Spend the Teacher's Money

September 27, 4:45 PMBoston ESOL ExaminerAlan Cohen

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Spend the Teacher's Money. That is the title of one of my favorite ESL conversation classes. I introduce the students to Kiva and ModestNeeds. Kiva is a microcredit site where you can make small loans ($25.00) to help entrepreneurs (from around the world) to become self-sufficient. ModestNeeds is a site where you  can donate money to an American that needs a helping hand. With Kiva, you make a loan; with ModestNeeds, you make a donation.

I begin the class by discussing microcredit and charity. Next, I introduce the students to both sites. The students are then broken into groups. Each group chooses a person to lend or donate money to. They make a short presentation. The class votes. I lend or donate $25.00 to the person that the class chooses.

This is a fun conversational topic. Sometimes my students will pick a person from their country, sometimes they vote by industry (somebody who wants to start a business relating to healthcare, education, etc.) and so on. This class also introduces them about ways to help others.