Global Issues

Get students discussing the problems our world faces and being the change.

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Global issues is an important topic for classroom, intermediate level and above. It engages students in language that is purposeful and with built in motivation.

I’ve always loved my lessons which dealt with the real world and the problems we all face, tiny or small. It’s purposeful communication and use of language. It pulls in a lot of vocabulary that won’t usually be used in regular socializing

Here are some ideas for teachers making lesson activities that focus on global issues.

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1. Prompts. A great question goes a million miles. Ask students the right question to get them speaking about a global issue. Here is our free pptx of prompts for your use! Also, see the video version.

2. Brainstorm. What are the top global issues in the opinion of your students. Get them to generate a top 10 list and then compare with each other. Which are the most important? See our template.

3. If The World Were A Village of 100. A wonderful way to look at the world as a whole and the problems it faces. Students predict what the numbers, percentage of 100 are for different categories. Then watch the video or presentation and check. You’ll be surprised! Get the presentation.

4. Presentations. Speaking of presentations - why not have students choose one global issue and then make a presentation about it for classmates, teach each other? It’s a very constructivist and student-centered approach.

We have 100s of lesson materials and videos related to Global Issues. Please check them out and enjoy engaging students with this very praxis oriented, real subject! Further, see our prior post on Current Events - closely aligned to this topic.