Teachers Overview
Teachers Suggestions

Part I: Information gathering

Students will be led to explore a country’s site (on Countrywatch.com) to gather information using questions that the activity provides. Teachers and students will have the option to search for information pertaining only to one category or for general information that encompasses all categories.

Select One General People Government Economics  

Part II: Biographical sketch

With the information gathered in Part I, students will begin to get a sense of the kind of people who live in a country and/or a sense of what life is like in this country.

Select One General People Government Economics  

Part III: Putting it together

With the biographies created in Part II, you will examine similarities and differences among people within the same country, or perhaps in different countries.

Select One General People Government Economics  

Part IV: Role playing — Globalization, Balkanization, Nationalism

Based on your work in Steps I – III, respond to some of the scenarios below in the way that you think the people of the country would.

Select One Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3 Scenario 4 Scenario 5 Scenario 6  

This activity, created by the Topics Education Group, was specially designed for use with CountryWatch.com data, to engender understanding about the complicated issues of globalization, balkanization and nationalism.

About Topics Education Group

Topics Education Group LLC was founded in October 1995 by Bruce Nofsinger, a former middle school and high school teacher. In addition to publishing Topics Magazine, a national language arts/social studies classroom magazine for grades 6-9, the company also produces HeadGear, a monthly tabloid supplement for Newspaper in Education programs across the country. It has also recently released its first book, Topics in Character Education, and offers teacher training seminars and workshops. Using the same teaching theories evident in all its products, Topics has also developed customized educational programs for a select list of clients across the country.