Ivan was pleased to see that more than one hand raised at the question. It was a simple question, yes.. but at least it showed some participation. He caught that the French boy was the first to raise his hand, but the Irish seemed just as eager. Hm... he didn't like discluding people who actually knew the material... he will have to get used to picking just the person who shot their hand up first. That can come later...
"Ef your answer was d'e Tigris and Euphrates rivers, d'en you are correct." The Russian shifted his gaze from the students and back to the board.
"Now, Ef people wanted to live, d'ey needed shelters, right? D'e technology we have today did not exist back d'en. So, people lived in hand or nature-made facilities. Usually lazy people will take up living in caves, but many took d'e time to build reed-and-mud huts like d'is..." Ivan reached out and picked up the small replica of a hand-made reed hut. "You can pass et around ef you want, just don't break e...."
"Ne! Fratello! Buon Giorno!
Ivan snapped his gaze toward the Italian and blinked. "Meester Vargas!" He snapped, but that smile made itself visible once more. "Please keep your voice down. a'I am almost finished here."
After he let the students get a good view of the hut, he set it down.
"People also learned how to mix chopped hay up with mud, and bake them in d'e hot sun and build from them too. These were the first bricks. They wern't as strong as todays, of course, but they were still strong enough to build several-floored structures. They were hard and expensive to make, so usually only d'e rich used d'em to make tombs, temples, and facilities for the wealthy." Ivan then picked up a hard, heavy brick-looking thing and held it up. It was too heavy to pass around, though.
"Alright. D'at es all d'e time we have for today, once you get your homework, you are dismissed. For homework, a'I ask you just read over section 1 again, and stop after you read about d'e Sumerians and d'e wheel. You don't have much to do, but t'ings will get more interesting in d'e future classes, so a'I highly suggest you absorb all d'e information you can ahead of time."
Ivan came and passed around slips of paper to each of his students. "For homework, a'I just ask you to fill out d'ese questions to turn d'em into me for next class. And please, d'ey might look simple; they are there just to see who's been paying attention to d'e text, but d'at does not give you free reign to give lazy answers on d'em."
The paper help a place where one could put their name and date on it, and the questions wrote;
1. What caused the first farmers to settle in the first place?
2. What tools did the first famers use?
3. What does "Mesopotamia" mean?
4. True or false: Writing started in Mesopotamia
5. True or false: The first wheel was made out of brick
6. What is a ziggurat?
7. How do you think the wheel was first discovered?