Nathalie Josiah and Neil Gladwin are REAL Projects Teachers at Passmores Academy, in Essex.
Exploring Fair Trade at Passmores
Our young learners will be researching what Fair Trade is and what cash crops are. They will investigate the impact Fair Trade and cash crops have on the social environment within the country the crop is grown. They will also be looking at the different cost implications of Fair Trade foods and ‘battery’ foods on a persons wealth in the UK. They will be making field sketches of the environment their chosen Fair Trade food has come from. All of this information will be drafted and critiqued until the young learners are proud of their achievements and only then will they be able to create their final products.
Three groups will pursue three interlinked products. The first ‘triad’ will apply the information they drafted and critiqued to develop a food menu. Why are they placing this onto a menu? Well the young learners will be opening their own cafe! This cafe will be open to teachers, students and selected members of the public. We will be selling Fair Trade pancakes and smoothies, all whilst sitting in a cafe with ‘windows’ overlooking the Fair Trade fields they discovered earlier. Our young people will be seating their customers, taking orders from their customers, taking these orders to the kitchen staff. In the kitchen the young learners will be prepping the food, cooking or making the food, plating the food, serving the food and finally cleaning the food away. After the exhibition, we will be calculating whether or not we have managed to make a profit for our cafe!
The second triad will apply the information they drafted and critiqued to create a documentary which will be screened in their local area so that members of the community will be able to comment on their work and share in some of their successes. Those who are part of this media triad will be planning, storyboarding, filming and editing their fair trade documentary using the knowledge they have gained from the research process. They will be given free reign to pick the aspect of fair trade they are most interested in and would like to cover in their film, pick the roles for their group members; prepare and ultimately produce the film. They will learn as they go, develop as they progress and grow as an independent learner; all whilst having a whole lot of fun!
The final triad will – once again applying the information they drafted and critiqued – be designing and developing a key chain that promotes Fair Trade.
