The European Parliament…….. What’s that?…

european-parliament-strasbourg169The latest edition of ‘The European Parliament: What’s that?’ produced in May 2008 is available free of charge by sending a request to the email address below or by contacting us by phone, fax or letter at the address below. The teaching resources in this pack are designed primarily to assist teachers in delivering the EU-related strand of the citizenship curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4 but can be used in any subject where the EU is being taught e.g. Geography, Politics, or History. Curriculum links and an index sheet are provided.

The resource is also relevant to teachers of 11-16 year olds in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The CD Rom contains general teachers’ notes which give more detailed links. The paper-based resources also give links to other Programmes of Study across the National Curriculum.

Also in the pack is a British Council information sheet which describes various EU funded programmes of interest to schools.

Here are a couple of video clips from the pack:

Stand Up For Your Rights

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How Does The European Union Affect You?

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The materials give a brief history and description of the EU as well as providing issues-based lesson plans (e.g. living in Europe, consumer protection and your rights at work) and activities which will enable students to see how EU laws and policies affect their lives. They offer a balanced introduction to the European Union and the European Parliament and try to reflect a broad range of views on the EU while all the time encouraging students to take part in discussion and to form their own views on the subjects covered. The resource has been endorsed by the Electoral Commission.

Aware of the varying levels of technology in classrooms, we have provided the following in ‘The European Parliament: What’s that?’ pack:

  • Paper-based resources (two maps, five lesson plans, an assembly plan and a set of 30 mystery cards) designed for use without the need for any IT equipment. These are standalone resources and contain different material from the CD Rom.
  • The CD Rom is an interactive resource, for use with or without an interactive white board. It is playable on PCs only and is self-starting. The CD Rom has been broken down into three parts:
    - Part 1: What does Europe mean to me?
    - Part 2: The role of the European Parliament and its MEPs
    - Part 3: Making change happen
    In each part there are fun activities programmed in flash, film clips and sound files focussed on the central theme. There is also a range of printable resources to support class-based activities.
  • The DVD contains only the nine short films clips that appear on the CD Rom. These can be played full-screen on an ordinary DVD player or on a PC with a DVD drive.  All the relevant teacher’s notes and printable activity files are on the CD Rom.

Although the material has not been designed to be networked it is possible to place the data on a school network (all the material can be copied freely within educational institutions). Nevertheless you may find that the videos do not play from anything other than a local CD drive in which case it is recommended that the system be equipped with virtual CD software which mimics a local (virtual) CD drive.

How do I get a copy?

‘The European Parliament: What’s that?’ pack is available free of charge by emailing us at eplondon@europarl.europa.eu or you can phone us on 020 7227 4300, fax a request to 020 7227 4302 or write to us at UK Office of the European Parliament, 2 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9AA. Otherwise it is possible to download the lesson plans here and the student activity sheets here.