LESSON PLAN FOR O HENRY’S THE LAST LEAF

LESSON PLAN FOR O HENRY’S THE LAST LEAF

Purpose
The aim of this lesson plan is to make the students understand the story and to make them aware of the concept, nuance and the meaning underlying it... The value of a gift is not weighed by its size or cost but the love, sacrifice and effort in giving that precious gift.

Objective
Students should be able to comprehend and write comprehensively about the characters, events and the glossary of the story. Point out the gist of the story. Learn the language and new words.

Resource Materials
Teaching tools
Presents and DVD of Rain Coat (Hindi)
Source-

Teaching Methodology

Anticipatory set

Activity 1(The good will behind giving gifts)

a) Ask children to exchange among themselves any of the things they have brought in class.

Discuss

Did you give anything that you valued most?
Are you happy with the gifts you received?
Did you get what you expected to get?

b) Ask the children to list out theirs and their friend’s wish list for gifts on any of the special occasions.

Compare the list and discuss whether they would part with the things they treasure most for a friend or a dear-one.

Activity 2 (How well you know your friend?)

Discuss with your friends what gift you would give to a special friend. Write it down on a piece of paper but don’t show it to the recipient. Ask him to guess. Discuss how well you know each other?

Discuss (The story behind Christmas)

What are the ways in which you celebrate Christmas?
What were the 3 gifts the Magi gave?
Discuss Christmas has become very commercial and we have forgotten the true meaning of the celebration. What is its true meaning?
Which is the most important celebration for you?
What are the other occasions in which you exchange gifts?
What is the best gift you have ever received?


Elements of the story

Setting

A rented meagre apartment in New York during the Christmas time.


Atmosphere
The time of Christmas. Last minute struggle before the festivities begin.

Tone- Contemplative.


Brief Account of the Author
O. Henry，pseudonym of William Sydney Porter was born in Greensborn， North Carolina on September 11，1862. He worked as apprentice, pharmacist, cowboy, clerk, book keeper since fifteen years old. Accused of embezzling funds from bank, he fled to Honduras. On hearing his wife’s illness, he came back, but was sentenced to a three-year imprisonment. The tough life experience laid a deep foundation of his writing career. After released in 1901, he moved to New York, wholly devoted himself to literature. The ten years ever since is his last ten years and his splendid ten years. Writing at the rate of more than one story per week, he published ten collections of stories and over 600 short stories during his lifetime, all of which are about the life of ordinary people in New York City. "The Last Leaf”, first published in 1905, then edited into The Trimmed Lamp is one of them.

O Henry wrote about 300 short stories. He was famous for surprising twists at the end of his stories. The Gift of Magi was perhaps the most well known.
It is about the selfless love of the two people Della and Jim. They were poor but they had something more valuable than wealth-their love for each other. It is not the value of gift that counts but the love that comes with it.

Read the lesson aloud for e.g. mime for different characters and voice surprise or suspense. Ask questions to encourage the children to show their understanding or predict what’s going to happen next. Allow the children to mime and read aloud the lesson as well.

Ask the students to tell what they understood.
Can you predict the end? Is your prediction correct?
Explain whenever there is need for elaboration. Analyse the story.



Direct Instruction

Vocab checkpoint

Cut back (verb)
To cut is to reduce to reduce salary and company expenses usually done in the times of slow business.

Groceries (noun)
Groceries are food provisions like milk, eggs, vegetables and rice.

Watch Chain (noun)
A watch chain is a chain usually attached to an old fashioned pocket watch. The other end of the chain was attached to the button of a waist coat so that it won’t get lost.

Too bad (adjective)
Too bad is a phrase that denotes shame or it’s a pity.

Wigs (noun)
A wig is a false hair covering for the head. Wigmaker pay for real hair by its length.

Shocked (adjective)
To be shocked is to extremely taken aback by surprise.

Strange (adjective)
Strange implies something unusual or uncommon.

Possession (noun)

Possessions are personal belongings.

Sacrificed {verb}

To sacrifice is to give away something valuable in order to help someone.

Valuable (adjective)

When something is valuable it means it is either worth a lot of money or it has strong emotional worth.


Synopsis

Jim and Della are husband and wife who live struggling life in a rented apartment in New York. Jim just had salary cut of 20 $ a week. They have monetary problems. After rent and other expenses the couple have very little money left. Christmas is only one day away. They don’t have any fancy for anything but they are happy with what they have. Della loves her beautiful long hair, but she wants to present Jim a gold chain for the watch he is so proud of for Christmas. She has only 1.87 $.So she sells her hair to a women who makes hair wigs to buy Jim the present. She goes home and prepares dinner for Jim and waits for him to come home. She was worried how Jim would react to her hair cut off. When Jim returned, he did react and looked shocked seeing Della’s short hair. She tells her how she had sold her cut hair to buy Jim his Christmas present. Jim told her not to worry as nothing can change his love for her. The reason he is shocked is that he too has brought a set of beautiful set of combs to suit her long hair by selling his treasured watch. Della gives Jim his present and Jim gives Della hers. Both the gifts were useless for their purpose could not be served. O Henry asks, “Were they foolish to sell their favourite possessions?” Then he tells that no they were wise because they sacrificed their most valuable possessions for the love of one another. They were like the three wise men who brought presents for Jesus Christ when he was born. Christians still give presents to their loved one to remember the gifts that Magi brought on the first Christmas.




Characters- Della, Jim and a woman who makes hair wigs.

