You will have encountered most or perhaps all of the words below in the first week of studying history. But even if you know a particular word, that doesn’t always mean that you fully understand it and could use it in a sentence, during class or in a test. That’s why it’s often useful to revisit strange or unfamiliar words, just to make sure they have become friends and allies in your mental dictionary.
I made up the quizlet below to help my students use the words of history in everyday life. You know, at the dinner table, when your parents ask you that dreaded question: “And what did you learn at school today?”
After you have worked through this quizlet a few times, you’ll be able to reply: “Well, since you ask, I discovered that once the glaciers of the last Ice Age had melted, the area of the Fertile Crescent was an ideal location for the gradual development of agriculture. The hunter-gatherers who lived there gradually gave up their nomadic lifestyle and took up farming, domesticating plants and animals and beginning to live in larger settlements with more complex social structures. This change had a lasting impact on human history.”
Your parents will be stunned.
“And now,” you will say, “if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and brush up my extensive vocabulary before I go to bed. May I be excused?”
Of course your parents will release you. They’ll be speechless. They may even forget to make you do the washing up.
Welcome back from camp, 7B. Hope you’ve dried out!
Click on this link to complete a multiple choice quiz on the Stone Age. Some of the answers will be easier if you paid close attention to the video, “Stories from the Stone Age”. Good luck!
…there is no country that possesses so many wonders…
Herodotus
Egypt has a great fascination for historians.
Herodotus, a man from ancient Athens who is often dubbed the “father of history”, found the culture of the Egyptians strange as well as fascinating. You may feel the same as you wander the desert sands, sail across the Nile and show your embalming skills on our class mummy. I hope so.
The World Book Online is a brilliant resource, which you can even access from outside through the intranet or this blog. You will need the username (bhhs) and password (worldbook) to use it, however.