If you’re like most high school business education teachers, you’ve probably spent some time searching for international business lesson plans. It can be a niche topic, after all, and many teachers approach AES frustrated that they can't find the right providers to fit their classrooms.
But this is essential material for future businesspeople to learn, and these days a textbook isn't going to cut it. With how frequently the business world and international relations change, your textbook is probably already obsolete!
To answer this need, we've put together a list of relevant, engaging, and current lessons to help your students understand international business.
In this article, you'll discover four of the best places to find lesson plans and activities to teach international business:
- Texas CTE
- Teachers Pay Teachers
- Academy of International Business
- Institute for International Business
By the end of this article, you'll have enough of an understanding of each of these resources to use the ones that fit best with your class.
1. Texas CTE
Texas CTE is a division of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) tasked with ensuring teachers and students meet state instructional standards.
To help teachers find standards-aligned materials, Texas CTE offers free lesson plans and activity ideas. One of these is the Foundation of International Business lesson plan.
This lesson plan is designed to meet Texas requirements for the Principles of Business, Marketing, and Finance class, but you can use it in any class where you need to cover international business.
This lesson plan teaches students the basic elements of international business, including:
- The difference between domestic and international business
- Why international business is important
- History of international business
- Basic international business activities
- Components of the international business environment
- The importance of international business for workers, consumers, and citizens
One of the merits of this lesson is its flexibility as you can choose how many class periods to devote to the lesson. It also contains three graded assignments that teachers can use at their own discretion.
Overall, it’s a decent resource for teachers who want to meet their standards while briefly covering international business. Educators who are going into more depth with the subject will need more resources to fill out their international business curriculum.
2. Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) is an online marketplace community where teachers can share, sell, and buy resources from each other. TpT has an excellent selection of international business lesson plans and activities for a range of grade levels.
Among these products you’ll find lesson plans, PowerPoints, rubrics, worksheets, activities, project ideas, and many other effective resources to help you teach international business.
However, there can be both benefits and drawbacks to this wealth of material that TpT has available. On one hand, you'll have no shortage of materials and options to choose from. On the other hand, you'll probably spend a lot of time finding the right products for you.
It helps that you can sort these resources by grade level, price, and other criteria to find the content that best fits your classroom.
Another great thing about TpT is that teachers add new resources regularly, so you will always have something new!
Some of the best international business resources on TpT are:
- International Business: Cultural Differences Project
- International Business Etiquette Project
- Going Global - International Business Web Quest
3. Academy of International Business
The Academy of International Business (AIB) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving research and education when it comes to international business. It accomplishes this mission by working with policy leaders and ensuring teachers have access to quality resources.
AIB has a number of ideal resources for business education teachers. Their affiliated website even has a dedicated course content area with four sections:
Textbook Publishers
The textbook publishers section provides more information on the various textbook publishers AIB works with, some of which specialize in business-related subjects.
This section is more specific for higher education, so it’s not relevant for most high school business teachers (unless you teach advanced placement electives).
Video Depositories
The video depositories section includes eight websites where you can find videos and multimedia content related to international business.
The AIB gives a small description of each resource to give you an idea of whether it’s relevant to you and your students.
Case Depositories
The case depositories section has a list of 14 websites with case studies related to international business strategies.
If you haven’t used a case study to teach before, now is the perfect time to try it out! In a nutshell, you start a class by talking about an international business topic and illustrate by using the case study as an example.
Cases are the best way to show real-life examples of what you are talking about in the classroom.
Exercises & Simulations
The exercises & simulations section links to 43 interactive exercises, activities, games, and simulations you can use to reinforce international business concepts.
These resources differ in format and cost, but some are free if you don’t have much spending room in your class budget. Like Teachers Pay Teachers, however, with all the options, you’ll spend a lot of time picking a few resources to use.
AIB also periodically reviews each resource they have on their site. That way you can be confident in every resource’s accuracy and relevance to your international business lessons.
4. Institute for International Business
The Institute for International Business (IIB) is part of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
The IIB provides resources for international business that teachers for multiple grade levels can use. The website’s resources are pedagogy-based--oftentimes pairing lesson plan outlines with videos of professors giving lectures on various business topics, or discussing different approaches to teaching international business.
Some videos and lesson plans from IIB's CIBER list include:
- Business and Trade in China
- Entrepreneurship in Cuba
- Mapping the Global Economy
- Women's Empowerment in Ghana
- And more.
These resources are probably best used as supplements to teach students interesting facts about trade and culture within other countries. At the very least, watching and learning from these professors may spark some ideas for your own lessons.
New videos are added each year, so there will always be new ideas for you to try in your classroom!
Facing Other Challenges as a Business Teacher?
When teaching international business, it's critical to have the right lessons to make sure your students can succeed in a global business environment. But it's frustrating that such important material is difficult to find online.
However, any of the resources in this article can go a long way toward teaching your students the international business concepts they need to know.
But as a business education teacher, you're likely facing other challenges that can keep you and your students from being successful.
To better face your challenges in the classroom, download your free guide. You'll learn about several troubles unique to business education teachers, and how you can overcome them in your classroom.
