RUE Episode 87 Ancestors - Ramp Up your English

Episode Overview

Welcome to Episode 87: Ancestors – where we learn about the ancestors of today’s Native Americans and how to use prepositions to establish the sequence of actions, events, and situations. We begin this episode of Ramping Up your English with a 16 minute video tracing the earliest Americans through time from their arrival in America to great cities in the East. This is Part One of the video Native Americans 4:Ancestors.

Sunrise over Monks Mound from the Woodhenge timber circle at the at the Mississippian culture Cahokia Mounds site near Collinsville, Illinois. All rights held by the artist, Herb Roe © 2017. #cahokia #woodhenge #timbercircle #mississippianculture

Viewing Episode 87

All episodes of Ramping Up your English are archived on archive.org. Click here to view Episode 87 as seen on RVTV Voices. If you have trouble viewing from the archive, you can watch the episode on You Tube. There may be ads. Click here to watch on You my You Tube Channel.

Viewing in Segments

If spending a half hour watching a video is not something you can do, I’ve broken each episode into three parts of around 10 minutes. In the case of Episode 87, the 16 minute video we feature means a much larger segment. Click here to watch Segment One

Watch Segment 2

Segment 3

Language Objectives

Sequence events from the past using prepositions. Relate events from the past in relation with other past events using prepositions and prepositional phrases.

Academic Content Objectives

Trace the history of Native Americans from their arrival in America to the establishment of the Mississippian city of Cahokia.

List general traits of Mississippian Culture.

Distinguish between Mississippian Culture and Hopewell cities.

Locate Cahokia on a map. List the three rivers that converge near Cahokia.

Describe the society at Cahokia in terms of social class and government organization. Explain religion’s role in Mississippian society.

Videos Used in this Episode

Viewers saw one video in Episode 87. Click here to see the video Native Americans 4: Ancestors. For ad-free viewing or to download, click here.

Linked Videos

Here’s a link to the video about Cascade Cave in Oregon. Click here to see it. This video includes some intriguing facts about the past if the Pacific Northwest, including the very different flora and fauna encountered by Early Americans here. Images placed on walls of the cave intrigue visitors to Cascade Cave State Park.

Another linked video takes you to the Hopewell Culture. Click here to see the video on You Tube.

External Link

Learn about cave art left by early Americans. Click here to see an article about Oregon’s Cascade Cave. This article from the publishers of the Eugene Register Guard describes the cave near Sweethome, where the art pictured above was discovered.

To learn about Watson Brake in Northeast Louisiana, Click here.

Poverty Point was built later in the same region. Click here to watch a video from Louisiana Public Broadcasting about Poverty Point.

Click here to learn more about the Hopewell Culture.

About these mound cities, The A&E network produced a series that includes a video about ancient Americans. None other than Leonard Nimoy hosts the video. Click here to learn about Cahokia and many other ancient sites.

Hopewell culture is the theme of this National Parks Challenge. Click here to see the video.

Click here for a short video about Hopewell Culture National Historic Park.

For a video on Cahokia Mounds State Park in Illinois, Click here. It’s an old one but a favorite of many.

Resources

Many resources inform these episodes about Native Americans. One source I found to be outstanding is Native Americans: an Illustrated History by Turner Books. There’s great information here about the Mississippian Culture along with the Hopewell Exchange. I’ll also use this source going forward in time. Here’s are the ISBNs of this amazing work:

ISBN-13: 9781572158597

ISBN-10: 157215859X

The book is still available, including used copies. I bought mine from a Goodwill store. It’s very likely that your local library has a copy. It’s that good!

Materials Used in this Episode

Ramping Up your English — Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases can be used to sequence events.

We’ll use these facts for the video *Native Americans 4:Ancestors* to show events in sequence. Sequence is an important element in Social Studies

The word **before** is a preposition. The Prepositional Phrase **before the extinction** sequences the extinction event and the hunting practices.

Ancestors — The Preposition **After** can be used the same way, just from a different direction.

Prepositions — The preposition **while** indicates that events and situations happened at the same time.

Three examples of Using Prepositions to show Sequence

Native American Ancestors — Prepositions are often used to form Prepositional Phrases. The whole phrase functions as a sequencing function.

Next Episode

In Episode 88, we dig into more vocabulary for this unit on Native Americans. We also revisit the Bear Family from Jaime de Angulo’s Indian Tales as they make their journey from the Pit River country toward the coast. We also go back to the great Mississippian City of Cahokia with a piece from Illinois Adventure. Click here to visit Episode 88.