The Structure of the Legislature Social Studies Vishnu Boys’ Hindu College

Parliament at the Hyatt:

Identify the following individuals:

Government and Opposition: 1. The party that wins the majority of the seats in a General Elections forms the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. A party should win at least 21 seats in order to have a majority. 2. The party that wins the second highest number of seats forms the Opposition. 3. The leader of the Government is called the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition leads the Opposition Members of Parliament. 4. The Government Members of Parliament occupies the seats in Parliament to the right of the Speaker and the Opposition Members are to the left of the Speaker.

Activity: Students are to identify how many Government and Opposition Members of Parliament there are at the moment.

The Senate: The Senate is structured as follows: 1. Sixteen Government Senators appointed by the President of the Republic on the advice of the Prime Minister. 2. Six Opposition Senators appointed by the President of the Republic on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition. 3. Nine Independent Senators chosen and appointed by the President of the Republic Of Trinidad and Tobago.

Discussion: Students and teacher will discuss the roles of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate.

Group Activity: Group activity: Students will be placed into two groups representing the Government and Opposition members. They will be headed by a Prime Minister and an Opposition Leader respectively. Each leader will for five minutes debate the following: “Are schools doing enough to prepare students for the future?”The Government will debate in favour of such and the Opposition against.

Students will recap the main apects of lesson. Closure: Students will recap the main apects of lesson.

Homework: Students are to write journal entries based on today’s lesson.