Portsmouth Fairtrade Forum

working for a Fairtrade city

Some Curriculum Ideas

Largely based on ideas from the Times Educational Supplement 30.5.03 and Reading International Solidarity Centre).

Fairness

The idea of something being ‘fair’ is easily grasped by students of all ages. The issue of Fairtrade can appeal to their natural sense of justice and provides an ideal vehicle for teaching the National Curriculum.

The idea of unfairness is easy to get across:

Only answer questions from girls/children with blue eyes/children with fair hair.
Only certain children are allowed to sit down/go outside.
Arrange games but change the rules. One side has fewer players/a smaller goal post/ more hurdles/has to hop/starts later in a race.
Divide a chocolate bar or banana unfairly.

For instance if 5 large (24 piece) bars of chocolate represent the wealth of the world and 5 children represent the population of the world

How much chocolate does each child get for their fifth of the population?

1^st child 4 bars 2^nd child 16 pieces, 3rd child, 5 pieces, 4th child 2 pieces, last child 1 piece.

For accuracy: The top fifth of the world’s population have 77.3% of its wealth; the next fifth 14.3%; the next fifth 4.7%, the next 2.3% and the last 1.4%

You can find out how the price of a banana is divided with Cafod's Banana Split Game

Of course stories about slavery and moving to cities will take this to a new level.

Inter-dependency

It’s also easy to get children to think about how their lives link with the rest of the world.

What foods did they eat yesterday?
What music do they listen to?
Where have friends and family travelled to?
Where do their clothes come from?

Use pictures

Looking at a photograph, discuss with children what is happening, then what might have happened beforehand or afterwards.
Let children add their drawings of themselves to a picture and discuss the similarities between them and the children in the pictures,
Ask them to think of all the commonalities and links between their lives and the lives of the people in the picture.

Stories

Children can relate to stories about children in other countries, maybe some whose lives have been changed by fairer trade. There are lots of case studiers on the sites we have listed eg Oxfam

Responsibility/concern for others

Fairtrade tends to appeal to people because it is something very practical and immediate that they can do. But buying the products is only part of the story; they can promote the idea to others, campaign on trade justice, fight to challenge world poverty……

Annual events

Don’t forget that there are lots of events during the year which provide a natural link for thinking about global issues and fairtrade, like Fairtrade Fortnight 26th Feb – 11th March 2007. See the calendar

Primary ideas

Make a display of Fairtrade products and investigate the packaging to discover where they originated. Mark these places on a world map and research the geography and climate of each place.
Take the story of a particular product and learn about where it comes from as well as the lives of the growers.
Write a story about a producer in a developing country. Compare it with a worker in the UK – maybe a parent.
Discuss some of the difficulties growers in poor countries experience from the natural environment.
Organise a school event using only Fairtrade products. Invite parents and explain to them what Fairtrade involves.
Write to local supermarkets asking about their policy on stocking Fairtrade products. Then write again in response to positive or negative replies.
Conduct a survey to see how many people have heard of Fairtrade products. Record the results in graphs, tables or charts.
Compare Fairtrade prices with other store products (the internet is useful here) and plot the results in a graph.
Investigate different types of Fairtrade products. This could include weighing and measuring, discussing packaging and finding out where the ingredients come from.
Find out about the history of coffee, banana or sugar production.
Undertake role-play activities in a scenario where a buyer, a farmer, a trader, a supermarket owner meet and argue their point of view.
Write a school policy document on the use of Fairtrade products and present it to others.
Look at the Fairtrade Mark and describe what it makes you think of. Produce art work based around the Mark.

Art & Design ideas

Use Fairtrade artefacts when looking at art, craft and design from different cultures
Design new Fairtrade products plus posters to advertise Fairtrade/explain its message.

Business Studies ideas

There are lots of new companies being set up with different objectives and values. Why not look at how they are organised and what they are trying to achieve.

For example:

Citizenship ideas

Understanding the world as a global community and the inter-connectedness of people and places.
Sustainable development
Participating and being responsible for school and community-based activities eg a Fairtrade event or campaign
Taking action to bring about positive change
Debate on Fairtrade linked to social and moral responsibilities.

Design & Technology ideas

Investigating and evaluating products
Looking at packaging, including the information on labels.
Designing recipes and menus. See http://www.fairtradecookbook.org.uk/
Environmental impact of production
Appropriate use of resources
Views of producers and users

English ideas

See our links to pages for English teachers:

Ideas for English Teachers
AQA Different Cultures
Investigating a Media Text
Investigating the Fairtrade leaflet
Teachers investigating the Fairtrade leaflet
Investigating the Portsmouth Fairtrade leaflet
Teachers investigating the Portsmouth Fairtrade leaflet
Contact us if you'd like supplies of the leaflets.

Other ideas

Persuasive letters eg asking supermarkets to stock more products
Creative writing
Analysing promotional materials
Creative writing, poetry and drama
World literature: exploring different cultures and developing an understanding of the experiences of producers.
Debates or discussions about the need for Fair trade.

Geography/Citizenship

KS1 Bananas, Coffee and other traded goods could be used to develop an understanding of how places are linked to other places in the world.

Looking at the way goods are produced and sold can raise lots of issues. Look at Globaleye’s pages on diamonds or CAFOD’s work on gold mining

KS2 The Environmental impact of plantation farming would be an excellent topic to develop the concepts of environmental change and sustainable development

KS3 and above Fair Trade can be the focus for economic activity, development and environmental issues. An in depth study of a commodity such as bananas or coffee is ideal for linking the local to the global and for giving pupils the opportunity to clarify their values towards social, environmental and political issues.

Cut up a banana or chocolate bar so that each segment is proportional to the money earned by those in the production, distribution and sale. Decide which class members get which. See the Banana Split Game

Looking at migration routes of families who are unable to support themselves in the countryside. This links to the growth of cities.

Do an in-depth study of a particular commodity. See Banana Link or Windwards Bananas for bananas, Global Gang or Dubble for chocolate as just two examples.

There are lots of other case studies on the Fairtrade Foundation site

History

Fairtrade links to lots of topics:
Diversity in Britain and the wider world
Impact of the expansion of trade and colonization
The Slave trade and the abolition of the Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade in 1807. Have a look at Freedom and Anti Slavery
20^th Century world including human rights

ICT

Fairtrade can be used to develop internet research skills, presentation skills etc. There are also materials on the exploitation behind making computers.

Maths ideas

Data handling: Investigate the factors contributing to the price of produce from the developing world (labour, transport, producer profit, retail costs, taxation, supermarket profits) compared with products from the developed world. These can be displayed in various different graphical forms.

Comparing wages and costs in a developing country with those in the UK.

Understanding the marketing and promotion of products

Media Studies

Look at advertisements for coffee or chocolate. What brand images are presented? What information is not supplied?

Understanding logos. Is the FAIRTADE Mark a logo?

Construct a campaign to sell Fairtrade Coffee.

Design a Fairtrade leaflet