Geography · Year 2 · Comparing Kenya and the UK · Spring Term

Global Trade: Kenya to UK

Tracing the journey of products like tea and coffee from Kenya to the UK, understanding the concept of trade.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: Geography - Place Knowledge
• KS1: Geography - Human and Physical Geography

About This Topic

Global trade links Kenya and the UK through everyday products like tea and coffee. Year 2 students trace the complete journey: tea bushes grown on Kenyan highlands, leaves picked by hand, withered and rolled in factories, shipped across the Indian Ocean to UK docks, transported by lorry to warehouses, packaged, and sold in shops before reaching homes. This process reveals how human activities shape connections between places.

Aligned with KS1 Geography, the topic builds place knowledge by comparing Kenya's physical features, such as its equatorial climate ideal for tea, with the UK. It explores human geography through trade's role in daily life, addressing key questions on journey steps, trade's importance for mutual benefit, and fair trade's support for farmers via better prices and community projects.

Active learning excels with this topic because students sequence illustrated cards, role-play supply chain roles, or label world maps with transport routes. These approaches make distant processes immediate and relatable, encourage collaborative problem-solving, and spark discussions on fairness, boosting retention and empathy for global communities.

Key Questions

1. Can you put the steps in order to show how tea travels from Kenya to your cup?
2. Why is it important for people in different countries to buy and sell things to each other?
3. What do you think fair trade means for the farmers who grow our food?

Learning Objectives

• Classify products traded between Kenya and the UK based on their origin and destination.
• Explain the sequence of steps involved in transporting tea from Kenyan farms to UK consumers.
• Compare the physical geography of Kenya and the UK relevant to agricultural production.
• Identify the roles of different people and transport methods in the global trade supply chain.
• Articulate the importance of fair trade practices for producers in Kenya.

Before You Start

Continents and Oceans

Why: Students need a basic understanding of world geography to comprehend the distances and routes involved in international trade.

Types of Goods and Services

Why: Familiarity with different kinds of products helps students identify and classify items like tea and coffee as goods.

Key Vocabulary

Export	Goods or services that are sent out of a country to be sold in another country. For example, Kenya exports tea to the UK.
Import	Goods or services that are brought into a country from another country for sale. For example, the UK imports coffee from Kenya.
Supply Chain	The journey a product takes from where it is made or grown to the person who buys it. This includes farming, processing, shipping, and selling.
Fair Trade	A system of trading that aims to ensure farmers and workers receive fair prices for their products and have good working conditions. This often includes community support.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Tea grows in UK fields like vegetables.

What to Teach Instead

Kenya's warm, rainy climate suits tea bushes, unlike the UK's cooler weather. Mapping and climate comparison activities help students visualise differences and connect physical geography to trade.

Common Misconception

Products appear instantly in shops without travel.

What to Teach Instead

Journeys take weeks by ship and lorry. Sequencing timelines and role plays reveal time and effort involved, correcting the idea of magic transport through hands-on reconstruction.

Common Misconception

All trade gives equal benefits to everyone.

What to Teach Instead

Fair trade ensures farmers get fair pay. Role-play negotiations and sorting activities prompt discussions on fairness, helping students see trade's human impact.

Active Learning Ideas

Sequencing: Tea Journey Timeline

Distribute laminated cards showing 8-10 steps from Kenyan farm to UK cup, with images and labels. Small groups arrange them on a long mat strip, then present their order to the class. Follow with a class vote on the most logical sequence.

30 min·Small Groups

Role Play: Trade Chain Partners

Assign roles like Kenyan farmer, ship captain, UK shopkeeper using props such as toy boats and tea bags. Pairs negotiate 'trades' step-by-step, recording agreements on clipboards. Debrief on what each role contributes.

25 min·Pairs

Concept Mapping: From Kenya to Cup

Project a large world map. Whole class adds sticky labels for Kenya, shipping routes, UK ports, and local shops, using string to connect paths. Students draw personal tea packet journeys from memory.

35 min·Whole Class

Sorting: Fair Trade Choices

Provide product cards marked fair trade or not, with farmer stories. Small groups sort into piles and justify choices based on price benefits. Share findings in a class chart.

20 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• Shipping companies like Maersk operate large container ships that transport goods, including tea and coffee, across oceans between continents. These voyages can take weeks to complete.
• Supermarket buyers in the UK, such as those at Tesco or Sainsbury's, decide which products to stock and how to display them, influencing what consumers purchase.
• Tea plantation managers in Kenya oversee the cultivation and initial processing of tea leaves, ensuring quality before the product begins its journey to international markets.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Provide students with a set of picture cards showing different stages of the tea journey (e.g., tea bush, picking, factory, ship, lorry, shop). Ask them to arrange the cards in the correct order and explain one step to a partner.

Discussion Prompt

Ask students: 'Imagine you are a farmer in Kenya growing coffee. Why would you want someone in the UK to buy your coffee? What does 'fair price' mean to you?' Encourage them to share their thoughts on fairness and trade.

Exit Ticket

On a small piece of paper, ask students to draw one product that travels from Kenya to the UK and write one sentence about how it gets here. Collect these to gauge understanding of product movement.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to teach the tea journey from Kenya to UK in Year 2?

Use visual timelines with photos of each step, from picking leaves to brewing. Students sequence cards collaboratively, then link to a class map. Real tea tasting connects the abstract route to sensory experience, reinforcing the unit on comparing Kenya and the UK. This builds place knowledge through concrete sequences.

What does fair trade mean for Kenyan farmers?

Fair trade guarantees minimum prices, extra premiums for communities, and safe working conditions. Teach with labelled product cards and farmer videos; students sort items and discuss benefits like school funds. This humanises trade, aligning with human geography standards and key questions on fairness.

Why is global trade important between countries?

Trade lets countries share resources they lack, like UK's demand for Kenyan tea due to unsuitable climate. Students explore via role plays where no trade means no tea. Discussions reveal mutual gains, such as jobs in Kenya and variety in UK shops, fostering appreciation for interdependence.

How does active learning help teach global trade?

Active methods like sequencing journeys, role-playing traders, and mapping routes make abstract trade tangible for young learners. Movement and props engage kinesthetic learners, while group talks build vocabulary and empathy. These outperform worksheets by linking physical actions to concepts, improving recall and addressing key questions through peer collaboration.