Today I have been working in a school where they have been having a “Money Week”. Tomorrow we will have a visit from some bankers, who will take our numeracy lesson – I am fascinated by the prospect.
One lesson today was to make up a Money Alphabet. The class responded well, suggesting lots of different words
Unsurprisingly, we had many currency words -pound, dollar, penny, euro, franc, kroner, shilling, rupee - and this multi –ethnic class knew which countries still use the franc and the shilling! I was a surprised by their gambling selection. millionaire, lottery, jackpot, scratchcard, gamble - but they said these were ways to get a lot of money easily [?!]
We had words about everyday expenditure - bank, bills, tax, joint account, debit card, income, wages, rent, mortgage
And money verbs - spending, earning, saving, giving
And soon our alphabet was almost complete, with at least one word for every letter except X and Z. We chose X-ray when someone remembered that some places use X-ray gadgets to check for the metal strip in banknotes. But Z?
“I can only think of ZIP, I try and keep my purse zipped up to save money” I said
Then one girl piped up “ZAKAH!” which I thought was a brilliant answer.
Zakah is one of the five pillars of Islam, and is the name for rules about giving charity.
That sparked off another selection -charity, Gift Aid, sponsorship, donations
I noticed that although we had bills, and banker, nobody suggested ‘bonus’- and I do hope this class focuses more on giving than gambling as they get older!
[and special thanks to Jane, without whose recent post, I could not have taught them about the Canadian Maple Syrup Banknotes!]
I notice that the pile of coins in the top picture is Canadian currency... I see Loonies, Twonies,pennies, quarters, nickels and dimes.
ReplyDeleteI e mailed the Bank of Canada to ask what is the cause of the maple syrup smell. I've yet to hear back.
Jane x