The following article by Lindsay Clandfield is taken from the MacMillan Education on-line teaching resource site.

Cash on the crunch

With the world media ensuring that recessions, financial problems and economic gloom are never far from the news, it's reasonable to expect that most young students will have heard of "the crisis". According to the Personal Finance Education Group, 90% of British teens worry about money on a daily basis. So how can a teacher capitalise on these troubled times to generate talk in class?

For teens, the topic of mortgages and variable interest rates is probably a non-starter. However, pocket money might be a good way in. I wouldn't ask students to compare how much they get, but ask them instead to agree what an appropriate sum is and what they think is the best way to spend it.

You could add that pocket money in the UK is an average of just under $20 per week, and that a quarter of British children in a recent survey had asked their parents to reduce their pocket money to help out with the credit crunch.

Talking money is a good way to get learners to explore and discuss their values. Asking students to take the role of agony aunt and respond to questions about money problems can generate conversation. Some situations could be: you've borrowed money from a friend and can't pay it back; you've won a lot of money - you don't know who to tell; you think your best friend is very irresponsible with money and want to help them. Write these situations on cards and put students into small groups. One student from each group presents the problem to the group and asks for advice.

Finally, it may be worth bringing current news stories about debt or borrowing (the Guardian web site has a good selection). Bring something in for students to read and then ask them to follow up by giving their own advice to avoid rough financial situations.

Of course, any of these classes provide the perfect excuse to teach money vocabulary (coins, notes, cash), bank vocabulary (withdrawals, debts, deposits, savings) and explore money-related idioms. Is there an equivalent of "Money doesn't grow on trees!" that your students hear from their parents?