Aztecs Stage 5 Comprehension - The Nahua - Comprehension Pack.pdf

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Aztecs Text focus: Information Text The Nahua Nahuatl is the language spoken by the Mesoamerican civilisations, including the Aztecs. There are a...

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Aztecs Text focus: Information Text The Nahua Nahuatl is the language spoken by the Mesoamerican civilisations, including the Aztecs. There are around 1.4 million people who still speak the language today, making it the most widely spoken indigenous language (or group of languages) in Mexico. There are many people who continue the culture and language of the past civilisations; they are referred to as the Nahua people. Out of the 1.4 million people who speak Nahuatl, around 190,000 of them don’t speak another language. In some villages around Mexico, Nahua makes up most of the population. These villages tend to still follow the ancient structure and systems that made the Aztecs, Toltecs and other Mesoamerican groups so in tune with nature. The Nahua families o en have traditional roles for men and women. The men o en take on the more physical jobs of farming and harvesting crops, whereas the women take on the more skilled jobs of weaving and cra ing for the house. Despite different roles, women are treated as equals in Nahua society. They run their own businesses and are equally responsible for the house. This is something that has been true since the early civilisations. Unlike many modern societies, many Nahua villages work as cooperative groups of people. In one village, a group of women set up a hotel for tourists. They funded the building with their own money and labour and help from the Mexican government. As well as a salary, the women take payment in the form of food, clothing and essentials such as soap and toothpaste. They take as much as they need for themselves, but they share the rest with other people in their village for free. Many families earn most of their money from farming and selling their produce. Most of this is sold to people outside the village; those within it share what they have whenever it is needed. This means that nobody goes without and that most people have a good quality of life. A ding ro Rea und all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed e um C u r r ic ul Th http://www.literacyshedplus.com It is estimated that the Nahuatl language and culture are around 5,000 years old. Over that time, it has evolved and blended with other cultures that have moved into the area. This gives it a rich and diverse background. Not only that, but words from the language have even reached your ears and entered your day-to-day language. Where would we be without words such as tomato, chocolate, chilli and avocado? All of these are based on Nahuatl words. The language itself is very versatile. It uses compound words to describe things, rather than always just having a single word for something. For instance, the Nahuatl word for metal is tepostli. This can be joined to other words to describe things. Coatl means serpent or snake. Therefore, something made of metal that winds across the land like a snake would be called a tepostlicoatl. We prefer to call these trains! Tototl means bird, so a metal bird would be tepostlitototl. We call these aeroplanes. RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. How many people only speak Nahuatl today? 2. Who tends to do most of the hard labour in Nahua families? 3. Who does most of the skilled work? 4. As well as their own money, who helped the women set up a hotel? 5. How old is the language? VIPERS QUESTIONS V Find and copy a word that describes a group of people who work together. S What differences and similarities can you see between the Nahuatl and your own society? V Find and copy a word that means “mixed and joined together with”. I What evidence is there that the Nahuatl language is more descriptive than English? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com