Recently the 8th graders did a little research on the Aztec calendar system. It's an intricate system to track the passage of time. The students figured out what the equivalent of their birthdays would be on the Aztec calendar and they illustrated the images. They did a great job! You can find the equivalent to your own birthday at this site: http://www.azteccalendar.com/
We also learned a couple of English words that were derived from Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs). Words like chocolate came from xocolatl; tomato from tomatl; and avocado from avocatl. I studied the origins of the Spanish language as part of my master's degree and I think it's interesting to see how words adapt and change from one language to another. Hopefully the students find it interesting too!