Character sketches

Della
Della is the proper loving wife who waits for her husband, Jim and makes food for him. She would do anything to please him. She loves her Jim dearly and she can’t bear to displease him. Della becomes worried that Jim would stop loving her seeing her beautiful long hair cut short. She sacrificed her most precious hair to give him the gold chain for his watch on the occasion of Christmas. She is a true Christian and adheres to its customs.


Jim
Jim too is a loving husband. He was shocked to see Della’s hair cut short. But he would not love her less because of that. He was shocked that there Christmas gifts would be now useless because their purpose could not be served. He sacrifices his most treasured watch to buy Della a set of combs for Christmas. He is so concerned that he would do anything to remove the anxiety from her face. He changed the subject in their conversation because it would bring sorrow to Della.


Themes

Theme of Christmas

The Gift of Magi implies the expensive gifts the three wise men brought for Jesus Christ when he was born. They were called the Magi.
They were priests who travelled to Bethlehem from Mesopotamia (ancient Babylon), who fore saw the birth of a new king in an unusual star. The gifts that they gave had special significance. They were prophetic. The three gifts were gold (symbolised Christ’s Kingship on earth), Frankincense (an incense sticks symbolised his role as a priest) and Myrrh (an embalming substance symbolised his crucifixion on the cross).

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is giving up something which is dear to you for someone else. It is the main theme of the story. Both Della and Jim sacrifice their most treasured things to gift each other on the occasion of Christmas.

Generosity

They sell what they treasure the most in order to boost the treasure of one another.

Love

Della’s love for Jim is effectively captured in the lines-
“Whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.”
Jim sums up his love for Della beautifully in the following line-
“They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs.”
After learning that Della has cut off her hair to trade a chain for his watch Jim says that
The gift is nice not only for the amount it cost but also for the sacrifice it cost. He too had traded his watch for her comb! This statement also highlights the uselessness of the gift because their intended purpose had become meaningless.

The lead characters are so drawn to each other that they sacrificed the things they valued the most in order to buy each other Christmas present. Even though their gift’s purpose could not be served, their sacrificial love for each other is the most valuable present on earth.
In this story the author pays homage to Christmas by emphasising the real purpose behind giving gifts during celebrations.


Wisdom

The precious possessions of Della and Jim are not the things they own but each other. Of all the gifts the gift that comes with love, sacrifice and generosity is the wisest gift one can give.
Things to ponder
Who made greater sacrifice and why? Is it Della by selling her hair or Jim by selling her watch? Write a short paragraph.
Discuss why the story is titled The Gift of Magi? Is it the right title for it? Suggest more titles for the story.

Poverty

From the first line itself the author introduces us to the lead characters as very poor-
“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.”
Jim and Della have very little money to exchange Christmas gifts. Even as they struggle for every dime of money the couple did not forget to gift each other on Christmas Eve.

Biblical reference

“Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"
Della says this to Jim to make him understand that she cut off her hair. She says that the number of hair she possess is nothing compared to her love for him He means so much to her that It doesn’t matter if she loses her hair for it. This shows the depth of Della’s love for Jim. The author takes a direct reference from an incident in Bible-“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6-7 6
It means God doesn’t forget sparrows worth two farthings and even the number of hair in our head are not forgotten. God values everyone.

Discuss other themes like identity, family, giving and beauty.





Guided practice

Checks for understanding

Who are the two children?
Why does O Henry refer to them as children?
Why are they unwise?
Why are they wise?
Which character speaks the following lines?
What each line tell us about the character?




2. Which character speaks the following lines?
What each line tell us about the character?

“And now suppose you put the chops on."
“Will you buy my hair?”
“I sold the watch to get the money to buy the combs.”
“You have cut off your hair?”
“What could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?”
“Don’t you like me now?”
“You won’t care will you?”

3. Arrange the above sentences in order as it appears in the story.


Assessment and follow up

Evaluation through a quiz game

Divide the students into two groups. A representative from each group (turn by turn) is given a dialogue from the story to say aloud for the opposition group. The opposition group has to answer which character says the following lines and why?

"Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it.”
“Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,"
“I'm me without my hair.”
"Please God, make him think I am still pretty."
“If you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.
""You say your hair is gone?"
"Let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while.”
“They're too nice to use just at present.”


4. Surprise ends

Surprise ends are unexpected ends. There are always surprise ends in O Henry’s stories. E.g. “The last leaf”.
Where is the surprise end or twist in this story? Which other story had such surprise ends?


Independent practice

Writing exercises

1. Write new sentences using the following words:

Cut back

Groceries

Watch Chain

Too bad

Wigs

Shocked

Strange

Possession

Sacrificed

Valuable

2. Write a story with similar themes for homework.
Plot a new ending to the story
Imagine Della trying to buy back Jim’s watch!
How will she raise money?
How would Jim react to it?



Other interesting activities

Ask them to enact the story in class by giving each student a turn to play the role of the narrator, Della and Jim. Role play help students know to use the language beyond the story and explore the issues, problems and moral dilemmas it contains.
Watch a movie which has a similar theme (of sacrifice) such as Rain Coat (If not in class at home).


Reflection

Interest-Did the story engage the student’s curiosity, interest and attention, why and why not?
Participation-Did the children participate eagerly and actively in the activities given to them? What factors encouraged or discouraged them?
How did the children respond to the mime and acting? Did they feel for the character’s they portrayed?
Collaboration-Did the children collaborate and work well together?
Enjoyment-did the children enjoy the story and related activities?