Lesson Plan: Charity Begins At Home

Lesson Level:    Senior                    Duration:  40 Minutes

Lesson Title:     Charity begins at home.¹

Grammar and Vocabulary

Wealth, fortunate, donate, purchase, volunteer, distribute, participate, labour

 .

Lesson Objectives

Students will practice dictionary skills.

Students will learn target vocabulary (associated with charity)

Students will discuss questions associated with charity.

Materials Required

Reading text.²

Preparation

Prepare enough copies of reading text to give one to each group of four students.

Check that students have access to dictionaries.³

Divide class into groups of four.

Procedure

1

Write “Charity” on the board as a title for the lesson and elicit ideas about what it means.

Write definition below the title.

(giving your money or time to people who need your help)

2

Ask class to give ideas for who can benefit from charity.

Write list of suggestions at left hand side of the board. Give examples to get started if needed.

(poor, old, young, sick, disabled, homeless… also animals should be the minimum list)

Ask a few students which of these groups they would give their charity to. (Remember to always follow up with “Why?”)

3

Write “Charity begins at home”  on the board.

Elicit the meaning of the phrase.⁴

(Look after your own family and community first.)

Give the class two minutes to discuss whether they agree or disagree with this statement.

Monitor and assist the discussions.⁵

Get feedback from class.

4

Tell class you will now give each group a reading text.

Tell class they will need their dictionaries. (books or electronic)

 Write on board.

Read the text.

Use your dictionaries to find the meanings of the underlined words.

Write down the meanings IN ENGLISH.

While class work on that, write the list of words on the board.

Monitor and check that students are  working on the task.

Elicit the meanings and write them on the board.

5.

Read the text out loud to the class.

Elicit the three ways that it says you can help (donate money, purchase gifts, volunteer) and write them on the board.

Ask questions about text to check understanding.

6

Write discussion questions on board.

For most classes use the questions.

Is charity always a good thing?

Which kind of charity would you like to support?

Which way to support a charity is best (donate, purchase, volunteer)?

Does getting charity make people lazy or dependent?

For stronger classes, use harder questions.

Does giving to charity encourage people to become lazy and dependent?

The text says that giving to charity makes us feel satisfaction. Is this a good reason to give to charity?

Is it better to give to charities for people or animals? Why?

Is it better to give money to charities or to volunteer? Why?

7

Tell classes they have ten minutes to discuss the questions.

Monitor the groups and assist the discussions.

8

If there is time elicit feedback from whole class to share ideas.

Notes

1.

This lesson is based on material in Practical Oral English, Senior 2, Volume 2, Unit 6

2.

(This reading text comes from Practical Oral English, Senior 2, Volume 2, Unit 6)

Sharing our wealth and helping others is part of being a good person. There are many ways you can help less fortunate people than you. You can donate money, purchase a gift or offer your service for free as a volunteer. Lots of people volunteer to help others for free. It is a way to show others that  you care. Caring for others often gives us a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Ways of volunteering vary greatly, such as helping to distribute leaflets for charities, collecting money for charities or offering your labour in the local community. Helping your local community is fun, you can do the shopping for an old person or help to look after children for a person who is sick. You can also go to other less fortunate countries where people are in need of your help. You can participate by helping to plant trees, build wells and houses for the local villages.

Whatever way you want to help others, it will be rewarding.

3.

Some teachers disapprove of this but whenever I do dictionary work in class I also allow students to use the dictionaries on their mobile phones. A dictionary is a dictionary and we are living in the 21^st century here.

4.

The phrase “Charity begins at home” in the UK usually has the meaning that you should look after those closest to you before you give charity to others. There is another interpretation that I have sometimes heard which is that if people are charitable at home they will be more likely to be charitable in general. I usually stick with the traditional meaning and only discuss the alternate if someone in class raises the idea.

5.

When monitoring discussions like this. I find it useful to take the opposite view to whatever the group answers.

For example if they say “yes” I ask about whether it’s better to look after our own family who are already healthy and well-fed or to give our money to charities that help starving people in other countries.