Process

1. Pre-Activity

As a warm-up to the Mix & Match game, lead a discussion on poverty and basic human needs.

Suggested questions include:

• What could you not live without?
• Are there some things that are more important than others (do you really need them)?
• Does everyone need the same things or do some people need more, or less?
• What if you lived in the U.S., would you need the same things as you do here?
• What if you lived in Mexico, would you need the same things as you do here? (Put these countries on your world map if they are not there already.)
• Is it easy to get the things you need?
• Is it the same for people in developing countries?

2. Mix & Match Game

Divide students into teams and ask them to match the given descriptions to the correct income (higher-, middle-, lower-income) and basic human needs category. See Handout.

3. Post-Game Discussion/Brainstorm

Lead a post-game discussion based on the game students have just played.

Suggested questions include:

• How does income group affect quality of life?
• Where in the world do you think people from each income group live?

Make sure to bring home the point that Canada has poverty too and there are people in Canada who live in each income group. However, also bring out the different circumstances between living in a certain income group in Canada versus a country in the developing world.