Lesson Plan

• Describe what services are and list the main categories of tradable services.
• Explain how trade in services is recorded in the current account and calculate a net services balance.
• Analyse the effect of service trade on a country’s overall current‑account position using sample data.
• Evaluate how digitalisation expands the services component of the current account.

• Projector and screen
• Whiteboard and markers
• Printed handout of a simplified current‑account table
• Calculator for each student
• Worksheet with practice questions and calculation tasks
• Sticky notes for exit tickets

Begin with a quick poll: “Which everyday activities involve services you pay for from abroad?” Connect responses to prior knowledge of the current account’s goods component, then state that today students will uncover how intangible services are recorded and why they matter. Success will be shown by correctly calculating a net services balance and explaining its impact on the overall current‑account result.

1. Do‑now (5 min): Short quiz on the four current‑account components (goods, services, primary income, secondary income).
2. Mini‑lecture (10 min): Define services, present the six main categories, and illustrate with real‑world examples.
3. Guided recording (10 min): Using the handout, students label exports as credits and imports as debits for a set of service transactions.
4. Calculation activity (10 min): Compute the net services balance from the sample data and add it to a pre‑filled current‑account table.
5. Group discussion (8 min): How do digital platforms (e.g., online education, cloud computing) reshape the services component? Groups share key points.
6. Exit ticket (5 min): Each student writes one way a country can improve its services balance.

Recap the definition of services, the recording method, and the calculation of net services. Collect exit tickets to gauge understanding, and assign homework: complete the remaining practice questions on the worksheet and bring a real‑world example of a service export for the next class.