By Victoria Natalie, Bunker Hill Community College, Chelsea Campus

Summary

The Intermediate Level Bunker Hill Community College Students who participated in the Homebuying Readiness project are from various countries in Latin American, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, as well as from Haiti and Brazil. The lessons chosen were meant to benefit the students as both potential homebuyers, and as tenants. My purpose as their teacher was to expose the students to their options and rights as consumers in the housing market, either as owners and/or tenants.

Lesson 1: Introducing Students to U.S. Banking Culture and Budgeting

The purpose of this lesson was to introduce the students to the United States banking system as well as to important basic budget awareness skills. We used blank bank check application forms, and commercially sold ESOL workbook expense sheet handouts.

We began the activity by defining basic banking vocabulary. We then reviewed some basic math skills, such as percentages, decimals and averages. The students role-played going to the bank to set up an account, and the discussion following the role play was active and enlightening: students learned budgeting methods from each other.

 Because their expenses almost always included "sending money home," we took an informal, in-class survey as to the percentage of their earned incomes that was sent to their native countries. The results were tallied from a total of 20 students. The overall amount of money sent home was 25.4% of the classes total earned income. The following is the breakdown of the number of students that sent percentages of their income home: 3 students/5 %, 6 students/10%, 3 students/15%, 1 student/20%, 1 student/30%, 4 students/50%, and 2 students/70%. The discussion that followed revealed that students were mostly sending money to their native country to support family still living there. In some cases that money was being put aside to help bring other family members to the U.S.; in other cases, the money was being used to buy land or houses in the student's native country; and always, some of the money was being used to help the student's family with everyday living expenses.

Lesson 2: Introducing Students to Homebuying & Home Ownership Responsibilities

The purpose of this lesson was to introduce the concept of home ownership and to explore the many responsibilities that are implicit in being a homeowner. During this class I introduced the FannieMae Foundation's ESOL curriculum, How to Buy a Home in the United States. First the class read and discussed Unit 1/Chapter 1, "This apartment is too small" and Unit 4/Chapter 1, "Protecting and maintaining your home" After reading the above units, the students drew their homes that they had once lived in. They shared views about where they had come from and what they aspired toward, constantly referring back to the pictures they had drawn. Eventually the conversation turned toward the students' feelings of homesickness and how much time they had spent outdoors in their native countries -- on porches, in yards, gardens and farms. I had planned to introduce the idea of caretaking and maintaining property by having students plant vegetable and flower seeds. Their reflections on the outdoors and nature were a perfect transition into that activity.

The seed packets were handed out in class. The students read the planting directions on the back of the packet while they discussed their desire to create positive and beautiful surroundings in their homes and neighborhoods. Using the Revere, Chelsea and Boston telephone books, the students looked up the phone numbers and addresses for various community gardens. Later, they called for information and orientation dates

After the planting and community garden activity, students compared the different kinds of homes in their native county and in the United States, and went on to compare the different kinds of maintenance responsibilities. For homework, students were asked to list all the repairs they were capable of doing and sources to find reliable professionals (e.g. Better Business Bureau, the Help Wanted section of the Boston Globe, union lists, etc.)

Lesson 3: Learning about House Hunting & Consumer Awareness

We began the class by reading Unit 2/Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 in How to Buy a Home in the United States. These chapters, entitled. "Deciding what you want," and "How to find the right home,"ask students to think about what kind of house they might want and help them learn about how to go about finding it.

For the next activity, I began with a brief explanation of some of the more popular housing advertisement abbreviations. And then, after our reading and discussion of the two chapters, in pairs, students read through The Boston Globe, The Chelsea Record, The Revere Journal, and various real estate listing pamphlets. Students were asked to note examples of factual reporting, exaggeration, false statements and coded, unwritten meanings. After students reported back their findings, and misleading advertising was discussed, the entire class brainstormed ways to begin viewing homes for sale and apartments for rent.

To complete the lesson, one student who was an architect in his native country, presented a visual display of various kinds of houses. Students really enjoyed this presentation, sometimes asking him architectural questions in Spanish such as: Why are there basements in the United States? What does "handicap accessible" mean? What are the different kinds of building materials used in New England and how do New England weather considerations dictate choices of which materials to use?

