People and Parliament

How To Use This Resource

Survey

Conduct a survey to determine the newspaper habits of the class and discuss the importance of following current events.

Review

Before starting a unit on parliamentary democracy, it is important to review certain fundamental terms with the class. A student glossary is also provided for class reference.

Review the features of your daily newspaper (print or on-line) and the various writing styles therein. The section The Daily Newspaper – Your Guide to What's Inside provides a concise overview of this information.

Classroom Activities

Read over the list of classroom activities. Decide which activities best fit the curriculum. They can be used as independent studies, by groups of students or as class activities.

The activities are designed to satisfy a variety of student learning styles and vary in length of time needed for completion. They have been designed to address:

• People who work in Parliament
• The parliamentary process
• How Parliament affects us
• How people react to and become involved in Parliament
• Familiarity with newspaper format

All activities include information for the teacher, featuring:

• Objectives for the lesson
• Materials required
• Related links
• Notes to teachers outlining suggestions or any special preparation needed

The student-ready activity sheets are available in both html and PDF formats. All include:

• Background information for the activity
• Investigative questions for students
• A follow-up activity using the newspaper

Choose the activities that best match students' interests or that reflect the events of the day. The best part about working with the daily newspaper is that it keeps the class current. Archived editions on the Web let students see how news stories evolve over time and how issues become prominent and then disappear. Class discussions and activities will be able to reflect that timeliness and will be more animated and exciting because of it.

Consider Supplementary Activities as follow-up exercises.

Research

Visit the Links page for additional sites that will help you with your background research and will help students learn more about Parliament and the media.