50
sustaInaBlE FashIon : a handBooK For Educators
In this short activity, students learn how cotton is cultivated,
and the social and environmental issues associated with its
cultivation. With a set of images and matching descriptions
about cotton cultivation, students clarify the meaning and
content of these and put them in order. They should be
able to explain the images in their own words and use new
vocabulary to do so, in order to show an understanding of
the pictures. In the last stage of the exercise, each student
could be given a piece of raw cotton from which they can
spin a long, thin, strong piece of thread. This activity can
also be used as an English as a foreign language lesson and
German-English translations are provided.
The instructor sticks all the cotton pictures randomly on
the wall and sets up the clothes-line (if appropriate). Two
students share one worksheet about cotton cultivation and
a vocabulary sheet where appropriate. The instructor asks
one student of each team to read out one of the picture
descriptions and the group then collectively works out the
meaning of the paragraph. The student then selects the
matching image and attaches it to the clothes-line (or to
the wall). The students collectively work out the meaning
of the photo description. This method is repeated for
each picture, until all the pictures have been attached to
the clothes-line/wall. Once each piece of text has been
assigned to an image, each student could receive a piece of
raw cotton, in order to spin a thread as long and thin and
strong as possible.
thE cultIVatIon oF cotton - pIcturEs
- Monoculture
Monoculture occurs when only one type of plant is
grown on a large-scale. Chemicals are used to prevent
reproduction^1 of pests², as these are a big problem for
monoculture. The cultivation of cotton needs around
29,000 litres of water for a kilo of raw cotton^3.
¹ die Fortpflanzung ² dier Schädling ³ die Rohbaumwolle
- Flower
The flower of the cotton plant can be either red or yellow.
3. Aeroplanes
Aeroplanes spray pesticides¹ on large plantations and
may cause water pollution². Many people who are exposed
to the pesticides become ill and do not live longer than
35 years.
¹ die Pestizide ² Verschmutzung- The cotton plant and bud^1
The crop is harvested^2 by extracting the cotton from
the bud¹.
¹ die Knospe ² die Ernte- Cotton Fields
Hundreds of years ago, slaves^1 from Africa picked the
cotton by hand. Today many people still work under slave-
like conditions². Many children also have to work in the
cotton fields and drag³ 40 kilos of cotton a day.
¹ die Sklaven ² Bedingungen ³ schleppen- Cotton harvesting machine
In northern countries the cotton is usually harvested^1 with
machines. The leaves and branches are harvested along
with the cotton. A chemical is sprayed to defoliate the
plant so that only the cotton remains^2.
¹ geerntet ² übrig bleiben- removal^1 of the cotton seed
To prepare for sowing² the following year, the cotton
seeds³ are separated from the rest of the plant. The cotton
is then compressed into bales in order to be transported
and stored.
¹ das Entfernen ² die Aussaat ³ die Samen- Cotton thread^1
The cotton is first bleached², cleaned and combed
and then chemicals are used to dye³ the thread. These
chemicals can be a danger to the health4 of the workers,
many causing allergies and cancer (e.g. formaldehyde,
benzene and azo compounds).
¹ das Garn ³ färben
² gebleicht^4 die Gesundheit