Teacher's Guide - The Curriculum Project

Inflation (cont’d)Inflation in BurmaGroupwork1. Put the students into groups of 3-5. Ask them to think of similarities anddifferences between the situation in Yugoslavia in 1993 and in Burma today.Then elicit ideas from individual students for a class discussion. Below are someideas to prompt student with if necessary:State Control: The SPDC exercises control over the prices of some commodities, particularlyimportant ones like rice and petrol. They also exercise control over imports. However, there aremany more private shops in Burma where prices are usually free from government control.Black Market: The black market in Burma is huge, perhaps twice as large as the ‘official’ economy.This is due to problems of supply in Burma linked to economic mismanagement, strict importcontrols, and sanctions.Public Transport: Public transport in Burma is becoming increasingly expensive, linked primarilyto the rise in petrol prices. It is becoming more difficult for private transport operators to make aprofit.People’s ability to buy basic goods and services: Prices in Burma are rising fast. The poorestpeople now have difficulty affording even the cheapest rice.Discussion2. The figures on this graph are an estimate. It is possible that inflationcould be much higher.Ask students to read the text about ‘Inflation Indicators’. Give them about10 minutes. They should write down any words that they don’t know. Elicitthese words in turn. Ask if the students can guess the meaning. If not, givethem a dictionary to look it up and tell the class, or tell them yourself.PairworkPairwork3. In pairs, ask students to think of three comprehension questions about thetext on ‘Inflation indicators’. Ask them to write the questions and answerson separate pieces of paper. Give them 10-15 minutes to do this. Then askeach pair to swap their questions with another pair, and answer the otherpair’s questions. Give them about 10 minutes to do this. Finally, ask eachpairs to give back their answers to each other and mark them.4. In pairs, students find and interview at least three people who recentlycame from Burma (within the last 12 months). They should ask them aboutthe economic situation, particularly prices/inflation. Ask them to prepare a2-3 minute presentation (with graphics if possible) summarising the informationthat they obtained.The Curriculum Project ECONOMICS: an introduction - Teacher’s Guide25