1) Analyzing "Home" and "House" by Stephen Hanley, W.A.I.T.T. House

I wrote the words "Home" and "House" on the black board. Then I asked the students to brainstorm the associations that came to mind with each word. As the students shared their ideas, I listed them on the board.

The students gave me the following words to describe "Home": a place where you live, family, people are together, and personal.

These are the words they used to describe "House": somebody else's place, a building, business, residence or a building that may become my home.

A discussion of the differences and similarities of a home and a house followed the brainstorming session. Students managed to convey their ideas in sophisticated terms. Whenever a student had difficulty finding a word to verbalize his or her thoughts, I would pull a word from my vocabulary bank, and describe the word's meaning. Then the student would determine if the word expressed his or her idea.

Based on the phrases they had generated during the brainstorm session, I conducted a writing activity whereby the whole class developed complete sentences that formed two simple topic paragraphs:

Home is a place where you live. It is where the family comes together. Home is my place. It is personal.

A house belongs to anybody. It's somebody else's residence. It is a building or the structure that may become your home or anybody else's home.

Following this writing session, the students used a Webster's Paperback Dictionary to find out how the dictionary defined the words "Home" and 'House". These are the synonyms students found in the dictionary for "Home": adobe, pad, place, dwelling, habitation, and lodging. Here are the synonyms students found for the word "Home": building, shelter, household, business firm, legislative body, auditorium and lodging.
 
 

2) Advantages & Disadvantages of Ownership by Stephen Hanley, W.A.I.T.T. House

Although everyone agreed that in theory owning a home is better than renting an apartment, a serious discussion and debate ensued about the real advantages and disadvantages of home ownership.

The debate emerged from the idea that losing one's home to the bank is too risky, and to bear such a loss is too stressful. Others stated that a family could lose their apartment to the landlord for non-payment of rent and that this was equally as stressful. Eventually, the debate centered on the question- Is owning a home a more emotional obligation that may even involve family dynamics? Those who felt as if it wasn't necessarily more emotionally risky and personal to own, posed the argument that all of life's accomplishments and choices involve risk taking, and in the end, owning a home was financially more soluble than renting. The students who argued this also reminded the other students that if one found himself/herself to be in financial trouble and yet needing to make mortgage payments, one could always sell the house and/or discuss the financial difficulties with the mortgage lender. Not only did this debate demand that the students use their critical thinking skills, but it also provided an opportunity for them to learn new vocabulary. The following is a list of vocabulary that was generated by the class discussion and debate:

Advantages

-I own the home

-Home Equity

-I can do whatever I want with the house so long as it does not violate the zoning laws

-I can repair or model my home without on my property

asking for the landlord's permission

-It is my place

-Tax benefits

-I don't have to worry about the rent becoming unaffordable

-Inherit and inheritance

Disadvantages

-Paying a Mortgage to the Bank

-Paying Interest

-If I am late with my payments, the government can put a lien on the house

-Risk

-There is more stress because it is my place

-I am responsible for paying the mortgage, taxes and housing repairs

-The home owner has to be more accountable to the local government

and banks than the renter has to be
 
 

3) Exploring Home Ownership by Lisa Garrone, ABCD's South Side Head Start

As a pre-reading/pre-writing activity, I gave students a copy of the picture on page one of the FannieMae Foundation's ESOL curriculum, How to Buy a House In the United States.  I also told students that the title of the picture: "Do you want to buy a home?" I did not include any of the questions from the curriculum. Instead, I then asked them to talk about the picture:

Teacher: "What's happening?'

Students: "The husband and wife are thinking about future, want to buy home."

Teacher: "How do they feel?"

Students: "Happy," "Hope," "Pressure," "They worry"

Further discussion revealed that the Haitian students owned their own homes in Haiti. They talked about owning beautiful homes for very little money ("cheap"). My Venezuelan student, in contrast, stated that homes in her country are very expensive, so she always rented. The Albanian students said that the banks in their country don't have enough money to lend, so it's very difficult to borrow money.
 
 

4) Discussion of the Neighborhood by Lisa Garrone, ABCD's South Side Head Start

Following some basic comprehension questions about the locations of the police station, Catholic Church, and parking lot in the neighborhood described above, I drew a simple map of the neighborhood in which our school is located. I limited the map to the three major streets and drew in the school. Referring back to the list of neighborhood places from our previous class, I asked, "Where is the pizza restaurant?" This elicited the response, "On the corner of Washington and Corinth". I asked a student to come to the board to draw in the various sites on the map as directions were elicited from the class. Students asked each other the location of each of the listed places. The student drawing the map had to listen and fill in the map according to these directions. This activity provided a thorough review of the following terms: across the street, on the corner, around the corner, next to, beside, on the left, on the right, on the next block.

Referring back to the reading, I asked the class how long it takes the writer to get to the Catholic Church from her apartment. After some explanation of my question, the class agreed that it would take 5 minutes. I recorded this information in the chart below (drawn on large newsprint). Referring to the list of places in the neighborhood where students go, I asked one student, " How long does it take you to get to the beauty salon from work?" and "How do you get there?" I recorded the answer in the chart and repeated this with a few other students before asking one student to take my place.
 
 

STUDENT

TIME

DESTINATION

ORIGIN

TRANSPORTATION

 

	5 min.	church	apartment	walking
E.V.	20 min.	beauty salon	work	Bus and walking
K.M.	30 min.	school	work	car
M.H.	20 min.	health clinic	home	walking

5) Using Pictures and Photos by Nancy Coffey, Operation Bootstrap

Students drew pictures or brought photographs of their houses in their own countries to share with other students in small groups. This activity was very successful and provided good practice in conversation.
 
 

6) Researching Different Housing by Ashley Dumas, Project Hope

For the final homebuying readiness activity, I brought in a number of different books about different countries, and had students use the tables of contents and indices to find information about housing in these countries. I had each student research housing in a different country, and then report back to the class with her findings. Many students chose to talk about their native countries, and had a lot to say about the differences in affordability, style, multi generational living, etc. between their country and the United States.
 
 

7) The Curriculum As It Is by Dwight Jarrat, ABCD's South Side Head Start

I believe that the grammar, vocabulary and comprehension exercises provided by the FannieMae Foundation's curriculum, combined with the students high level of interest in the actual topic of homebuying is what made the classes so successful. We had many interesting discussions about such things as the legal and financial institutions in the U.S., the pros and cons of being a landlord, and home ownership as one of the central components to achieving "the American dream." I saw my students engage in meaningful conversation in English, pushing themselves to express their ideas and generate questions just because the topic was of such interest to them.

Of the five students who own homes, two students own condominiums, one student owns rental property as well as the house he lives in, one owns a two-family, renting out the second unit, and one student recently bought a house at an auction. Needless to say there was a wealth of information and perspectives on home ownership within the classroom.