What are you going to do?

Your school is going to organise a European School week. Your class has been asked to participate. You will need to compare the economies of two countries. Choose two countries that you think are very different from each other. Try to find one ‘rich’ country and one ‘poorer’ country.

How will you proceed?

• Watch the DVD
• Follow the instructions: Read, Log on, Search for and Follow-up.

Watch

• Watch the sequences for the two countries of your choice.

Read

The 25 countries of the European Union are all very different. Some are large, some small. Most speak their own language. Some have their own currency, but they all have their own traditions.
Since its enlargement the European Union is the second biggest economy in the world. this shows just how important it now is.

Log on

Go to the following sites
www.google.com
www.eurostat.com
The governmental sites for your chosen countries.

Search for information for each of your chosen countries.

• The Gross Domestic Product per capita.
• The inflation rate as a percentage.
• Unemployment figures.
• Important industries or commerce.
• Trading partners.
• Exports/imports.

Follow up

What to do next

Use your findings to make a PowerPoint presentation for the European Week in your school.
You should include:-

• Some general information about your 2 countries.
• Some clear, colourful graphics of your findings.
• Some information about the most important industries/commerce.
• Try to think of some ways in which the economy of the ‘poorer’ country could be improved.
• Which country would you prefer to live in and why.

Presentation

• PowerPoint presentation.
• Make your presentation large, clear and uncluttered so that it can easily be read from a distance.
• Make it attractive but relative to the subject.

Materials

• Computers with access to the internet
• PowerPoint programme
• Printer facilities, preferably colour