Unit 7 Timelines Lesson 2 Life in the past
Talk about life in the past
Speak and read
- A Work in pairs. Look at the photos. Which things do you think were part of
the Mayans’ daily life in the year 500?
B What do you think life was like for people in AD 500?
- Read the history book information. Check your answers from Exercise 1.
The Ancient Mayans live in Mexico and Central America. You probably know about the pyramids of the ancient Mayans, their amazing writing system, and the Mayan calendar. But what was daily life like for an ordinary Mayan family 1,500 years ago?
In the year 500, the Mayan’s homes were in about 40 small cities with fields for growing food around them. There were 10,000 to 60,000 people in a city. There were temples and palaces, and there was often a ball court for ball games.
Most ordinary people were farmers, and their houses were simple, with only one room. A typical meal was corn and beans or squash and maybe sweet potatoes, tomatoes and fruit. Sometimes there was meat (rabbits or iguanas) or fish. There wasn’t any tea, coffee or sugar, but for rich families there was a chocolate drink from cocoa beans. Chewing gum from the resin of gum trees was also popular.
There were about five to seven people in a family. Children were important, and their job was to help in the house or in the fields. Education was only for the rich. When they were about 45.
- Read the text again. Choose the best for the words.
- ordinary a. normal b. rich c. important
- fields a. houses b. towns c. pieces of land
- court a. place to sleep b. place to play c. place to work
- simple a. very big b. with not many parts c. with new furniture
- education a. eating b. working c. learning
- Find these numbers in the text. Write what they refer to.
- 6 million number of Mayans in Mexico and Central America today.
- 40 _______________________________
- 10,000 – 60,000 _______________________________
- 5-7 _______________________________
- 15 _______________________________
- React Work in pairs. Make two lists:
- What was good and bad in the year 500?
- What’s good and bad today?
