KEY POINTS:
• Trade
creates direct economic benefits in the form of profits, wages
and affordable consumer goods and services
• Trade also creates an atmosphere for the sharing
and dissemination of new ideas, processes, inventions and skills
• Trade has cultural impacts on things such as cuisine,
clothing, the arts, religion, and music
ACTIVITY
1: Trade provides many interesting opportunities for small
businesses to expand outside their traditional market areas.
(8th and up):
Select
a small business in your community that is in the retail,
manufacturing or agricultural sector. Contact them through
a business letter, e-mail or personal contact and find out
if they are involved in international trade. Some questions
you might ask:
Do
you sell or buy goods made outside the U.S. ?
How did your business become involved in trade ?
How many employees do you have, and in what kind of jobs?
What other countries do you deal with?
Do you need to speak other languages?
What other questions can you think of to ask?
Obtain
some of their sales and marketing literature and make a presentation
to the class that profiles this business. Some students might
want to make their presentation in the persuasive form, for
example as though they were seeking investors for the company
or promoting the company to a new client overseas.
More
advanced students might want to create a business plan for
their own small business involved in trade.
Have
the class create a chart that shows the number of businesses
in the community involved in trade, the number of employees
that have jobs as a result, and also tracks how these employees
and their families might be spending the money that they make.
ACTIVITY
2: Explore how connections that develop from trade also spread
ideas and popular culture rapidly through the world. (all
ages, adjust expectation of complexity of reports to age group)
This
assignment can be done in groups or by individual students.
Each student/group selects an area of interest: Aerospace,
Architecture, Art, Fashion, Food, Internet, Medicine, Music,
Religion, Small Business, Sports (and so on, the possibilities
are endless!).
| A. |
Examine
how international influences shape the topic you have
selected (don’t overlook the popularity of American
culture overseas).
Where did an idea, style, sport, etc. originate?
Where did it develop? (Sometimes an idea begins in one
place but really doesn’t develop until it reaches
someplace else).
Where is this idea going today?
How popular is it in the location where it began?
How popular is it in your hometown? |
| B. |
Talk
to parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles about your
topic.
Is it popular with them today?
Had they heard of it when they were your age?
Do they know where it came from? |
| C. |
While
talking to interview subjects, also discuss the changing
connotations of where things are made. For example, how
have goods “Made in Japan” changed over the
years, “Made in England” and so on. |
| D. |
Consider
e-mail or chat with kids in other countries to learn more
about what they think about your topic. |
Suggestions
for Assessment
Oral or written evidence that the student can discuss each
point and concept and support it with 3 valid examples collected
from reliable sources. Grade for accuracy, completeness.
|
