Oxfam Canada Workshop Outline: Trade and Trade Agreements

- prepared by Terry Newcombe, Ottawa volunteer, updated September 2004

Issues Covered:food security, globalization, Make Trade Fair, NAFTA, FTAA

Target Audience: high school or university students, or the general public

Group Size: 15-50 people

Duration: 70+ minutes

Suggested Agenda

0:00 – 0:05Introduction

0:05 – 0:25A World in Jeopardy game

0:25 – 1:10‘Make Trade Fair, FTAA version’ PowerPoint slideshow

Details

  1. Introduction

Introduce yourselves, introduce Oxfam, and introduce your workshop activities. The following is just one example, which you can adapt as you wish.

Hi, my name is Terry, <and my name is Nancy>. We’re both volunteers with Oxfam Canada. Anyone know what Oxfam Canada is or does? Nope/right/close/that’s okay. Oxfam Canada is an NGO (that’s non-governmental organization) doing international development work. We work with overseas partners to eradicate poverty. That can mean a lot of things, but right now we focus on helping people develop a self-sufficient food supply, educating developing countries on the rights of women and children, and establishing worldwide trade practices that are fair to the developing countries.

Here in Canada, we do some government and corporate lobbying to assist those goals. But we also do what you’re seeing right now, presentations to raise public awareness on international development issues.

  1. A World in Jeopardy
  • This is the television Jeopardy game but with questions on food security and trade.
  • For a copy of one version of the game board, download "Putting Food on the Global Table" at However, for this workshop, we recommend a more recent trade version that can be downloaded from The file is called “Trade, Jeopardy game board.doc”.
  • Photocopy the game board onto a transparency sheet, and use 1" Post-It notes to cover each answer box on the board. Remove the appropriate Post-It as a student asks for it (e.g., "I'll take Bananas for 500"). Be sure to lead a brief discussion on the topic after each answer/question is done.
  • This game is easily customized to any topic or subtopic. Simply draw/type a similar grid game board with your own answers/questions, and then photocopy it onto a transparency sheet. Or edit the Word version downloaded from the OxfamEducation link above.
  • The following is one sample dialog you can use, but of course adapt it as you wish:

Okay, for the next 15 minutes I’m going to change my name to Alex, and you’re all in for A World in Jeopardy. <Turn on overhead projector.> We don’t have any buzzers, so we’ll change the game rules a bit.

I’m dividing the class into two teams, with these two rows being Team Left and these three rows being Team Right. <It doesn’t matter if it isn’t exactly even.> <Draw two headings on the blackboard, Team Left and Team Right.>

Listen carefully – here are the rules. Any one person in Team Left starts off by naming a category and point value. As you can see, we’ve got six categories and five point ranges, so you can ask for something like “I’ll have Bananas for 300, Alex.” I’ll remove the sticker, and that one person (ALONE) has to provide the question for the displayed answer. If they get it right, Team Left gets the points and someone else in the team gets the next turn.

If they don’t get it right, it becomes an open question for the opposite team. They can discuss it among themselves for a minute, and then someone has to offer the group’s response. If they get it right, Team Right gets the points and someone else in the team gets the next turn.

If they don’t get it either, it becomes an open question for the original team, with one minute to discuss. If they get it right, Team Left gets the points and someone else in the team gets the next turn. If they don’t get the right response, I’ll give the answer and Team Right gets the next turn.

  • After each turn, be sure to give a brief ad-hoc comment on the significance of the question covered. For example, if the question is about international debt, discuss the significance of having such a large debt. This should just be a couple of sentences, but it is a very important aspect of the game. Often you can say that the issue will be seen again in the second activity of this presentation.
  • Team teach! One of you can handle the overhead and the whiteboard, while the other does the post-question comments. Or you can take turns on the comments, depending on who knows the issues for that question.
  • Wrap up the game with 40-45 minutes remaining in the class for your PowerPoint presentation, giving notice that ‘this is the final question’. Then say that we’ve brought up a lot of very important issues, and now we’re going to look into some of those in more detail…

  1. ‘Make Trade Fair, FTAA version’ PowerPoint slideshow

This is a 35-to-45 minute presentation, where one or two people lead a discussion on NAFTA, FTAA, globalization and the Make Trade Fair campaign issues. It can be lengthened with additional examples, but we recommend the shorter time so that you can offer it after another activity. This presentation was developed for a high school World Issues class – more time and details would be needed for an audience with less knowledge in the issues.

You will need to arrange in advance for a PC projector to be available from the school, and you will need to bring in the presentation on a laptop. The PowerPoint file can be downloaded from The file is called “Trade, Jeopardy game board.doc”. Practice this presentation on your own beforehand, using the Notes provided for each slide within the file.

End on a high note of taking positive action individually and together. Thank everyone for their participation and wish them luck on their activities.

We would appreciate any feedback you have on this workshop. Please share it with .