Active Skills for Reading 1 (Unit 4: Money and Budgets)


CHAPTER 2 - My Money

Real Life Skill - Creating a Personal Budget

A personal budget can help you spend your money more carefully. But most people don't create a personal budget because they think it is difficult. Actually, creating a personal budget can be quite simple and fun. With a little practice, anyone can improve their budgeting skills.

A. Create a personal monthly budget. Follow the steps below.

Step 1: Write your income for one month.

Monthly Income:   $1,500

Step 2: Write down all the ·expenses that you have each month. Think about how much you spend each month on them. Write down how much you spend on each and add the numbers.

Rent | $800
Food | $200
Transport | $100
Heat & Electricity | $50
NecessaryExpenses | $1,150

Step 3: Now write down how much you spend on other things. Add the numbers.

Restaurants |  $150
Movies |  $60
Music CDs  | $100
Other Expenses |  $310

Step 4: Add all your expenses together and subtract them from your income. Then you'll see how much extra money you have every month.

Income | $1,500
Expenses | $1,460
Extra Money! | $40

B. Internet Challenge: Use the search words student, budget, and worksheet to find student budget worksheets online. Use your dictionary to look up words you don't know. Print out or copy the worksheet and share it with a group of classmates.

Answer

Students may find a variety of student budgets and suggestions for managing money. Assign this task for homework. Have students look for budgeting suggestions not already mentioned in the unit.

What do you think?

  1. What are some ways that parents can teach their children to spend money carefully?

    Answer

    by giving their children an allowance when they are young (children then learn to budget over a weekly or monthly time period). Parents can also teach by example: if parents are responsible with money, children will learn by watching them.

  2. What are some popular ways for students to make extra money?

    Answer

    getting part-time jobs, including working in restaurants or shops, tutoring, babysitting, etc.

  3. If you have extra money at the end of the month, what would you do with it?

    Answer

    Extra money can be saved for an important event, used to buy something special, or invested.

http://www.moneyspot.heinle.com

My Money

In this week's Students Around the World, Min Young Kim inteNiews an American university student, Lisa Conroy. They talk about living on a student budget.

Min Young: Thanks for talking with me today, Lisa. Tell us a little about yourself.

Lisa: Well, I'm 21, and I'm a junior1 at a university in Chicago.
Min Young: How are you paying for your college education?
Lisa: My expenses for every semester2 are almost $15,000. At the start of each semester, I get $2,000 from my college scholarship. My parents pay the rest of the $10,000 tuition, and they give me $2,000 for personal expenses. I have to pay the remaining $3,000 myself.
Min Young: How do you do that?
Lisa: I have a part-time job as a waitress. I work three nights a week, and I usually earn about $400 a week. In a good week I can make $600, but in a bad week it can be less than $300.
Min Young: How do you spend that money?
Lisa: It helps to pay for my rent and meals at college. It also pays for things like my cell phone, books, transportation, and clothes.
Min Young: You don't have much money for fun, do you?
Lisa: That's true! My mother advised me to stick to my budget carefully so I don't have to borrow. I don't like to owe money. And I don't want to pay the bank any interest. I hardly ever go to the movies. My roommates and I usually rent movies and split the cost. And, I don't go to restaurants very often. My roommates and I usually cook our own food, so it's cheaper to eat.
Min Young: How else do you save money?
Lisa: I try to walk or ride my bicycle to college. Oh, and I buy a lot of my clothes at second-hand stores. You can find some very cheap, nice clothes in those stores. I also try to borrow books and magazines from the library, rather than buying them on my own. My roommates and I are also very careful to save water and electricity, so we don't have to pay a lot for those things.

1 In four-year university programs in America, a first-year student is called a freshman, a second-year student is called a sophomore, a third-year student is called a junior, and a fourth-year student is called a senior.
2 A semester is part of the school year, usually half.

Chapter - 2: Vocabulary Skill - Organizing Vocabulary: Words Relating to Money

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