Basic knowledge: Politics

Learning Objectives

The overarching learning objective is to develop students’ awareness and mastery of the characteristics of academic and subject-specific language, as well as to strengthen their ability to transform language. Students should learn to analyse typical features of academic texts (technical terminology, passive voice, and nominal style) according to defined criteria, reflect on their functional effects in terms of objectivity and how they guide the reader, and purposefully translate dense, nominalised academic language into clear, accessible verbal style using active voice.

Content and Methods

The worksheet introduces the key characteristics of academic non-fiction texts (technical terminology, passive voice, and nominal style) and combines text analysis with practical language exercises. Working with a subject-specific text, students first compile a glossary of technical terms with context-based definitions and distinguish between passive constructions and nominal style using a two-colour highlighting technique.

Building on this, they conduct a functional stylistic analysis to examine the intended effects of linguistic density and the author’s conveyed stance towards the subject matter. The worksheet concludes with an active language transformation task in which students rewrite a highly nominalised example sentence that omits the agent, turning it into dynamic active-voice sentences. This involves breaking down complex verb-noun constructions and explicitly introducing the actors performing the actions.

Competencies

• Linguistic and grammatical analysis: Confidently identifying and clarifying technical terminology, as well as recognising syntactic forms of linguistic compression (nominal style and passive constructions).
• Functional and stylistic judgement: Reflecting on the rhetorical effects and functions of linguistic distance, objectivity, and impersonal presentation in academic texts.
• Language transformation: Purposefully translating complex, agentless nominal constructions into clear, action-oriented active sentences using verbal style.
• Lexical comprehension: Deriving the meaning of unfamiliar or highly specialised technical terms from context and formulating concise definitions (glossary work).

Target Group and Level

Upper secondary school (advanced level).

This worksheet aims to raise students' awareness of hidden advertising and sponsored content across social media platforms, equipping them to critically evaluate disclosure labels and understand the commercial mechanisms behind creator brand partnerships.

Content and methods: The worksheet introduces covert advertising through a true/false warm-up and key vocabulary definitions (such as affiliate links, discount codes, and PR packages). Using a signal checklist, students independently analyze and categorize six real-world social media case studies, comparing their findings in pairs ("Ad Detective"). They then evaluate disclosure transparency using the "Label Test" and rewrite non-compliant posts to ensure transparent disclosure. A final challenge question prompts students to reflect on why commercial brands often prefer covert marketing strategies.

Competencies:

• Identifying and distinguishing between overt, hidden, and non-commercial social media content
• Criteria-based media analysis using visual signals, hashtags, and disclosure placement
• Critical evaluation of promotional transparency and legal disclosure standards
• Practical writing and communication skills by redrafting posts with compliant disclosures
• Collaborative reasoning and debate through partner discussion

Target group: Middle School

This worksheet aims to raise students’ awareness of the mechanisms, economic dimensions, and psychological strategies of modern digital marketing in everyday life.

Content and Methods: The material focuses on the economic significance of social media marketing based on statistical data, as well as the analysis of specific digital posts. Methodologically, the worksheet relies on a combination of practical case studies—in which an exemplary social media post is deconstructed both textually and statistically—and theoretical insights into behavioral economic effects. In addition, the material encourages multi-perspective discussion through reflective writing assignments and the comparison of contrasting stakeholder perspectives. Finally, the discussion of complex issues is used to synthesize what has been learned into the formation of independent judgments.

Competencies:

Analytical and Deconstructive Competence: The ability to systematically examine media content and linguistic and statistical devices for their manipulative or promotional effects

Reflective and Critical Thinking Competence: The ability to critically examine one’s own consumer behavior and evaluate economic phenomena from different perspectives

Media and Economic Competence: Understanding of digital market mechanisms, psychological influence strategies such as the authority bias or the bandwagon effect, and their impact on the economy

Target Audience and Level: 9th/10th grade

Objective: This worksheet aims to encourage students to discuss various topics and to develop their oral communication skills.

Content and Methods: A selected topic is presented, including its characteristics and implications. The methods include reading comprehension exercises, multiple-choice questions, and, in particular, a role-play that encourages oral argumentation. Various perspectives and discussion prompts are included for this purpose.

Competencies:

• Oral communication and argumentation
• Critical thinking and analysis
• Perspective-taking and empathy
• Reading comprehension

Target audience and level: Spanish learners at A2 level

Objective: This worksheet aims to help learners understand political parties and enable them to draft the basic principles of their own political party.

