This lesson has students learn about foreign products available in the United States and about U.S. companies that sell products abroad. Students will illustrate two maps to show where products come from and where they are sold, and discuss ways in which they notice the impact of globalization in their own lives.

Geography, economics

Standard 11: "The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface"

Three hours

• Computer with Internet access
• Writing materials
• Blank Xpeditions outline maps of the world, two for each student

Students will

• read the Lizzie's Morning story;
• list the places where some items in the classroom come from originally;
• list some common products from foreign countries;
• define and discuss globalization;
• go to Web sites that sell foreign products, and record the products' countries of origin;
• go to the Web sites of some U.S. companies, and record the locations where they do business;
• map the countries where the foreign products come from and the countries where the U.S. companies do business; and
• write paragraphs describing what the maps show and answering questions about globalization.

Have students read the short story Lizzie's Morning (at the Xpeditions activity of the same name).

Then ask students to determine where some of the items in their classroom came from originally. They can include furniture, school supplies, their own clothing, and anything else that has a label indicating its origins. List the places on the board.

Have students list some of the products the following countries are known for: France, Switzerland, Germany, China, and India. If they have trouble thinking of any products, give them some ideas (e.g., French wine and cheese; Swiss watches and chocolate; German cars and beer; Chinese silk; Indian spices).

Have students seen any of these products in the store? What types of U.S. products do they think these countries carry in their stores? Discuss what they already know about the availability of foreign products in the U.S. and abroad.

Provide a simple definition of globalization: the transfer of goods, information, and ideas between many countries. Help students think of examples of goods, information, and ideas, and list their examples on the board.

Ask students to think of examples of globalization they have come across. These might include items they have at home or have seen at stores; things they have heard about in news stories; music they listen to; food they eat at restaurants; holiday customs their family has adopted; or numerous other sources.

Have the students go to Yahoo! and search using the key words "food imports." Ask them to look at some of the Web sites and list as least six foreign-produced items that can be purchased in the United States, either in stores or online.

Have students go to the following Web sites of familiar U.S. companies to see the foreign countries in which they do business. Ask students to list at least six of the countries for each company.

Converse Inc. (select "Products" and the link to international dealer information on the left)
Ford Motor Company (select "Visit our websites around the world" at the top)
Levi Strauss & Co.
McDonald's Corporation

Discuss the following questions as a class:

• How much has globalization impacted your life?
• How do you think globalization impacts the lives of people in other countries?
• Can you think of both positive and negative consequences of globalization?

Give each student two blank Xpeditions outline maps of the world.

On the first map, have students label the countries of origin for the foreign-produced products they saw on the Web. Ask them to write the name of the products next to the name of the country they came from.

Have students label the second map with the countries where the four U.S. companies sell their products. Next to the country names they should draw or write symbols for the corresponding company or companies.

Have students write two to three paragraphs describing what their maps show. Their essays should address these questions:

• What is globalization?
• What evidence for globalization is apparent on the maps?
• What might be some good things about globalization? What might be some bad things about globalization?

Ask students to spend one week keeping a "globalization journal." They should record each piece of evidence they see to suggest that globalization is occurring. This evidence may appear in items they have at home or have seen at stores; things they've heard about in news stories; music they listen to; food they eat at restaurants; holiday customs their family has adopted; or other sources. Some examples of what they might find include

• imported cheese in the grocery store;
• imported CDs in a music store;
• a TV program produced in another country; and
• a TV news story about international business or another topic related to globalization.

Globalization 101: A Student's Guide to Globalization
International Forum on Globalization
National Geographic: Xpeditions Activity—Lizzie's Morning