Politics and Economy – राजनीति और अर्थशास्त्र

Lesson Unit developed in collaboration with Ankita Banerjea, Advanced Hindi student at NYU 

Level: Intermediate High/Advanced Low (3X75 min)

Objectives – Students will be able to:

  • describe and analyze orally and in writing in two paragraphs or more an ongoing political or economic issue and
  • suggest solutions
  • translate economic articles from English to Hindi
  • interpret and discuss points of agreement and disagreement based in videos delivered entirely in Hindi

Performance Assessment Tasks

  1. Students watch a recent speech delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and identify from it 3 points that they agree with and 3 points that they disagree with – they will present these points both in writing via email as a comment and orally through an audio file as a radio response.
  2. Students read an article on an economic issue from an English news source (like The New York Times, example: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/put-globalization-to-work-for-democracies.html) and pick 5 paragraphs from it to translate from English to Hindi. Students are encouraged to write up the first draft on their own without referring to the dictionary for help, then they use another color to make editions and modifications in the second draft. Alternatively, students read a segment from a classic on Economic theory such as Marx’s “Das Kapital” or Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” and translate that into Hindi (this is for more advanced students).

Learning Scenarios

  • Students listen to a video speech on economics and in pairs fill out a table with 3 columns with useful verbs, nouns, phrases. They switch partner to share their table and expand the glossary. Teacher provides more items and highlights useful expressions. 
  • Students read in pairs assigned pieces of an article and take notes. They form groups to share their notes and combine them to put together a summary of the full article.
  • They discuss three points they agree with and 3 points they disagree with from the article. They use the resources provided by instructor. They write a social media comment on an interactive website with the points they agree with. They send an audio file for a radio program. They choose their role ((journalists, economy specialists, UN or government officials, NGO representatives)
  • For the translation module, they work independently on 1 paragraph of their own and then work together to make a cohesive whole. Teacher provides feedback and suggestions.
  • Students in groups prepare a list of phrases and expressions they need to use to participate in a discussion about possible solutions. Students choose the format (TV talk show, academic round-table discussion, cabinet/ministry meeting, etc.) and their roles roles (journalists, economy specialists, UN or government officials, NGO representatives). One group wins the best solutions offered.  

Resources:

Dictionary Resources: