Process
Almost everyone enjoys a tasty piece of chocolate, but do you know
where chocolate comes from? It comes from cocoa beans, and then it's
blended together with sugar, or milk, and other igredients to make
chocolate. Before anything happens, though, the cocoa beans must be
hand picked from the tree. It is very difficult work, but cocoa farmers
can make a lot of money by selling their beans to brokers, who then
sell the beans to the companies who make chocolate.
The issue that you will be researching is chocolate slavery. Many cocoa farmers use slaves to pick their cocoa beans. The farmers use slaves because they do not have to pay the slaves, and that way they can make more money. Many of the slaves are children, who were either kidnapped or tricked into slavery on the cocoa farms. As you might guess, the slaves are often mistreated. The boy in the picture below, a boy named Drissa, has scars from the beatings that he received while he was enslaved on a cocoa plantation.
In your group there will be several different jobs to do. The one job that everyone will do is research. You will also need one person, or more, to create a display or PowerPoint presentation that you will use to educate others about chocolate slavery. You will also need one person, or more, to write a persuasive letter. In your letter you will urge companies who make chocolate to only use cocoa beans that have not been picked by slaves. Finally, someome in your group will need to do some research on Ivory Coast, the country that supplies much of the world with cocoa beans. In your presentation you should educate the audience about Ivory Coast, where it is, its nearest neighbors, its climate and population, and its economy.
Below
are some quotes to get you inspired. Using well-chosen quotes adds
strength to your arguments. There is a link below to several pages of quotes
about slavery.
"We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued." -Abraham Lincoln
"Slavery is now nowhere more patiently endured, than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty." -Samuel Johnson
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." -Abraham Lincoln
"Slavery is a weed that grows on every soil."-Edmund Burke
Be sure to check out the terrific WebQuest about chocolate that is listed below. It has a lot of excellent information about the history of chocoalte and how to make chocolate.
WebQuest about chocolate
Chocolate: From Bean to Candy Bar, by Megan Carney
Website with quotes about slavery
http://thinkexist.com/quotations/slavery/
Websites about chocolate slavery
www.globalexchange.org/update/press/3227.html
www.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm
www.freetheslaves.net/
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/946952.stm
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1963617.stm
freetheslaves.net/slavery/stories/drissa
Websites about Ivory Coast
www.africa.upenn.edu/CIA_Maps/Cote_19848.gif
www.cia.gov/redirects/factbookredirect.html
Websites about Fair Trade products
http://www.transfairusa.org
http://www.fairtradefederation.org
http://www.equalexchange.com/
Organizational tools
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/processguides/persuasive.html (how to formulate an opinion/persuasive argument)
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/processguides/evaluating_student.html (evaluating web pages)
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/processguides/consensus.html (building concensus)
Once your group has done its research you will need to meet and come
up with your arguments against the use of slavery in the production of
chocolate. Your presentation can be directed at students who are
approximately eight years old or older, or at adults. You may be giving
your presentation to either audience.
Your group will need to prepare by outlining your main points. You must clearly state your own opinions while also acknowledging and refuting the opposite point of view. So, you will need to clearly state the reasons why farmers and others use slavery in the production of chocolate, and then you must explain why they should no longer do so. You should use the links in the resources page to help your group learn how to reach consensus, and to learn how to formulate a thesis statement. You may also use webbing as a tool, or any other tool that works for you, such as Kidspiration or Inspiration software.
The opinions or arguments that you make in your presentation and letter must be supported by research. Also, your group must correctly cite all of your research.