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Reading Sites: The Gift of the Magi
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Activity Description
To study literature and the story elements read the short story "Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. The resource document has vocabulary from the story to study in preparation for reading the story. Online dictionaries, Yourdictionary.com, or Thefreedictionary.com can assist the students in looking up the vocabulary words.An audio presentation can read the story to the students.
Preparation
- Go through the story. Make a list of words you want to preview with the students. (You can use the word list in the Document, above.) Some of the words are defined online with links in the story.
- Review the How to Write a Summary handout. (Document above)
- Visit this site If you want to present information about William S. Porter "O. Henry"
.
How-To
- Discuss how to write a summary. Show the diagram in the handout, Write a Summary, for a great visualization.
- Go over the vocabulary in "The Gift of the Magi" using the handout provided or your own list. (If students need more practice with learning the new words, you might try the Flashcard Maker .)
- Review the story elements: character, setting, plot, conflict and theme. You can review using Khan Academy's The elements of a story
- Read the story to the students or have each student read a paragraph or two to the each other.
- Discuss the story, pointing out summary points. Be sure to include story elements.
- Assign students to write a summary paragraph about the story.
Teacher Tips
- Point out to the students that sometimes you may not know all the words in a story, but you can still understand what is happening by viewing or listening to the story.
More Ways
- Discuss O. Henry, his life and writings using the short biography at the Lone Star Junction Web site
- There are multiple sources of the short story. Owleyes offers the text with highlights that lead to footnotes of thoughts to consider in class discussion
- The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, The Well Told Tale
- The Gift of the Magi, a 7 page pdf with footnoted vocabulary print this one and have students read along while it is being read by The Well Told Tale
- The Gift of the Magi in pdf and E-book format AE American English
Program Areas
- ABE: Adult Basic Education
Levels
- Low
- Intermediate
- High
- All Levels
Lesson Plan
What are your favorite types of stories? Discuss with your partner then share with the class.
O. Henry was a short story writer who among other things, wrote a story a week for The New Yourk World Sunday Magazine for over a year in 1902. He wrote over 383 stories. He was known for witty, entertaining stories with unexpected endings. (more on O. Henry
As a class we will read O.Henry's Gift of the Magi. What does the word magi mean? Have any of you heard of it before? As pairs, look it up in your online dictionary Thefreedictionary.com or Yourdictionary.com
O. Henry had a wide vocabulary so let's first look at a list of the words in the story (see Document a list of 36 vocabulary words from the story). Divide up the class into pairs with each pair looking up the needed number of words depending on how many students in the class. Student pairs share their definitions orally or write them on the board in a shared document accessed by students. Document list of words shared with students, if using the pdf convert it to a Word document or use the Word document version. Students type on the document or write the answers on a printed version.
As we read the story, look for story elements: plot, setting, characters, theme, conflict (may also include more advanced elements: point-of-view, tone, and style) (if students need to review the story elements see Khan Academy's The elements of a story.)
Access the story at The Gift of the Magi The Well Told Tale
Share the story, while students read along at American English at State: The Gift of the Magi
or The Gift of the Magi by O Henry with vocabulary words in the footnotes.
There are several choices for rereading the story:
1. as pairs students can take turns reading the story out loud. Stop at the vocabulary words and check the definitions already looked up.
2. if there are headphones students can listen to the story again stopping to check vocabulary words.
As pairs students gather to discuss the story. considering the following questions:
- Who are the main characters?
- What is the setting? this includes when did this story take place and where did the story take place?
- What is the story about? This is called the plot.
- What is the conflict in the story?
- What is the theme?
- What was the surprise ending?
Gather as a class and share answers.
Students write a summary of the short story, The Gift of the Magi. Students share their summaries with their partner. Check each other's summary. Edit the summaries and share with the teacher.
The teacher can share sample summaries with the class. Does this summary include the basic elements of a story: character, setting, plot, conflict and theme? Discuss the story.
What tools did we use that you can use at home, or at your work? How would use them? Discuss as pairs and then share with the class.
Tools used: yourdictionary, thefreedictionary, Khan Academy The elements of a story
YouTube videos: The Gift of the Magi by The Well Told Tale
Documents
- Vocabulary words Gift of the Magi.docx - Vocabulary Words: Gift of the Magi
- Vocabulary_words_Gift_of_the_Magi(pdf).pdf - Vocabulary Words: Gift of the Magi (PDF)
- summary diagram funnel.PNG - How to Write a Summary
Subjects
- Reading
- Vocabulary
- Writing
- Paragraph Skills