Wednesday, May 02, 2007

A Simple Lesson Idea for Showing Students the Living Conditions of our World Inhabitants

This is a lesson that can be done in small or large classes. I have done this lesson in the cross-cultural understanding class I have taught the past 2 years. The goal of this lesson is to get students to think about how their standard of living compares to other of people's standard of living and also to teach them vocabulary related to global studies. This is a rough outline of the lesson.

Time: 90 minutes

I Introduction
Today we are going to investigate the different levels of standard of living that we can find on this earth. >
II <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Excercise 1: How much money do people have?
Using the following map for reference, students fill out the following worksheet (Answers are on the second page). In the worksheet, students guess how much money each region in the earth would have if there were only 100 dollar bills, how many people each region would have if there were only 100 people, the number of dollars per person in each region, and what the area of each region of the world would be if the total area of the earth was 100.
This is based on a lesson from a Japanese Global Education group.

III Exercise 2: What is the standard of living of people on this earth?

Part 1
Students fill out the following worksheet (html version) (pdf version). This worksheet is taken from the popular "If the World were 100 People" book. The work sheet looks something like this:
If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

There would be:
____________ Asians
____________Europeans
____________ from the West Hemisphere
____________Africans
____________ from North America
____________ from South America and the Caribbean ____________Africans
____________from Oceania
___________ non-white*
___________ white*
etc... There are a lot of items.
Depending on how much time you have, students can guess the number for each item or you can have students read the items in groups and confirm that they understand each item (there are some difficult ones). The teacher goes over the meaning or explains difficult words.

Part 2
Students watch a movie called Miniature Earth which presents the "If the World were 100 People" data. It can be viewed freely on the internet or you can download it onto your computer for $5. Students fill out the blanks in the worksheet. Some of the items in the worksheet are not in the movie. You can have students guess these items and then tell them the answers. The answers for the worksheet can be viewed here.

Part 3
For homework students write what about the movie surprised them and how representative their country is to the global village of 100 people.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Jimbo,
I've been a regular visitor to your blog for a few weeks now! Basically you have my dream job haha, I have been really lucky though, as recently I came across a volunteer project to teach in Japan. As my Japanese language classes finish this month I am hoping to embark on this great journey in September.
Although because this project is voluntary I have been trying to fundraise for weeks now with not much result. As a teacher yourself, I was hoping you would maybe take a moment to have a look at the project mission:http://sharepoint.isleofcoll.org/projecttrust/MainSite/Overseas/Countries/japan.aspx

And if possible to possibly donate a small amount to help me on my way to becoming a teacher in Japan. This has been my dream for years and I hope that with a little help I'll be over there with you in a similar job and enjoying every moment of it!

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thankyou.
http://www.pledgepage.org/jlegear/admin/donate.php

Best wishes,
Jenna

Anonymous said...

You must be a pretty busy guy as well. It seems like blogging is the first to be cut back when the pressure is on. How often would you like to post in an ideal world?

JH said...

Steve,
In an ideal world I would post once a week. I have a lot of things I want to post about, but no time. I don't use the computer so much at home these days and when I am at work I have no time to post.
I would really like to post about task based teaching actually: I like it but is it really possible to do in Japan?

Anonymous said...

It looks like a great lesson. Is this for a class that is specifically interested in World Issues or just any class? Does it work with Japan-obsessed teenagers? Is there a specific language focus I can file it under?

Thanks
Alex Case
www.tefl.net/alexcase

Anonymous said...

Hello. I am a teacher of EFL. I live and work in Vilnius, Lithuania. At the moment I am writing an article about using translation in a language lesson, what teachers think of it, do they do it and why. I have compiled a questionnaire and would like to find teachers who would be interested to contribute by filling it in. I can forward it into your email. Please contact me at elepran_libra@yahoo.com

Thanks!

Ele

JH said...

Alex,
Sorry for being so late in replying. I did this lesson for a class that was interested in world issues but I think that this could work with any Japanese teenager. The reason why is because students learn how Japan's wealth compares to that of the rest of the world.
JH

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jimbo. Does it have a particular language focus I could file it in the teachers' room under?

TEFLtastic blog- www.tefl.net/alexcase

JH said...

Alex,
This lesson did not have a particular language focus other than vocabulary related to world issues. I used this lesson for a seminar which was advertised as grammar-free. This lesson was for students who wanted to use and listen to English but did not want explicit instruction.
Jimbo