Globalisation: Teaching Ideas
Group Activities
The concept of an increasingly connected world is crucial to the topic of globalisation. When I taught this topic for year eight I created a hexagon activity which introduced some ideas of how and why the world is becoming more interdependent. I split the class into groups of five or six and delivered two envelopes to every group. The first envelope contained purple, black and red hexagons. The purple hexagons are factors that encourage globalisation (e.g. ICT and transport). The red hexagons are examples of developments in ICT and transport. Pupils had to first identify which red hexagons showed what sort of development.
Next pupils opened the second envelope in their groups and decided where the blue hexagons should go. The blue hexagons are explanations of how the red hexagons connect to the purple ones. The idea is that pupils gradually build up the complexity of the idea in a manageable way. Students can also develop their teamwork, communication and problem solving skills throughout this task.
At the end of each stage of the activity I led a class discussion on the answers and at the end provided each pupil with a copy of the correct answers. I followed up this activity by asking pupils to write about how they are liked to globalisation for homework using this sheet.
The concept of an increasingly connected world is crucial to the topic of globalisation. When I taught this topic for year eight I created a hexagon activity which introduced some ideas of how and why the world is becoming more interdependent. I split the class into groups of five or six and delivered two envelopes to every group. The first envelope contained purple, black and red hexagons. The purple hexagons are factors that encourage globalisation (e.g. ICT and transport). The red hexagons are examples of developments in ICT and transport. Pupils had to first identify which red hexagons showed what sort of development.
Next pupils opened the second envelope in their groups and decided where the blue hexagons should go. The blue hexagons are explanations of how the red hexagons connect to the purple ones. The idea is that pupils gradually build up the complexity of the idea in a manageable way. Students can also develop their teamwork, communication and problem solving skills throughout this task.
At the end of each stage of the activity I led a class discussion on the answers and at the end provided each pupil with a copy of the correct answers. I followed up this activity by asking pupils to write about how they are liked to globalisation for homework using this sheet.
More Active Ideas
Globalisation covers the topic of sweatshops and commonly includes one or two lessons based around a factory game. You can divide your class into groups and their job is to be workers in a factory. You normally provide them with a template of something to manufacture by drawing around it, colouring it in and cutting it out. I have seen pupils produce dresses or trainers. Trainers had to be produced in pairs, and the dresses had a different design for the back and the front. The idea is that the game demonstrates how unfair the world is to sweatshop workers. Students will get paid for every item they produce. They usually start with limited resources to make the game more difficult e.g. one piece of paper, one pencil, one pair of scissors. They can save up and buy more resources from the teacher who plays the role of the banker. Every month each factory has to pay rent and this is not always even. I used this as a behaviour management tool so that groups working well had cheaper wages, unless they were earning too much too quickly and then you charge them more rent. The game is more effective for teaching students about the inequality for sweatshop workers if more of the factories are in debt by the end of the game. To make it more interesting you can make the prices vary at random. You can also add in random life events for each group using cards. For example, you could introduce an illness, fines or charity to some groups to alter the amount of people in their group and the resources or money they have.
At the end of a lesson playing the factory game you could use the opportunity to have students reflect on their team work skills, their strategy for the game and what they could do to improve for next lesson. They could also assess the team in the lead and discuss why they think that team has made more money than anyone else. The idea is for students to set themselves targets to improve their skills and also to be more aware of how they can progress.
Globalisation covers the topic of sweatshops and commonly includes one or two lessons based around a factory game. You can divide your class into groups and their job is to be workers in a factory. You normally provide them with a template of something to manufacture by drawing around it, colouring it in and cutting it out. I have seen pupils produce dresses or trainers. Trainers had to be produced in pairs, and the dresses had a different design for the back and the front. The idea is that the game demonstrates how unfair the world is to sweatshop workers. Students will get paid for every item they produce. They usually start with limited resources to make the game more difficult e.g. one piece of paper, one pencil, one pair of scissors. They can save up and buy more resources from the teacher who plays the role of the banker. Every month each factory has to pay rent and this is not always even. I used this as a behaviour management tool so that groups working well had cheaper wages, unless they were earning too much too quickly and then you charge them more rent. The game is more effective for teaching students about the inequality for sweatshop workers if more of the factories are in debt by the end of the game. To make it more interesting you can make the prices vary at random. You can also add in random life events for each group using cards. For example, you could introduce an illness, fines or charity to some groups to alter the amount of people in their group and the resources or money they have.
