THE FOCUS ON FAIR TRADE CURRICULUM FOR TEACHING FAIR TRADE TO K-12

Students in the United States are connected to people across the globe in many different ways from the clothes we wear to the coffee we drink. As budding global citizens, students are expected to be aware of their connections with the rest of the world, and to take responsibility for the impact of their actions on human communities and the environment. 

The Focus on Fair Trade Curriculum offers an accessible way to introduce students of all ages to the concept of global interdependence and citizenship, through an exploration of familiar foods produced outside the USA: chocolate, bananas and coffee.

The curriculum includes engaging activities that help students to identify with the hard work of farmers around the world, and to develop interest in learning more about where their food comes from. The curriculum further fosters global citizenship as students learn to recognize and appreciate empowering consumer choices such as Fair Trade, which have a real impact on people around the world. 

MORE ABOUT THE FOCUS ON FAIR TRADE CURRICULUM

National Curriculum Standards
The Focus on Fair Trade Curriculum serves to foster a sense of global citizenship while also developing skills and knowledge in national standard content areas. Dynamic and engaging activities encourage active learning and the development of critical thinking skills.  Each unit is designed to meet multiple age-appropriate standards in a variety of subject and skill areas, detailed at the end of each unit.

Lesson Plans
Each unit contains a series of lesson plans that build consecutively toward the concept of Fair Trade, providing contextual and conceptual grounding that helps highlight the value and significance of Fair Trade to communities around the world. Each lesson plan includes activities, materials, background information, handouts, highlighted objectives, overview, assessment suggestions, and vocabulary.

The lesson plans for each unit may be conducted separately over several weeks, or consecutively over several days to a week.  If there is sufficient time, teachers are encouraged to teach a full unit as the flow from one lesson to the next promotes students’ understanding of the topic of Fair Trade and its relevance to social and environmental concerns today. However, a teacher may choose a single activity or individual lesson to fit into a class period.

PDFs
The full curriculum is available online for free in downloadable PDF format.

ASSESSMENT

By the end of each unit students should be able to:

• Identify some ways in which countries and regions of the world are interdependent.
• Identify some challenges faced by farmers who produce many common foods we eat.
• Demonstrate an understanding of Fair Trade as an empowering alternative solution for farmers.
• Use written, oral, and visual communication skills to present the results of geographic inquiry and analysis of reading material effectively.
• Demonstrate an ability to critically discuss information sources.
• Demonstrate an understanding of Action Planning for raising the profile of Fair Trade locally.

Teaching Strategies

• Paired Learning
• Cooperative Small Group Work
• Discussion/Debate
• Direct Instruction
• Creative Arts Activities
• Brainstorm

Please: We Want Your Feedback!  Tell us what you think, or how you’ve used these resources.  If there is something that worked well or didn’t work at all, we want to know!  Click "Tell Us Your Story" to leave a testimonial about your classrooms experience learning about Fair Trade or contact us at jguzzi@transfairusa.org.