Teaching Television Commercials

Most teachers use television incidentally in their lessons, if only to reinforce or illustrate some point. Many will have noticed a reluctance, almost an hostility, by the children towards discussing their favourite shows. Children learn quickly that too much discussion and analysis destroys the pleasure they get from television-while teachers learn that by the middle of secondary school, children regard television and school as radically different activities. This is a report of the findings of two pieces of research that largely avoid these feelings of prying into the private lives of children, yet tell us something of this secret world of television-and more importantly, what can be done about it in schools.