Content and Methods: It covers the history, goals, and values of a political party. The methods include reading comprehension, true/false and multiple-choice questions, as well as a group activity to design their own party.

Competencies:

• Reading comprehension
• Understanding of political parties
• Creativity and planning
• Teamwork

Target audience and level: Spanish learners at A2 level

ESD:

• SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions): Promoting social justice and understanding of political processes
• SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities): Strengthening civic engagement
• SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals): Emphasizing the role of political actors in shaping a more sustainable society

This worksheet aims to provide students with a multifaceted understanding of the historical and emotional complexities of immigration at a border. By combining historical facts with empathetic role-playing, students explore the challenges, legal hurdles, and personal stakes involved in seeking a new life.

Content and methods: The worksheet utilizes a blend of historical reading, audio-based interaction, and creative writing. It provides a text on a country's immigration policies to establish historical context. Methodologically, it shifts from factual comprehension to perspective-taking by prompting students to listen to border official questions, write a reflective essay from the viewpoint of an immigrant, and analyze the internal emotional landscape of those facing interrogation.

Competencies:

• Historical Literacy: Understanding historical immigration laws
• Empathy and Perspective-Taking: Analyzing the emotional burden and fears of immigrants during the entry process
• Listening and Writing Skills: Processing oral questions and articulating detailed personal narratives in an essay format
• Critical Reflection: Evaluating the consequences of refusal and the ethical implications of national allegiance and bias

Target group: Grades 9-12 (High School)

Learners critically examine the economic, social, and environmental consequences of large-scale events using a selected example and weigh up the opportunities and risks.

Contents and methods: 

Based on informational texts about various roles (e.g., city administration, citizens' initiative, environmental officers), learners develop subject-specific arguments. The method includes preparing a structured discussion using tables and concluding with the creation of an informational statement to announce the decision.

Skills:

• Multiperspective analysis of complex economic issues
• Argumentation and judgment skills in socio-political debates
• Transfer of theoretical economic data to municipal decision-making processes
• Cooperation and communication skills within a role simulation

Target group:

Grade 8 and above

Learners analyze the concept of soft power as a modern instrument of foreign trade policy and understand how cultural appeal is systematically used to increase national exports and global influence.

Contents and methods:

Using a factual text and a fictional eyewitness account, the differences between hard and soft power as well as mechanisms such as nation branding, public diplomacy, and the halo effect are explored. The methodological implementation involves text analysis, the reconstruction of chains of effects, research in the “Global Soft Power Index,” and a concluding critical assessment of state cultural control.

Competencies:

• Technical competence: Distinguishing and explaining international power categories (hard vs. soft power)
• Analytical competence: Investigation of the economic impact of cultural exports (e.g., K-pop) on gross domestic product
• Judgment competence: Critical reflection on the opportunities and dangers of state influence on culture and national identity
• Media and research competence: Dealing with global comparative studies to measure the intangible assets of nations

Target group:

Grade 10 and above

Learners critically examine the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the creative industries and develop their own well-founded position on the subject.

Content and methods:

The material provides an introduction to how generative creative content works. In a discussion, students take on different roles (e.g., politicians, tech industry, cultural workers), analyze subject-specific arguments, and compile them in a table. An optional practical task allows them to experiment with AI tools themselves.

Skills:

• Critical examination of technological innovations and their social consequences
• Change of perspective and ability to argue within the framework of a debate
• Media literacy through reflection on copyright, authenticity, and the dangers of manipulation
• Use of digital tools for creative content creation

Target group:

Grade 10 and above

Learners analyze the concept of data capitalism, identify the economic value of personal data, and evaluate the key opportunities and risks of data trading.

Contents and methods:

The worksheet deals with data capitalism and the role of personal data as a “currency.” Using the example of the fictional character Nala, the types of data shared and their economic interest for companies are examined. The economic value of data, the role of data brokers, and the use of profiles by companies are discussed. A sorting exercise traces the flow of data from release to corporate use. Subsequently, argumentative texts highlight the perspectives of consumer representatives, business representatives, and small business owners on the opportunities and risks of data trading in order to summarize the most important arguments in a concluding table and write a reasoned statement.

Skills:

• Analysis of data flow and economic interdependencies in data capitalism.
• Assessment of the opportunities and risks of trading personal data from different perspectives.
• Reasoned statement on a socially relevant economic topic.
• Summary and structuring of complex factual texts.

Target group:

Grade 9 and above