacksmith, Wachter, who was there, with his apprentice, reading the bulletin, called after me, “Don’t go so fast, bub; you’ll get to your school in plenty of time!”
I thought he was
As