Transcript Teaching Strategies - dinaecon

Teaching Strategies
Sharing Thoughts
The use of film
Roger and Me
The social effects of unemployment
Life and Debt
The damaging effects of IMF policies on
developing countries: the case of Jamaica
More films
Children of Heaven
The unequal distribution of income
The Corporation
Externalities among many other issues
Goodbye Lenin
Economies in transition
TOK – Alex manages to use the same images to
portray a completely different (and false) reality.
The Wall Street Journal
I prepare questions based on articles
from the WSJ
Consider the following 2 examples
TERM I
Singapore Airlines' fiscal second-quarter net profit dropped
15% as high fuel prices offset growth in passenger numbers.
Singapore Airlines has been jolted by problems at Airbus
that have delayed delivery of the $300 million A380
superjumbo jetliner. The carrier had planned to make the
first commercial A380 flight from London's Heathrow
airport this year but now won't get the planes until at least
next October. It has firm orders for 10 A380s and an
option to buy nine more.
The carrier said its passenger capacity is expected to
increase by only 1% next year because of the delay. "If the
A380s were delivered on time, capacity would have expanded
4% to 5% next year," said Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng.
Singapore Airlines said fuel costs rose 32% to S$2.56 billion
in the fiscal first half, as jet-fuel prices averaged $90 a
barrel compared with $74 a year earlier. The company said
40% of its total spending was for fuel.
The airline also said it expected demand for air travel to
remain buoyant thanks to economic growth in Europe and
Asia.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and de facto
leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, informed some of its customers it was cutting
their supplies because of its OPEC commitment to reduce
output by 380,000 barrels a day from Nov. 1. [1]
:
[1] Adapted from Fuel Prices Squeeze Singapore Airlines, published on October 30, 2006 and from
Crude Oil Falls As Doubts Swirl Over OPEC Cuts, published on October 24, 2006 in the Wall Street Journal.
Answer the following questions:
1. Define the following terms, which appear in bold in the text:
a) Demand
[2 marks]
b) Economic growth
[3 marks]
2. With the aid of supply and demand diagrams, explain the
effect of each of the following on the price and quantity
of air travel.
[12 marks]
a) High fuel prices
b) The delayed delivery of the A380 superjumbo jetliners
c) Expected buoyant demand.
3. Use the text and your knowledge of economics to explain how
OPEC could maintain oil prices within a desired range.
[8 marks]
Cocoa Farmers Strike in Ivory Coast
Associated Press
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Cocoa farmers across Ivory Coast went on strike Monday, holding back their crops to protest low
retail prices and high export taxes. If the action is sustained it could affect the global chocolate industry.
The West African country is the world's top grower of cocoa beans, producing 40% of global output each year, according to
government statistics, despite being split following a civil war.
"The strike is on …we called on the farmers to hoard their beans," Koffi Kanga, a representative of the country's cocoa
farmers association, said by telephone from San Pedro, Ivory Coast's second-largest cocoa port after the commercial capital
of Abidjan.
The action comes days after authorities officially opened the harvesting season by announcing a retail price of 80 cents a
kilogram, roughly 40 cents a pound. Cocoa association President Henri Amouzou said the farmers are seeking $1.15 a kilogram
(57 cents per pound).
Union leaders said they planned to stop trucks carrying cocoa and other farm products such as papayas and bananas to
Abidjan until the price is raised. Ms. Ganes-Chase said cocoa beans could succumb to mold while being stored during the
strike, but that these losses would not be very large.
Ivory Coast's 700,000 increasingly impoverished cocoa farmers say they don't make enough money to send their children to
school.
Although the government's set price often doesn't match what farmers are actually paid, it sets a benchmark for farmers
who plan to sell their beans to local buyers.
Mr. Amouzou said farmers also want the government to slash the main cocoa export tax by 45% to allow local buyers and
exporters to pay farmers a higher price. Current export taxes are about 40 cents per kilogram (20 cents per pound). Cocoa
taxes are the main source of government revenue and have been used to buy arms and military equipment, according to U.N.
experts.
Rohit Savand, a commodities analyst with New York's CPM Group, said a price increase would be hard to come by considering
that favorable weather has increased Ivory Coast's cocoa supply significantly this year.
Copyright © 2006 Associated Press
Questions
1. Define the terms:
a) supply
[3 marks]
b) commodities
[2 marks]
2. with the aid of supply and demand diagrams show
the effect of each of the following on the price and
quantity of cocoa
a) the strike
[4 marks]
b) eliminating the export tax [4 marks]
c) favorable weather
[4 marks]
3. Use the text and your knowledge of economics to
evaluate the effect of price setting by the
government (paragraph 7) on the cocoa market.
[8 marks]
MUN
I encourage my students to participate in MUN and
help choose ECOSOC topics that would assist them in
understanding the links between economics and politics.
Some Past issues:
Farm subsidies
Trips agreement and drug accessibility for LDCS
Digital divide
Water privatization
ECOSOC Crisis Issue
A wire from Agence France Presse (AFP) has communicated
that a demonstration related to the new labor law has
turned sour when a group of students jumped off the
Eiffel tower in a desperate act of protest. The students
predominantly from Algerian and Moroccan origin wrapped
themselves in garbage bags and wore slogans “CPE: C’est
Pas Egale pour nous” (CPE: It is not fair for us)
The new labor law known as CPE (Contrat Premier Emploi:
first job contract) makes it easier for French firms to lay
off young workers (under the age of 26). The new law was
introduced to increase flexibility in the labor market and
therefore reduce unemployment. Reducing labor market
rigidities, such as long term contracts, minimum wages and
other various employment benefits reduce the costs of
hiring new workers and tend to reduce unemployment.
Labor market deregulation is high on the EU agenda and
many EU member states, including Germany have
successfully implemented them. The events have renewed
concerns about the alienation of immigrants in France and
have also revived skepticism about the homogeneity of the
EU. What works in Germany will not necessarily work in
France!
Web 2.0 Tools
Wikis
Wikis in plain English
Podcasts
Subscribe to free econ podcasts
Teaching Idea
Youtube
Pajholden Videos
PED
Neat Cartoons
Social Networking
Facebook and Twitter
http://www.twibes.com/group/economi
csteacher
Blogs
Dinaecon
http://blogs.ft.com/economistsforum/
http://welkerswikinomics.com
Online Bookmarking
Delicious
Social bookmarking. Access your
bookmarks anywhere and share them
with friends and colleagues.
http://delicious.com/dinaecon
Prezzi, Glogster and
more
Prezzi
Zoe’s IA
Development Prezi
Glogster
http://butlertech.wikispaces.com/Glog
ster
Research
Intuite Tutorial
What are some of your
strategies?