The Gift of the Magi (O.Herry)

WELCOME TO OUR CLASS
WELCOME TO OUR CLASS
Presented by Hoang Ngoc Hanh
TO HUU Junior and upper Secondary School
key WORD
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It is a Filipino tradition for children to visit these persons at Christmas.
godparents
It is an adjective which is used to describe a house at night decorated with red, blue, yellow etc… star lanterns.
colorful
A real or artificial tree that people decorate inside their home for Christmas
Christmas tree
It is a night without sleep, most families gather and celebrate for Noche Buena.
Christmas Eve
A song sung by Christian in church to praise God
hymn
A time when you do not have to go to work or school
holiday
A light that can be carried with candle inside it and it is an essential Christmas decoration in the Philippines.
a star lantern
Something that children always receive from godparents for a particular occasion.
gift / present
Santa claus
A kind, fat, old man in red clothes who people say bring gifts to children at Christmas
WELCOME TO OUR CLASS
Presented by Hoang Ngoc Hanh
TO HUU Junior and upper Secondary School
key WORD
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Which gifts are you going to give your parents, your friends at Christmas ?
Merry Christmas
Maligayang Pasko
Chúc mừng giáng sinh
WELCOME TO OUR CLASS
Presented by Hoang Ngoc Hanh
TO HUU Junior and upper Secondary School
key WORD
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THE RULES OF THE GAME
The key word has 9 letters with 9 definitions, numbered from 1 to 9.
You can choose whichever number you like, then the definition of that word will appear. You have to guess the word through the definition. When the word appears, it will provide a letter related to the key word. when all the letters are opened you have to read the key word. If you find the key word , you will be the winner.
Notes: You can guess the key word only after 5 letters of that word appear
Let’s start
The Gift of the Magi
O. Henry
The short story
Vocabulary
Guess the meaning of the following words
1. intoxication
Eg: After taking some alcohol, he got intoxication
2. inconsequential
Eg: That problem is not worth considering. It is inconsequential.
Guess the meaning of the following words
3. prudence
Eg: It might be of prudence to get a second opinion before going ahead.
4. trance
Eg: She drove, dripping the wheel in a trance, hardly unaware of her surroundings.
5. mammoth
Eg: We saw a mammoth which was like a large hairy elephant thousands of years ago.
Guess the meaning of the following words
6. babe
Eg: The babe was in her mother’s arms, crying for food because she was hungry.
7. scrutiny
Eg: The police had a scrutiny on the place where the murder happened.
8. chronicle
Eg: Her latest novel is a chronicle of life in a Devon village.
Guess the meaning of the following words
9. ecstatic
Eg: He was so ecstatic when he knew he had passed the exam.
10. adornment
Eg: A plain necklace was her only adornment.
Matching the words on the left with their meanings on the right
1 - j
2 - i
3 - h
4 - g
5 - f
6 - e
7 - d
8 - c
9 - b
10 - a
O. Henry (1862-1910) , his real name was William Sydney Porter. He was a prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings,
who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O. Henry`s stories. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina.
His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a physician. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and aunt. William was an avid reader, but at the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store and on a Texas ranch. He moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of bank clerk. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 1882, he married. In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The Rolling Stone. When the weekly failed, he joined the Houston Post as a reporter and columnist. In 1897 he was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt. In 1898 he entered a penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio. While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories
O. Henry`s Life and Works
to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, "Whistling Dick`s Christmas Stocking" (1899), appeared in McClure`s Magazine. After doing three years of the five years sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry.
O. Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, also publishing in other magazines. Henry`s first collection, Cabbages And Kings appeared in 1904. The second, The Four Million, was published two years later and included his well-known stories "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Furnished Room". The Trimmed Lamp (1907) included "The Last Leaf". Henry`s best known work is perhaps the much anthologized "The Ransom of Red Chief", included in the collection Whirligigs (1910). The Heart Of The West (1907) presented tales of the Texas range. O. Henry published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime.
O. Henry`s last years were shadowed by alcoholism, ill health, and financial problems. He married Sara Lindsay Coleman in 1907, but the marriage was not happy, and they separated a year later. O. Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver on June 5, 1910, in New York. Three more collections, Sixes And Sevens (1911), Rolling Stones (1912) and Waifs And Strays (1917), appeared posthumously.
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Who are
the characters
in the story?
1.The characters
of the story
are Della, Jim
and Madame Sofronie.
What is the setting
of the story?
2.The setting
of the story is
on Christmas time.
Why was the Della
unhappy at the begining
of the story?
3.Della was unhappy
at the begining
of the story because
she doesn`t have
enough money
to buy a present for
her husband, Jim.
What did she
decide to do
in order to give
Jim, her husband
a gift at Christmas?
She decided
to cut her
beautiful long hair
so that she
can buy a present
for Her husband.
What happened
at the end
of the story?
5.They were both
happy and
they really
loved each other.
lucky me
2.Making inferrences.
Questions
a.Who are the Magi in the story and
what did they do to each other?
b. Pick out the lines in the story that show Della’s
devotion and self – sacrifice to her husband?
c. How did Della feel when Jim gave her his gift
and what did he do to give her the gift?
d. What is the theme of the story? Explain.
They sacrificed their important things to buy gifts to each other On Christmas
2.Making inferrences.
Suggested answers
c. She felt happy because she hugged the gifts to her
bosom,and smiled then said “my hair grows so fast , Jim”
Love and sacrifice because for the truth love they can devote their most precious things to each other.
a. They are Della and Jim.
- Della sold her beautiful hair to buy Jim a platinum fob chain.
- Jim sold his worthy watch to buy her the Combs.
b. The lines:
So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and
shinning like a cascade of brown water…………………….
“give it to me quick” said Della.