Development, globalization, convergence and poverty

1/ Contextualization

Course                 Introduction to the Economy.

                               1st course Baccalaureate

Chapter               nº 15 – Growth and Development.

Chapter topics                 Introduction to concepts and analysis of the factors that explain the differences in growth and development between countries and the initiatives to promote the development

Lesson                 nº 3 – Development, globalization, convergence and poverty.

Lesson topics                   Definition of globalization and main factors affecting it (positively and negatively), definition of U.N. Millennium goals and analysis of performance, definition of poverty and extreme poverty, initiatives to promote development and equality, analysis of sustainability and environmental policies.

2/ Activities

2.1/Previous knowledge of the topics

Materials:

Pictures: (1) Child labour, (2) Deforestation, (3) International trade and (4) Extreme poverty.

Class discussion:

1- Describe what you see (environment, working conditions, living conditions, welfare…)

2- Who are the people affected by this situation?

3- What consequences will it have to the local people? And to the environment? And to the world economy?

2.2/ New topics

Materials:

Video Crash Course Economics #16

To watch the video, please click green button "Globalization"

_{Transcription: "Back in the 1990´s the United Nations created 8 Millenium Development Goals, with a deadline of 2015. The goals included things like reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality, and combating major diseases. But the firts on the list was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Now, poverty means different things in different countries because there´s different standards of living around the world. In the U.S. a person is officially living in poverty if they make less than $11,770 a year, around $32 a day...."}

While watching the video, the students will take notes of the main issues.

2.1.1/Semantic network

After watching the video, the students will gather in groups of 3 to make a semantic network.

There will be a class discussion when each group will comment their conclusions to build all together a class semantic network.

2.1.2/ Role playing

The students will gather in 3 groups of 5 (1º multinational company, 2º consumers of a developed country, and 3 º workers of a developing country) in order to debate the following questions:

-How to put people before profit (instead of profit before people)?,

-How to make development to be sustainable?,

-How to obtain a better local development by participating in global markets?.

One student will act as the moderator.

Conclusions: The moderator will make a summary of the activities performed and the main concepts learned.

The students will be encouraged to give their responses using the following:

* to express obligation: need / needn´t

* to express prohibition: mustn´t, be not supposed to

* to express advice: should / ought to, had better

For further information: click green button "Lesson_plan"