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Global Express
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Edition
13: Colombia, quakes and coffee
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Activities
for the classroom: Colombia, quakes and coffee
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| Earthquake practice | After the earthquake |
| Building for safety | Eyewitness |
| Coffee grows on trees | Coffee role play game |
| Online coffee Quiz |
Age range: Primary (KS2)
Purpose: to look at some similarities and differences with the lives of children in Colombia.
Every school in this country has to carry out fire practice by law. Every school in Colombia must carry out earthquake practice by law. Colombian teachers are supplied with booklets telling them what to do in the event of an earthquake. They are instructed that children should go under the desks if in the classroom and if outside, should run as far from buildings as possible. Talk through with your class about what might happen at a school earthquake practice. Ask them to make 'Earthquake Practice' posters for the classroom wall.
Age range: Primary (KS2)
Purpose: to encourage children to empathise with the survivors of the earthquake and to express feelings about this news story.
Use a photograph from a newspaper (or book) of a survivor of an earthquake. Explain where the photo has been taken and what it shows. Stick copies of the photo onto larger sheets of paper and ask children to draw round it the imagined wider scene. Discuss their drawings and where their ideas have come from. Explain that there are some places in the world where earthquakes happen and people can prepare but don't know when an earthquake will happen. Encourage the children to ask questions of how the person might be feeling and encourage children to express their feelings so that you can reassure them if necessary.
Age range: Primary (KS2); Secondary (KS3)
Purpose: to test out different materials and designs for 'earthquake resistant' model houses.
In some parts of Colombia, architects, builders, community organisations and development agencies are working together to build earthquake resistant housing. Called muro tendinoso, literally 'sinewy wall', the flexible structure consists of a wooden frame, with cane and mud walls, and a concrete floor. It will bend in an earthquake where other more rigid types of building collapse. Ask pupils to build small model houses out of different materials on a moveable base (like a tray) which can be shaken. Experiment to see which designs withstand the 'earthquake' best.
Age range: Secondary (KS3)
Purpose: use a first hand account of the earthquake for empathy work.
Read the interview below with the class and then ask them to write a newspaper article based on it plus other material as appropriate. Discuss with the class whether the aftermath of the earthquake is on UK TV news or in the newspapers? Why is this? How long will it take people in Colombia to rebuild their lives? (printer-friendly version here)
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Question: What were you doing when the earthquake hit?
Question: How is the earthquake being reported in the local media?
Question: The earthquake didn't directly hit Bogota, so how are people there reacting to the disaster?
Question: How is the government responding to the disaster? Are they relying on international aid?
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Age range: Primary (KS2); Secondary (KS3)
Purpose: to increase children's knowledge of where coffee comes from and how it is grown.
Do your pupils realise that coffee grows on trees? Ask your pupils where coffee comes from and what it looks like before it got into the jar. Students whose families come from parts of Africa, the Indian subcontinent or Latin America may have seen coffee growing. Once you have established that coffee grows on trees in tropical countries, use the boxes below for a sequencing activity. Copy the boxes and cut up the statements and photo for groups of pupils. Ask them to read them through then sequence them including the photo at the appropriate point. Ask them to write a caption for the photograph. (printer-friendly version here)
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Thousands
of carefully selected beans are planted close together in the nursery
and covered with rich soil.
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After
eight weeks the seeds sprout and roots develop. The best plants are
selected, transplanted and looked after for six months.
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When
the plants are two feet tall they are planted out in the coffee plantation.
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It
takes three to four years for a coffee tree to grow to full size. The
first fruit appears six months later.
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When
the fruits are a rich red colour they are ready for harvesting and are
picked by hand.
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The
fruits are out into bags, loaded onto mules or donkeys and taken to
the de-pulping machine.
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The
machine removes the pulp from the two seeds (or beans) that are inside
the fruit.
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The
beans soak in tanks of cold mountain water for 24 hours and are then
carefully washed in fresh water.
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The
beans are scooped up into straw baskets and then spread out to dry on
open-air terraces.
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When
dry the beans are taken to the mill where machines remove the husk and
skin.
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The
olive green beans are tested for quality.
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The
beans are packed for the journey to factories in other countries where
they will be roasted,ground and packed for sale.
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Age range: Secondary (KS3/4)
Purpose: to show how the coffee trade works - who benefits and who loses.
Split the class into five groups and give each a role card. (Don't give out the whole page.) Give each group a short time to think about their role - what problems might they face and what strengths do they have? Hold up a jar of coffee and tell them it costs £1.60 to buy in the UK. Ask each group to decide how much of the selling price they should get for their work, then report back with their reasons. Record each amount in the first column of the grid below, copied onto the board. Add up the amounts which may come to more than £1.60 and then negotiate with the groups to bring the total amount to £1.60. Put the finally agreed amounts in the second column. Then reveal the actual proportions (marked in the coffee jar graphic) to show the amounts that the different groups would receive. Allow time for discussion around how the different groups felt about what happened. What could be done to improve the situation for some groups? Talk about fairly traded coffee.
Initial amount |
Agreed amount |
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| Growers | ||
| Exporters | ||
| Shippers | ||
| Roasters | ||
| Retailers |
(printer-friendly version of grid here)
(printer-friendly version of cards here)
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Coffee growers You live in a rural part of Colombia. You have about two acres of land to farm and your main source of income is from growing and selling coffee. You plant the coffee trees and weed the ground. The trees require lots of regular work and attention to keep them healthy so they bear fruit well. You harvest the coffee 'cherries' by hand when they are ripe. You dry them in the sun and sell them to a visiting buyer. The money you earn from the coffee is essential to pay for your children's school and the family's medical bills. Every 15 years you need to buy seedlings to replace old trees. |
Coffee exporters You visit the growers to buy their coffee. The growers are scattered over a wide area, so you have to pay for transport and fuel to collect the coffee. Your factory processes the coffee 'cherries' to extract the 'green beans'. You sort the beans, pack them in bags and transport them to the coast where you sell them to a shipping company. The market for coffee is unpredictable, so you sometimes have to pay to have it stored. You also need money to renew and repair expensive machinery in the factory and to pay skilled people to operate it. |
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The Shipping Companies You buy the bags of 'green'
coffee beans from the coffee exporter, load them on to your ship, and
transport them to the UK, where you sell them to the coffee roaster.
You have to pay highly skilled people to operate your ships. There are
risks involved and you have to take out insurance for the ships and
their cargoes, as well as pay for fuel. You also need to pay fees for
using the ports and taxes for importing the coffee. |
The Roasters You buy the 'green' coffee beans from a shipping company and mix the different varieties of bean to get a 'blend'. You roast the beans and process them to make instant coffee then package it into jars and sell it to the retailers. It is a very competitive business and so you have to spend large amounts of money to advertise your brand and to provide attractive packaging. You constantly need to invest money to improve the taste of your blend and keep ahead of the competition. |
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The Retailers You buy the instant coffee from the wholesaler (the roaster), store it until you need it, label it with the price, put it on display and sell it to the customer. You have to pay high rents to sell your goods at a busy location. You have to make your shop attractive, which means expensive decoration and you need to train and pay a large sales force to provide a good service to the customer. |
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The Actual proportion is for a £1.60 jar of coffee
These organisations support fair trade, including coffee, and can supply information.
Cafédirect: 10a Queensferry Street, Edinburgh EH2 4PG.
Traidcraft plc, Kingsway, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE11 0NE.
Fair Trade Foundation, Suite 204, 16 Baldwin Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ
Sonia
Parra Gordillo is a Colombian journalist living in the capital, Bogota