Teacher's Guide for FACES ® EgyptAl salaam a'alaykum-"Good Day" in Arabic
Teacher Guide prepared by Gail Hennessey. She has taught 6th grade social studies for 33 years and has a helpful website for teachers at http://www.gailhennessey.com.
Introduction to Egypt: When you think of Egypt, what comes to mind?? Mummies, Pyramids, the world? longest river? Start by looking at the map of Egypt p.8
1. What two bodies of water are connected by the Suez Canal?(Red and Med. Sea)
2. According to the map, what are two countries which touch Egypt?(Sudan, Israel)
3. What important Egyptian landmarks is found near the city of Giza?(Great Pyramid and Sphinx)
4. Which important city is located along the Nile Delta and Med. Sea?(Alexandria)
5. Which part of Egypt is nearest the Med Sea?(Upper or Lower Egypt)(Lower)
6. What is the Lake created when the Aswan High Dam was built?(Lake Nasser)
Read Aswan Dam and Suez Canal. pages 6-7
1. What are two positive things that the Aswan Dam can provide?(more energy, stop flooding)?
2. What are three negative facts about the dam?(less fertile land being created since there isn?t any flooding, more salt in the water is killing fish, thousands of people had to be relocated, stagnant water causing diseases).
3.What was the reason the Suez Canal was built?(faster passage from Europe to India)
4. Who was the French engineer that accomplished the building of the canal(Ferdinand de Lesseps)
5.About how many ships pass through the canal each day?(50)
6. What do you think were some of the problems building the dam?(heat, the blowing sand, getting sick)
Read The Role of Islam /Women pages 13-16
1. About which percent of Egyptians girls never go to school?(25%-75%)
2. Why are girls not treated equally to boys?(dates back to the guidelines in the Koran, the Muslim holy book)
3. Can a woman have more than one husband at one time?(no)
4. Why do many women wear a veil??(say it makes them feel like precious, covered pearls. Would you like to wear a veil and robe when you go outside? Why or why not?
Make a cartouche using harding clay and have the students write their initials in hieroglphics(see: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/hieroglyph/hieroglyph4.html )
Play Bluff: Divide the class into two teams and ask questions about the issue.? Students knowing the answer (and those that don't) can stand.If the team is right, they get the amount of points for each student on the team standing. If wrong, the team loses that amount of points. Select one student for the answer.
Have the students draw a picture of a mosque and find 5 facts in the issue about the Islamic religion to write on the paper .(ie: Pray 5 times a day, give to charity, fast during Ramadon, no shoes in a mosque, holy book is the Koran, calligraphy)
Divide a paper into 6-8 boxes and have the students draw segments retelling the Egyptian story, The Curse? or have the students write a paragraph retelling the story.
Review the Egyptian Proverbs (pages 20-23). Have students illustrate one of the many proverbs from the story.
Review Arabic page 23? and have the students try and write something using the arabic writing system(see: http://www.arabictranslate.com/namesandsigns.htm). If you have a dictionary which has the history of words, have students find words that originated from Arabic(such as: talc, syrup, cotton, lemon, sugar, coffee,guitar, admiral, orange and sherbet)
Divide the students into small groups and have them? review the issue and find 10 words and define them: (ie: Copts(Egyptian Christian group). Jellabas(traditional women clothing),Ramadon(holy holiday of the Muslims), rural(country-side)
Based on the information in the issue, make a travel poster on Egypt. Draw a picture that shows something about Egypt in the center of the poster paper.Include the following information on your poster: 3 places to see, 3 geographic facts , 2 facts about the government of Egypt, 2 cool facts about Egypt's history and 2 souvenirs(foods/inventions) from Egypt.
Look at the article on the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, page 33, the new library at Alexandria. Have the students pretend to be the curator looking to add 7 books to the collection and have the students write a paragraph on a book they'd like to have considered for the collection and why and then lobby in class for their book. Have students eventually vote on the selections.
Divide the students into groups and have them search the issue for the answers to the following questions.
1. What is the holiest city for Muslims found in Saudi Arabia?(Mecca)
2. From what is the beverage karkaday made?(from hibiscus flowers)
3. What is the highest point in the country of Egypt?(Mt. Catherine)
4. Who discovered King Tut's tomb in 1922?(Howard Carter)
5. Who was the French general who invaded Egypt in 1788?(Napoleon)
6. What ddo Copts place on their wrists so they can identify one another?(a tatoo of a cross)
7. Which ancient Egyptian pharoah but Abu Simbel?(Ramses 11)
8. The night before the holiday called Sham el Nessim, what do many Egyptians hang or place under their pillows?(onions)
9. What is a mewt? and what was the penalty for killing one in ancient Egypt?(cat/death)
10. What were four mummified animals found in the tombs?
11. What is a kushari house?? (a fast food restaurant that serves a mixture of rice, macaroni, lentils, onionns and tomato sauce)
12.What is an Easter custom that was started by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs?(dying eggs)
13. What is the largest city on the continent of Africa?(Cairo)
14. What did Cheops build? (The Great Pyramid)
GREAT websites for more information on Egypt