Focus on Fair Trade

UPDATE: TransFair USA is now Fair Trade USA.

TransFair USA's Focus on Fair Trade Curriculum is designed to help students understand the concept of Fair Trade and to highlight its value and significance to farmers and communities. Using familiar imported foods—chocolate, bananas and coffee—as the focus, your students will gain an appreciation for the hard work of farmers and will feel empowered knowing their consumer choices have real impacts on real people.

GO TO EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND EXPLORE RELATED YES! STORIES FOR EACH ACTIVITY: :: Chocolate Explorer (K-2) :: Banana Bonanza (3-6) :: Coffee Connections (7-12)

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Chocolate Explorer (K-2)

The five lesson plans in the Chocolate Explorer (K-2) curriculum will have your students role playing, story mapping and brainstorming as they follow the journey of a cocoa bean from the farm to becoming a Fair Trade chocolate bar.

Students will learn not only where cocoa beans come from, but they also will discuss and debate what is fair and unfair to farmers.

	Fair Trade: For Everyone's Benefit The Fair Trade movement has forged direct, stable, long-term trade relations between producers and buyers. Here is how it works. YES! Magazine #36, Spiritual Uprising
	Bring Fair Trade into Your Classroom Find out how to make your school Fair Trade with Global Exchange. YES! Education Connection
	Creating Real Prosperity Poor people are themselves creating the real job growth in much of the Global South through microcredit institutions and people's movements. YES! Magazine #40, Go Local

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Banana Bonanza (3-6)

Check out Banana Bonanza (3-6) for engaging lesson plans that focus on the banana supply chain, from farm to supermarket. Your students will further their understanding of the industry by probing issues of fairness and environmental and social costs of banana production.

	Gaviotas – Oasis for the Imagination In the midst of some of the most barren reaches of Colombia, a group of visionarieis invent sustainable technologies, plant trees, and discover - to their amazement - that the rainforest is returning. YES! Magazine #7, Peacemakers
	Reclaiming Our Freedom to Learn Creating alternatives to traditional schools, in Oaxaca the Zapatistas started their own university, "Unitierra", where students learn what is relevant to their communities, and learn by apprenticeship. YES! Magazine #44, Liberate Your Space
	Salsa Ladies of Golden Jubilee Microloans make small scale enterprises possible in rural India. YES! Magazine #40, Go Local

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Coffee Connections (7-12)

Lesson plans from Coffee Connections (7-12) get to the heart of Fair Trade. Students not only will identify poverty and global inequalities, they also will be inspired to take action in promoting Fair Trade in their own homes, schools, and communities.

	Java Justice Jewish Ugandan coffee farmers partner with Christian and Muslim neighbors to produce jobs, understanding, and a great cup of joe. YES! Magazine #36, Spiritual Uprising
	Resources on International Solidarity A resource guide for action across borders. YES! Magazine #29, A Conspiracy of Hope
	Defining Words on Our Own Terms: Free Trade or Fair Trade Markets are either fair or unfair; they are never "free" or "unfettered." YES! Online, Column by Frances More Lappe

 

 

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TransFair USA, now Fair Trade USA, enables sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, consumers, industry, and the earth. Fair Trade USA achieves its mission by certifying and promoting Fair Trade products for the U.S. In addition to providing teaching tools for the classroom, Fair Trade USA also offers many other resources to assist educators and consumers to participate in the Fair Trade model. Find out more about Fair Trade USA's work. You can also sign up for their free Fair Trade Beat newsletter.

 

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The above resources accompany the Summer 2008 YES! Education Connection Newsletter

READ NEWSLETTER: Food Crisis? Teach Fair Trade