Lesson 4: Tenant Rights, Fair Housing, U.S. Discrimination Policies and Legal Aid

For this important lesson, we read and discussed the Attorney General's Guide to Tenants' Rights. Because students had on their own collected the guide at their City Halls, many of the students had already had a chance to look through the guide and generate questions about what they didn't understand or wanted more information about. The issues of tenant/landlord rights and responsibilities led to questions about zoning laws. At that point, the students broke into groups and looked up phone numbers of the Better Business Bureau, city building and zoning departments for questions about building additions and laws regarding pets. After a lengthy discussion about the need to know proper procedures when building additions on property, we returned to the issue of housing discrimination and the federal anti-discrimination laws. For homework, students wrote about a time they experienced discrimination and how it was or wasn't resolved.

Lesson 5: Introducing Students to the World Wide Web Through E-Square http://www2.wgbh/org/mbcweis/esquare/esq.htm

Guest teacher: Deborah Schwartz

Deborah conducted most of the class in the campus' computer lab. Before she brought students to the computers, she introduced herself and the homebuying project and answered questions. She then asked students to talk about their experiences using computers and the WorldWide Web. Because only about 1/3 of the class had ever used computers and only one or two students had ever been on the WorldWide Web, she asked the students who had used the WWW to explain what they did and how they used it to the others. She also provided a spider web graphic to explain how the WWW could connect you to many different points. Basic Internet terminology was introduced throughout the presentation.

Students then completed a pre-computer use student survey that asked them to record how often, in what capacities and under what circumstances they had used computers (see Computer Worksheet #1).

At the computer lab, students were guided through the E-Square homebuying sites. Unfortunately, we experienced some technical difficulties; not only were there problems connecting to the E-Square Website, but there were also problems with some of the computers. For the students who could not connect to the E-Square Web site, they surfed and searched the Web looking for information and sites of interest -- baptized by fire. Amazingly a number of students found Websites that peaked their interest until we could bring up E-Square. About half-way through the class, students were scrolling through Portuguese news site and translating the world news to their non-Portuguese speaking classmates, viewing the weather conditions in the Caribbean, reviewing soccer matches and comparing rates for travel back to their home countries! The few students who were perusing the E-Square homebuying readiness Web sites were so excited to have found it, that they were calling over other students and together reading through the information. Although this class served as only a partial introduction to the homebuying learning resources available through the E-Square Web site and its links, it did serve to introduce students to the limitless resources offered to them once they enter the world of the WorldWide Web. For the final learning activities, students were asked to draw a picture of what was sitting in front of them -- the hardware of the computer and the screen that they happened to be looking at (see Computer Worksheet #2) . And once students were back in class, they completed a post-computer use survey that asked them to reflect on what they learned and what next questions they might have (see Computer Worksheet #3).

 Reflections

The students were enthusiastic with the unit on homebuying. They found it served many practical purposes as they learned about banking, savings, deciphering advertisements and the need for caution when evaluating all kinds of material. It also taught them about the importance of researching information from different perspectives and through many sources -- city halls, newspaper, libraries, telephone books, local banks, Realtors and computers. Most of all, students felt that it was enlightening to learn about how they could one day be homebuyers if they so wanted.

As an ESOL instructor, I found that the FannieMae Foundation's ESOL curriculum, How to Buy a House in the United States, was an excellent teaching tool. The material was geared to an intermediate level ESOL class, and for my group of students, many of whom are excellent readers, this level of reading comprehension was perfect. I also learned so much about my students' lives and priorities. I was amazed at how some students sent home 50% or 70% of their earned income while managing to support themselves in the high-cost Boston area. The way my students managed their money seemed like more of a work of art, that we Americans could benefit from. But even with their money management skills, my students didn't know the rights and financial opportunities afforded to them in this country. They were quite grateful to hear that the government, through its civil rights laws, works to pursue equal rights and opportunities for all, including the newcomer. In fact, my students learned that the United States is a true working democracy, complete with legal protections, availability of financial assistance and educational opportunities. In many ways, the unit about homebuying worked to jar my students' cynicism about the role of government and government assistance; home ownership, in this new country, could be more than just a dream.

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