This story is adapted from O. Henry’s Christmas classic ‘The Gifts of the Magi’. The teaching procedure illustrates how students are taken step by step to analyse the plot, discuss the characters and respond to the theme. One special literary feature of the language, namely, word inversion, is also focused on.
The Story
The story is about a young wife who has sold her beautiful hair and spent it on a watch chain as a Christmas gift for her husband, while at the same time the husband has sold the watch to buy his wife the hair combs that she likes.
Like all good stories about life, it is open to interpretation. From a logical point of view, the couple has acted foolishly, considering their economic condition. On the other hand, it shows their love for each other when both have sacrificed their most precious possession in order to please their beloved, without any bitterness or regret.
Learning Targets
(KDb)
To interpret and use information through a sequencing activity
(EDb)
To respond to characters and issue in narrative text
Two versions of texts are provided to cater for learners of different abilities (The simplified version is for less able learners and the abridged version is for more able ones.)
The plots in the two story versions are identical, but adaptation has been made in terms of sentence complexity and choice of vocabulary.
Differentiation also lies in the support given in doing the while-reading and post-reading tasks: the discussion guideline and worksheets for the less able students are given with more prompts, and there are some extended tasks on the theme and language study for more able students.