Interesting Theme for Talk on Coffee - ideas?

[okaychatt]

I've been asked by a sixth grade Global Cultures teacher to create a lesson on coffee. I want to include information on locales, customs, and issues, but they need to be on an eleven year old's level.

I want to do something other than just lecture. There will be five classes in a single day, so whatever I do must be simple, yet engaging. Tasting different coffees is probably out, since the youngsters aren't wild about coffee, and facilities are limited. I might be able to bring in different beans and talk about elevation and processing a bit.

Game? Interactive map lesson? How might I use the Coffee Kid organization's materials? I want the children to feel an affinity with their counterparts in the coffee growing nations. Perhaps an internet email exchange? School to school interactions? Other ideas?

I want to include the goat herder myth. Any other coffee lore stories I might use?

All ideas welcome. Thanks.

[Walter]

How about a bit of the history of coffee & culture beyond the goats/shepherds myth? You might want to check out e.g. The Devil's Cup by Stewart Lee Allen for further information. A bit of information about growing harvesting and processing (e.g the monsooning or the Kopi-Luwak origins) might be interesting too, fair-trade (http://www.fairtrade.net) also. Ample information can be found in every good book about the topic (like Espresso Coffee by Illy/Viani)

Furthermore you could bring some green beans and roast them and then brew a coffee.

Some information about "Coffee and health" - if kept simple - could maybe go well too.

[HB]

Furthermore you could bring some green beans and roast them and then brew a coffee.

In the days when the SCAA had a c-Member track, Fortune Elkins organized a presentation of the traditional Ethiopian coffee preparation rituals. It was interesting to hear how integral serving coffee is to their social interaction. You could contrast that with our own cultural viewpoints on coffee.

[Walter]

In the days when the SCAA had a c-Member track, Fortune Elkins organized a presentation of the traditional Ethiopian coffee preparation rituals. It was interesting to hear how integral serving coffee is to their social interaction. You could contrast that with our own cultural viewpoints on coffee.

Actually that was what I had in mind too. IIRC Steward Lee Allen dedicates one of the first chapters of his book to this ritual its origins and social importance...

[another_jim]

I would forget the social crisis and justice stuff; 11 year olds get far more than their RDA of that, probably going on overdose. I would go for the romance, sufis (not surfers - sorry for the orignal typo, long day) trying to stay awake, adventurers smuggling the beans, coffee houses becoming centers of free thought and coffee getting banned as a consequence -- all the "rocking the kasbah" and "the sheriff doesn't like it" stuff.

[PeterG]

If I were doing it, I would focus on 3 different coffees, three different cultures. Ethiopia, Sumatra, and Mexico is what I would do; talking about coffee culture in Ethiopia (Kaldi, the coffee ritual), Sumatra (you could talk about how Baba Budan and the Dutch both smuggled coffee out of Yemen to plant the stuff worldwide....espionage! also you could make the connection with Aceh and the Tsunami) and Mexico (teach the kids a little about the coffee culture there; they may have some exposure to Mexican culture already, but depending on where they are you might be able to give them another perspective)

I would bring in beans from these different places, and grind them in the class and let the kids smell them. If you get the right Harrar, Sumatra and Mexico it could be pretty awesome for these kids, who may be trying to figure out what the big deal is about coffee, anyway. If you lead the exercise right, you might be able to get the kids to identify the berry in the harrar, the earthy in the Sumatra and the chocolate in the Mexico. (remember: those kids probably have a much more acute sense of smell than we do)

You could have a contest based on what sorters in coffee origin have to do to sort inferior beans from perfect beans. Have you ever seen this at origin? Typically, women sit at tables or on the floor sifting through coffee and removing those with defects. You could use a marker to put a black dot (simulating a partial black defect) on, say, 20 beans in 1 pound of green coffee. You might prepare 4-5 pounds of coffee like this, and divide the kids into teams. The first team to separate the 20 defects from their pile wins a prize.

Sounds fun. If you need any pictures email or PM me.

Peter

[okaychatt]

Great ideas, folks. This is going to be fun.