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The goal of this exercise is to help your students understand how the
media portrays teen-agers and alcohol use.
- Begin this exercise by asking your students to name movies that have
teen-agers as main characters and write them up on the board.
- Ask your students which of the movies they named show teen-agers drinking
alcohol and put a star by those movies.
- Ask your students to describe the teen-age characters who drink alcohol
in the movies. Write their answers on the board for them to reflect
on.
- Next, lead your students in a discussion about the movies they listed
that don't show teen-agers drinking alcohol or doing drugs. Ask them
to name the activities these characters shown doing that would make
them feel more grown up?
- Ask each student to take out a piece of paper and write down the age
that people can legally purchase alcohol in your state. Have them fold
up their papers and bring them to the front to be tallied. Have them
repeat this with cigarettes or other tobacco products. Tally the number
of correct and incorrect answers for the legal age to purchase alcohol
while they write down their answer for the legal age to purchase tobacco
products. Collect their answers for the legal age to purchase tobacco
and tally the correct and incorrect answers. Write the numbers tallied
for each up on the board under the correct answer!
- Now, ask your students why they think these substances are legal if
purchased after a certain age. Continue leading this discussion by asking
your students if they think making something legal means that it is
no longer harmful or dangerous. Ask your students to elaborate on their
reasoning and allow other students to question each other about their
opinions.
- Lead your students in a discussion of some of the reasons drinking
alcohol is often associated with social events. Ask your students to
talk about how they would you feel if they attended a party where some
kids were drinking. Ask them to share ways that they could make it politely
clear to their guests that alcohol, tobacco or other drugs are not welcome
at a party they were hosting.
- The following resources can be used to provide your students with
survey data about how alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs are portrayed
in movies and other media:
- Follow up by having your students search a current local newspaper
for articles that contain a reference to alcohol consumption. Assign
your students to write a short essay on how alcohol consumption affected
the judgment of the person in the article they found.
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