The theme of this year's Fairtrade Fortnight (25 February-10 March) is smallholder farmers. In developing countries a smallholding is usually less than two acres, but despite farming such tiny amounts of land, smallholder farmers produce most of the food consumed in their communities. Currently 75% of all Fairtrade producers are smallholders.
The Fairtrade Foundation's Schools action guide 2013 is packed with ideas on how to get your whole school community thinking about the reasons why poor farmers in developing countries struggle to survive and how fair trade can help transform their lives. Also find this pupil activity sheet.
Traidcraft also explores how fair-trade ideals are represented in Hindu beliefs, particularly exploring the concepts of dhama and karma in this worksheet.
Students can find out about Sansar Chand and his family, who are members of Agrocel, a rice growing co-operative in India, and exlore a lesson on promoting Fairtrade in their community.
Where in the world is food grown? explores where Traidcraft buys its Fairtrade commodities, including sugar, rice, raisins, honey, quinoa and blueberries. To work on the concepts through the medium of dance, see these helpful teachers' notes for an activity where key-stage-2-aged children create a Fairtrade dance to tell the story of a sugar farming community which wants their sugar to be Fairtrade.
Teachers can request one of Traidcraft's 500 volunteer speakers to come in and tell their school more.
Christian Aid has also created some thought-provoking assemblies for this year's Fairtrade Fortnight. Pupils are asked to reflect on the benefits of fairer trade on the lives of people living thousands of miles away, with a particular focus on chocolate producers in Ghana. Secondary school teachers can find a ready-made PowerPoint and teachers' notes. Primary school teachers can download presentation version for younger students and the accompanying notes.
The Pa Pa Paa Live webcast project is well worth checking out. It allows your pupils to communicate live with Fairtrade cocoa farmers. This PowerPoint presentation tells you a bit more about the project and follows a day in the life of Raphael, the son of a Fairtrade cocoa farmer in Ghana.
Sticking to the chocolate theme, Christian Aid has devised the mouth-watering Chocolate Trade Game where pupils trace the journey of a cocoa bean from tree to chocolate bar, and along the way discover the difficulties workers in the chocolate trade face. The game highlights the positive part that trade can play in communities that are developing their economies. Find introductory activities and teachers' notes. Children can use these role-play templates to transform themselves into character, from supermarket owners to consumers to fairtrade cocoa farmers, in preparation for an informed debate. Find some additional information on the chocolate trade in Ghana and prompts for a follow-up discussion to extend and clarify learning.
If all this talk of chocolate stirring your pupils, see details of the Divine Poetry competition. This year's competition is judged by Geraldine McCaughrean and pupils aged seven and above get to write about what chocolate means to them and the world.
For a healthier alternative to chocolate, pupils can explore the story of how a humble banana gets from the Caribbean to the UK in Oxfam's fantastic Go Bananas photo gallery. Find all six Go Bananas lessons, teaching ideas and fairtrade inspiration here.
Oxfam and the Co-operative's Green Schools Revolution have teamed up to offer some excellent workshops to help students make the link between food we consume and the people who produce it. See this excellent PowerPoint on smallholder farmers and accompanying teachers' notes which will help young people understand more about smallholder farmers, and what issues affect them. If you enjoy delivering this activity and would like to expand on this than request a speaker online here.
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