CBC Archives

Create a word web by writing the word “global” on the board and asking students to provide you with words that related to it. Create another word web by writing the word “village” on the board and again ask students to provide you with words related to it. Hold a class discussion comparing and contrasting the words found in each web.

Now write the term “Global Village” on the board and explain to students that this is a major concept put forth by Marshall McLuhan. You should also point out that at the time that McLuhan first used this term (in the late 1950’s), there was no such thing as the Internet and many families didn’t have a television, a relatively new invention at the time, in their homes.

Have the students spend time browsing the Marshal McLuhan topic on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site. They should focus on Clip #2 and Clip #3, and take notes of pertinent points about the concept of the “Global Village.”

Have students come together in groups of four or five and share their findings and their own understanding of the global village. Have each group report to the rest of the class while you create class notes on the board using each group’s findings.

Divide the class into new groups of four or five. Remind students to use the class notes as a reference, then ask each group to brainstorm as many examples of “global connectedness” (for example, the Internet, CNN, satellite programming) as possible. Each group should then choose two examples and prepare a list describing why these examples are good for society and why these examples are not good for society. Each group will report its ideas to the rest of the class.

Students should keep a “Media Journal” for two weeks. In this journal they should log as many examples of the “global village” as they can find in the various forms of media. For example, they could log descriptions of TV news or shows that deliver news or other programming from other countries and cultures. They might also clip news stories from newspapers that describe or comment upon events elsewhere in the world.