This interview refers to the Fairtrade project which can be found in our Good Practices section.
GOOD PRACTICE OVERVIEW, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
What were the original goals and objectives of this practice/activity?
Objectives are:
- To explain to students the importance of fair trade labels, show labels in practice and make an overview of products with fair trade labels, analyze the composition of goods, learn the new words: fair, label, quality, composition, preservatives, ingredients, additives, flavors, emulsifiers, colorants.
What was found to be particularly useful in achieving this practice objectives (methods, approaches)?
Methods: work in pairs, package analyse
What did students like the most about this practice?
Students liked to analyze the package, that they brought from home, made a conclusion based on the composition of the product and labeling whether this food product is of high quality or not, compiled a list of fair trade products.
What were the key problems areas of this practice?
It was difficult for some students to find a partner to work with, so I decided to arrange a random pair search (group generator) https://www.classdojo.com/ru-ru/toolkit/groupmaker/
How can these elements be improved in the future?
The main goal is to attract and encourage people to buy Fair trade products, because when you purchase Fairtrade products, you not only express your solidarity with farmers and workers who are marginalized by global trade, but you also send a signal to businesses and governments that you want trade to be different, better. Fairtrade’s goal is to promote sustainable production and decent livelihoods. When students and their families will buy Fairtrade, they will help to ensure these factors are not casually written off as ‘externalities’ or treated as costs that farmers and workers should bear alone. The numbers are clear: students and their parents care about fairness and sustainability, and are buying more Fairtrade every single year. Iam sure that students will choose Fair trade bananas because they know their impact.
Is this practice replicable by other teachers in different countries? What factors should be considered while replicating this practice?
Buying activity in different countries is different and the choice of fair trade goods too. Therefore, the practical task may cause difficulties for students if there is a shortage of these goods in the country.
What was the most inspiring aspect for you while implementing this practice?
The fact that all the students prepared for the practical part and brought packaging from home to study and analyze it, it was clear that this topic was interesting and useful to them, since the students were able to explain their parents how importance of Fair trade labeling and what it means. Feedback from parents was a survey at the parent meeting.
