WORKSHEET A1-A2
THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA

Part 1. Warm-up

• Why do you think ancient people built very large stone buildings?
• Do you think it was difficult to move huge stone blocks thousands of years ago?
• Are there any huge ancient buildings in your country?

Part 2. Vocabulary focus

Part 3. Reading – The Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza is in Egypt. It was built about 4,500 years ago. It was built for an ancient Egyptian king called Khufu. Many experts believed that the building was a tomb. A tomb was a special place where people buried a king after he died.

The Great Pyramid was built from millions of stone blocks. Each block was very large and very heavy. Some blocks weighed more than two tons. The workers cut the stone in special places near the Nile River. Then they moved each block to the building site. The workers used simple tools made of wood and stone. They did not have modern machines. They pulled the heavy blocks with ropes and worked together in large groups.

The building process took many years. Experts believed that the workers built the tomb in about 20 years. Thousands of workers helped with the construction. They lifted the blocks, pushed them into place, and carefully built the structure layer by layer.

Inside the tomb, there are several rooms called chambers. The most famous are the King’s Chamber and the Queen’s Chamber. There is also a long hallway called the Grand Gallery. For many years, people did not know about these inner chambers. The inside of the tomb was hidden.

About 1,000 years ago, a leader broke into the tomb. He entered one of the chambers and looked inside. When he explored the rooms, he found that they were empty. There was no treasure and no body of the king. This surprised many people.

In 1872, a British engineer named Waynman Dixon visited the tomb. He wanted to discover more about its structure. He tapped on the wall of one chamber and heard a different sound. He made a small hole in the wall. Behind the wall, he found a hidden space. Inside the space, he discovered a stone ball, a metal hook, and some small pieces of wood. These objects became known as the “Dixon Relics.”

Later, the pieces of wood disappeared. People did not know where they were. Many years passed. Then, in 2020, a university worker found a small box in storage. Inside the box were the missing pieces of wood. Scientists tested the wood using modern technology. The results surprised everyone.

The tests showed that the wood was older than the time of King Khufu. This created a new mystery. If the wood was older, maybe the tomb was older too. Some people began to ask new questions. Did Khufu really build the tomb? Or did someone build it earlier?

Today, the Great Pyramid still stands in the desert. Millions of tourists visit it every year. They look at the huge stone blocks and walk inside the chambers. Even after thousands of years, the Great Pyramid remains one of the greatest mysteries in history.

Part 4. Reading Comprehension

Part 5. Grammar (Past Simple)

Part 6. Vocabulary – Gap-fill