Alphonse Daudet’s The Last Class looks at the disheartened reactions of Alsatian villagers, children and their teacher to the decision that the French language can no longer be taught at their school. Their part of France (Alsace and Lorraine) has become part of Germany following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The Berlin government has ordered that only German can be taught in the school. The teacher’s parting words on the blackboard: “Vive La France!” seem somewhat ironic given the French government’s attempts to wipe out many of its own minority languages over the 100 years leading up to the story. More…