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Lesson 3 - People in the USA and Canada Buy Maya Arts
Objectives
Children will learn about
- how people in industrialized cultures, such as the one we
live in, need and use crafts in very different ways from those living in rural
areas of Guatemala
- how and why people in traditional cultures such as in Mayan
Guatemala wear different kind of clothing than people in other countries
- how buying from
Fair Trade producers and retailers helps artists and artisans in Guatemala
Materials
A copy of the Maya Arts & Crafts of Guatemala Coloring Book,
or photocopies of a different page for each student.
If possible, show actual Maya arts and crafts purchased in
a Fair Trade store. An alternative is to contact Fair
Trade producers and distributors for arts and craft
catalogs picturing fair trade items, or to visit
Maya arts and crafts related websites (see Links page)
for images of the items they sell.
Vocabulary
Fair Trade Federation: an association of fair
trade wholesalers, retailers, and producers whose members
are committed to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to
economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide. Fair Trade
stores: in the USA and Canada belong the to the
Fair Trade Federation.
Learning Activities
- Ask students the following questions:
- how would they feel about carrying a load on their back as
seen on page 22?
- why do people in the USA not carry loads in this manner?
How do they carry things?
- how would children feel about wearing Maya traditional
dress?
- Help students to make lists of items in the coloring book
that they and other people in the USA, Canada or other industrialized country
outside of Guatemala might especially want to buy (for examples see pages
12, 9, 10, 14, 18, 24, 26, 29, 30). Ask why they made their choices.
- Ask children to make a list of items that people in Guatemala
would especially need for everyday life and that Guatemalans would
want to buy. Again, ask them why they made their
choices.
- Ask children to give their ideas about the differences in
the way of life in the USA, Canada and Guatemala. For example, children in the
U.S. and Canada rarely have the opportunity to learn how
to make traditional arts such as those shown in Maya Arts and Crafts of
Guatemala.
- Ask children if they have an opinion about, agree or disagree
with the following two statements. Follow with discussion.
- Maya people choose to wear their unique traditional clothing because it
is part of their culture, gives them a feeling of belonging and a sense of pride
in their community. What does this tell us about them?
- Most of us living in Canada and the USA wear clothing that each of us individually
choose to wear, and advertising influences us to buy certain items. Discuss what
this means about us.
Assessment
After participating in activities and discussion,
students should be able to
- articulate why Mayans use arts and crafts in different
ways than people in the USA
- discuss and analyze why paying a fair price
when crafts are purchased is the right thing to do
- think about what we learn from arts and crafts made by Maya
people and indigenous peoples in other counties or made by native people (first
nations) of our own country
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