At the end of a lesson playing the factory game you could use the opportunity to have students reflect on their team work skills, their strategy for the game and what they could do to improve for next lesson. They could also assess the team in the lead and discuss why they think that team has made more money than anyone else. The idea is for students to set themselves targets to improve their skills and also to be more aware of how they can progress.
Visual Ideas
A very popular activity with the students on this topic is to play 'The Logo Game'. Using animations on a PowerPoint presentation can be very effective for this activity. Gather images of multinational company logos and create a competition in your class for who can correctly guess what company the logo belongs to and what country they originally came from. The game works better if you can try to select places from many different countries. The ones I used are listed below to save you time researching. This game can contribute to the idea that companies are often worldwide and that they didn't start that way but globalisation has helped them to expand their business. Students often find this very exciting so they may be lively but it is definitely a good way to engage them as a starter. You can differentiate this task by having some easy and some difficult logos, as well as giving pupils the choice of working in pairs.
A very popular activity with the students on this topic is to play 'The Logo Game'. Using animations on a PowerPoint presentation can be very effective for this activity. Gather images of multinational company logos and create a competition in your class for who can correctly guess what company the logo belongs to and what country they originally came from. The game works better if you can try to select places from many different countries. The ones I used are listed below to save you time researching. This game can contribute to the idea that companies are often worldwide and that they didn't start that way but globalisation has helped them to expand their business. Students often find this very exciting so they may be lively but it is definitely a good way to engage them as a starter. You can differentiate this task by having some easy and some difficult logos, as well as giving pupils the choice of working in pairs.
- Shell = London, UK.
- Facebook = Harvard, America.
- Ryan Air = Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
- Mercedes = Germany.
- Starbucks = Seattle, America.
- Vodafone = London, UK.
- Adidas = Germany.
- HMV = Canada.
- McDonalds = California, America.
- Samsung = Korea (Blank out the name on the logo with a white shape).
Written Ideas
During this topic I saw an opportunity for some creative writing and after I had taught pupils about sweatshops I gave them the opportunity to write a short diary from the perspective of a sweatshop worker. The task is designed to subconsciously allow students to empathise with the workers and develop a better understanding of what it would be like to live in those conditions from day to day. To help students structure their diary entries I first read through the story of a worker called Rosa from a Geography textbook. Students read different sections for the story out-loud to the rest of the class which helped to differentiated for those who find reading daunting and difficult. This strategy also ensured that more students were engaged with the text, rather than expecting them to read it alone and later discovering that they hadn't read it all or hadn't understood it. This activity was very interesting and the students managed to use their imaginations very effectively. I would allow students more time to complete this task if I used it again ( I originally gave them fifteen minutes). Most of their diary entries were unfinished but demonstrated that they were starting to think carefully about Rosa's situation.
To check pupils understanding of sweatshops from the companies perspective you could ask them to produce a job advertisement for Rosa's position. This gives students the challenge of considering the benefits of the job and how companies might try to hide the reality of such poor working conditions. I gave pupils a breakdown of what to include in the job advert to help scaffold the task. I ask them to include working hours and the wages, as well as emphasising that the company would want the job to sound appealing to people. One pupil in particular developed an advert with a very positive spin on the job and included small print at the bottom telling me what the job was actually like which I thought was very inventive.
During this topic I saw an opportunity for some creative writing and after I had taught pupils about sweatshops I gave them the opportunity to write a short diary from the perspective of a sweatshop worker. The task is designed to subconsciously allow students to empathise with the workers and develop a better understanding of what it would be like to live in those conditions from day to day. To help students structure their diary entries I first read through the story of a worker called Rosa from a Geography textbook. Students read different sections for the story out-loud to the rest of the class which helped to differentiated for those who find reading daunting and difficult. This strategy also ensured that more students were engaged with the text, rather than expecting them to read it alone and later discovering that they hadn't read it all or hadn't understood it. This activity was very interesting and the students managed to use their imaginations very effectively. I would allow students more time to complete this task if I used it again ( I originally gave them fifteen minutes). Most of their diary entries were unfinished but demonstrated that they were starting to think carefully about Rosa's situation.
To check pupils understanding of sweatshops from the companies perspective you could ask them to produce a job advertisement for Rosa's position. This gives students the challenge of considering the benefits of the job and how companies might try to hide the reality of such poor working conditions. I gave pupils a breakdown of what to include in the job advert to help scaffold the task. I ask them to include working hours and the wages, as well as emphasising that the company would want the job to sound appealing to people. One pupil in particular developed an advert with a very positive spin on the job and included small print at the bottom telling me what the job was actually like which I thought was very inventive.
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