Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 4 - Writing
Getting Things Done

Banking & Numeracy

Real-World Task

Prepare a budget with a partner using information from a template.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Concepts around saving money and paying monthly expenses
Numbers 1- 1000
Money conventions

Context:

A budget is a plan for your money. It shows how much money you get and how you spend it each month. In Canada, many costs are monthly: rent, phone, internet, transit, and food.
A budget helps you figure out how to distribute your money. A budget can help you pay bills on time and may help you avoid debt. You worry less when you know where your money goes.
Everyone’s budget is different. Some people support their families. Some have low income. A budget is not about being perfect, it is about being aware. A budget can help you pay important bills, save a little, avoid debt, and feel more secure.
Many families have different ways of managing the money that comes into a household. Sometimes one partner works and the other stays home and sometimes both partners work. Sometimes each partner has a bank account and sometimes they share a bank account to pay household bills. Partners often work together to manage the household budget.
This task is to emphasize the cooperation of both partners in creating budgets and managing household money. The task can be adapted to different contexts.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

budget
wants / luxury
needs / necessity
item
income
debt
savings
financially secure
secure
expense words: bill, rent, utility, insurance, tax

Sample Grammar:

Adjectives / adverbs of frequency: yearly, monthly, weekly, daily
Format of numbers with decimals

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Budgets are usually laid out in rows and columns.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Budgets are based on fact and do not usually include opinions or emotions.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: How do you plan spending your money? What is a budget? What goes on a budget? What are the advantages of a budget? Have you ever done a budget before? What are some challenges of managing your finances? Elicit responses such as time to monitor spending, relationship disagreements about how money should be spent, paying down debt, and so on.
Match picture flashcards showing different vocabulary items with images. Then, add an additional set of flashcards with simple definitions for each term and match these definition cards to the images and vocabulary terms.
Write simple sentences that use these vocabulary words.
Review vocabulary on the board: income, expense. Elicit from learners examples of common expenses and list them on the board.
Discuss in small groups: What are needs or necessities? What are wants or luxuries? Have learners make lists of needs / necessities and wants / luxuries.
Read a simple story about debt and discuss what the character can do.
Look at several instructor-made monthly budget templates and identify key vocabulary words: list expenses, compare variable and fixed expenses, total amounts spent in the month, and total budget surplus. Share your findings with a classmate and compare answers.
Brainstorm in small groups ways to save money. Have each group share their ideas with the class.
Listen to a dialogue between a couple discussing their budget. Answer some comprehension questions about the dialogue. Practice reading the dialogue with a partner. Discuss as a class: Who plans the budget in your family? Do you work with a partner/ husband / wife?
Teach yearly / annually, monthly, weekly, daily. Have learners write sentences about what they do and how often they do it.
e.g. I donate old clothes yearly. I pay my credit card monthly. I buy groceries weekly.
With financial information provided by the instructor, work in a small group to make a budget for a family.
Use a website or app to make a budget given information.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Copy items and costs into a chart that organizes information into categories such as wants / luxuries, needs / necessities, utilities, and so on.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Prepare a monthly budget using information from a template.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Recognize that issues related to economic disadvantage are often stigmatized. Instructors can work to reduce the stigma.
Some learners may experience changes to gender roles when they come to Canada. For some, this may be a welcome change, but for others it may be challenging. A bank may only communicate directly with an account holder rather than allowing family members to complete transactions on their behalf.
Instructors can encourage discussion about gender roles with finances, but address concerns with sensitivity. Teach that Canada
is equitable and inclusive to people of all genders.

Digital Literacy Strategies:

Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline knowledge and digital skills.

Learners may need to:

Have keyboarding and typing skills.
Locate, navigate and use websites.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages.
Type information to appear on screen
Send and receive text messages and messages on other texting apps.
Send and receive email messages
Complete formatted texts online, such as forms
Navigate and use online learning management systems (LMS) such as Avenue.
Use a search engine to find information.

Instructors can:

Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners.
Make and/ or adapt digital materials.
Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites.
Use digital tools such as translation or pronunciation tools to support language learning and foster autonomous learning.
Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

People from different cultures may have different expectations of how to manage their finances. Some may not have experience with banks or may not trust banks.
There are often programs available to help learners with financial literacy and basic financial planning. Research programs in your area and share this information with the learners.
Use diverse representations of people in all your learning resources and images, including people who are 2SLGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Francophone and of other cultures, and people who have disabilities or who are neurodivergent. Consider this diversity as you choose names for characters in stories you create as well.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma triggers:

When teaching about Canada, you may teach about things that are triggering to learners who have experienced trauma. We can’t know what the triggers might be and what seems commonplace to us may have a triggering component for learners. Be aware of this and be prepared to support learners as needed.
Learners who have lived or are living in poverty and learners who have lost their homes and possessions may find discussions of banking, money, or finance triggering.

Strategies:

Be sensitive to learners’ situations, avoid judgemental language, and avoid suggesting that there is an easy solution to complex financial situations.
Give learners advance warning of this topic and be aware that there may be learners who require support.
Learners who have experienced trauma often benefit from having routine. Create a safe and supportive classroom environment by establishing familiar routines, repeated activities, and model friendly and non-evaluative interactions.
Learners will benefit from positive relationships established in the classroom with the instructor and peers.
Learners who have experienced trauma benefit from having choices.
- Allow learners choice:
  - the choice to work on a different topic
  - the choice to share or not share their own experiences
  - the choice to work alone or to work with others
  - the choice to take care of themselves
  - the choice to step out of the learning environment
When learners have shared personal distressing or traumatic experiences, make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences. Follow the activities which may make learners feel vulnerable with routine, predictable and comforting activities.
Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.

Resources

Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:

Invite someone who specializes in financial literacy to speak to the class.
Have learners write suggestions for ways to save money and publish these suggestions as a pamphlet.

Realia:

Sample budgets
Budgeting websites and / or apps

Units and Modules:

Lessons and Activities:

Multimedia:

YouTube (Ellii): Going to the bank – Everyday English dialogues
YouTube (RightStart Newcomer Services): Going to the bank
Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Banking and Finance