Class activities
Road-tested activities, games and events — each with the time, group size, materials and the concept it teaches.
Short videos, highlights from classroom activities, memorable "aha" moments, short stories from students' home countries — and much more.
Everything here has been run with real students, more than once.
Take it, change it, use it.
Why the first two weeks matter most
Organising smaller discussions in the first week helps new students get comfortable with key global politics terms in a relaxed environment, so everyone can participate equally regardless of prior knowledge.
It opens up conversation and builds a welcoming classroom, setting the tone for deeper inquiry later. Short table discussions also encourage students to relate political concepts to their everyday experience — which makes abstract ideas understandable from the very beginning.
What these activities produce
Student work, not worksheets
The activities end in something a student made and can show: a podcast episode, a poster, a brochure, a policy pitch delivered to a judging panel.
That is the point of running them. A concept a student has had to explain to somebody else is a concept they own.
Thinking made visible
Most of these activities put the argument on a wall or a board, where the whole room can see it, disagree with it and add to it.
The photograph is a single Paper 2 claim after twenty minutes of a class arguing about what each of its words is doing.
Politics where the student already lives
Several activities start outside the classroom: a family member, a neighbourhood, a decision somebody actually had to live with.
Students find that power, legitimacy and interdependence describe things they have known about for years without having the words.
How to read these pages
Every activity carries the same header:
| Time | How long it actually takes, including the debrief |
| Group | Whole class, small groups, pairs |
| Teaches | The concept it serves, linked to the page that teaches it |
| You need | Materials — usually paper and a board |
A note on student work
Several activities here produced student presentations, podcasts and posters that are shown on this site. The policy is stated rather than assumed: first names only, consent on file, and removal on request.
Showcasing student work is one of the best things a course site can do — it just deserves a rule rather than a habit.
Resources for this page
Type and length first, then why it is worth opening.