INTRODUCTION
If your students were never to leave their own country-or county-they would still be part of a global neighborhood, inextricably linked to the rest of the world. in this exercise, students examine familiar products to learn how connected we are with other parts of the world in a network of economic interdependence.

MATERIALS
World map, atlas, pushpins, chocolate bar

PROCEDURE
A.. Ask students to name countries that have been in the news lately. What events brought those places to the media's attention? Discuss with the students whether they care about what is happening in those parts of the world. If they do, why? If not, why not? Have the students write a paragraph stating their opinions, and save the responses to review at the end of Geography Awareness Week.

B. Ask the class where they think the clothes they have on were manufactured. List answers on the board.Now have students check their clothing labels with the help of a partner. Where, in fact, were their clothes made? How do the students' guesses com pare with the facts? Write down the countries on the board. Locate and mark the countries on a world map. Is there a pattern? Why might some coun tries be major sources of clothing?

C. Hand one student a chocolate bar and tell the class that this student is a chocolate fan. Ask him or her to find your location on the world map and mark it with a pushpin. Ask the class if they can name the ingredients of a typical chocolate bar, and I ist these on the board. For the purposes of this exercise, the list should name cacao seeds or chocolate; sugar;corn syrup; coconut; and nuts. Now divide the class into seven groups. Designate one group as employees of a candy bar factory in your hometown. Designate the remaining groups as follows: cacao growers in Brazil, sugarcane cutters in Jamaica, corn farmers in Iowa, coconut growers in Fiji, nut gatherers in Senegal, and--for the candy wrapper--paper mill workers in the Pacific Northwest. Mark each place on the map with a pin.

Note how many parts of the world contribute to the candy bar. Then inform the class that a powerful hurricane has hit Jamaica, damaging the seasonžs sugarcane crop. Should groups other than the sugarcane cutters care? What effect will the hurricane have on the other groups? Will the student chocolate fan still be able to buy his or her treat? If so, how might the price be affected?*

EXTENSION
A.. Expand the discussion to other products. What did the students' families have for breakfast? Orange juice? Bananas? Choco late milk? Coffee? Cereal? Tea? Where are these foods grown or prepared? Where do other products used by the students come from, such as wristwatches? Their cars? Stereos? Ask students to research where these products were made. List on the board the countries of origin, for both foods and other products, and mark their locations on the map with pushpins. Use pins of different colors to represent different catgories of goods. Now examine the pattern of pins on the map. Do any regions of the world stand out? What regions have no pins? What is the significance of any pattern?

B. Provide the class with a list of specific countries or regions and have the students go on a scavenger hunt in a supermarket to locate a sample food from each place on the list.

* ADAPTED FROM „ A SIMPLE CHOCOLATE BARū, PUBLISHED IN MYSELF AND OTHERS, THE AMERICAN FORUM FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION (FORMERLY GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATION), 1979.