Activity 1
Your Community and the World

Introduction: The students’ local community has vast linkages to the world. However, students (and other residents) are often unaware of these linkages and fail to recognize how much they are influenced by and are dependent upon foreign countries. This activity, through individual research, raises student awareness of these linkages. They will begin to grasp the concept of global interconnections. Objective: The major goal of this activity, and its survey follow up, is to show students how closely linked they are to other peoples and nations across the globe. Procedures: The progress indicators cited reflect desirable end goals. Teachers should be prepared to use a wide variety of observational, testing and authentic achievement evaluation measures in judging the progress of students. Through use of several survey instruments, students will reveal their ability to conduct research using their community as the data source. The data so collected will reveal a capacity to inquire, tabulate, analyze and reach conclusions concerning their immediate surroundings and their relationship to the larger world of which they are a part. By gathering information about the origins of various familiar items, and relating them to appropriate maps, the students will demonstrate an ability to read and use maps. This activity should also involve them in showing their proficiency in the use of an almanac, encyclopedia or the Internet to see that they have correctly identified a foreign country, not simply a part of a country (e.g., Sicily, Puerto Rico) or a general region (e.g., Central America, Africa). Through the examination of their own data, and comparing and contrasting their survey results with those of others, the students will reveal their capacity to draw conclusions /generalizations concerning the global nature of the world as it exists in their own community. Suggested Material: Copies of Handout 1: "Survey Format." Copies of a World Map. Initial Data for Consideration and/or Process: The community has many links to the world. Few people in any community are probably aware of all the linkages or of how much they are affected by other nations of the world. The task which students will undertake is a survey of the various community agencies which have a strong likelihood of contact with the other nations of the world in some manner. The ten locations in which the investigation will take place are: Grocery Stores, Newsstands (or bookstores where newspapers are sold), Travel Agencies, Music or Record Stores, Banks, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Houses of Worship or charitable organizations, Variety or Department Stores, and, finally, a variety of People. In each of these categories the student should identify a minimum of five separate items which are from a country different from their own: e.g., clothing made in a South American country; food products from Mexico, money from Greece. Remember that for each area of investigation the student will need to develop questions which suit that particular location (e.g., what various currencies do banks they handle? What activities do local churches engage in related to another area of the world?) While five items are the minimum required, the students should not hesitate to exceed that number. After the students have finished their investigation of all ten locations, they are to chart their findings on a world map. The teacher will provide examples of community relationships with other world nations. The students’ survey data will form the basis for discussion. Hand out world map, and ask students to make a list of the different countries listed in your survey. The students should label the countries and shade them in on this map. Using a ruler, draw a line from your home city/town to indicate a link that they found between your community and that country. Extending the Activity: Not only the community, but also the school has global linkages. A group project for interested students could be the creation of a display showing the global origins of students at your school. A statistical list of countries in which students in your school were born can probably be obtained from the school’s administrative office. Display a world map with yarn stretched from your city/town to each of these countries. Pictures or artifacts appropriate to each country can also be featured. You might use a display case in the main hall. Students can gather more information about the global linkages of your school and community by conducting interviews with immigrants (either students in your school or adults in your community). Students conducting the interviews should cover the immigrants’ reasons for moving to the U.S., their or their families’ problems in getting to the U.S., and the challenges of adjusting to life in the U.S. Questions can also be asked to find out what linkages (personal, commercial, or cultural) the immigrant maintains with his/her country of origin. Updated from "International Linkages, Your Community and the World," in New York and the World. New York: The American Forum for Global Education, 1998. View the Handout for this Lesson