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Pre-reading activity
1. Ask learners to read the headings on this page. Have them look at the illustration of the job history and guess the purpose of this form. Next, ask the class to look at the picture of Buonlap and tell what the character is doing. Ask them to guess why he is writing his job history.

2. Have learners read the paragraphs and circle any new vocabulary. Explain the difficult vocabulary before having learners answer the comprehension questions.

3. Discuss Buonlap’s job history with learners.
Ask them to take a mortgage lender’s perspective. Does Buonlap’s job history suggest he might be a good candidate for a mortgage loan?

 

Book graphic How to Buy a Home in the United StatesButton: Table of ContentsButton: GlossaryButton: Free Resources

Unit 1 : Lesson 2: Getting money to buy a home

Your job history

The lender must know your job history. A job history tells where you have worked and how long you have worked at each job. It will also show how much money you made at each job. The lender likes to see that you have been working for two or more years. It does not matter whether you had one job or a couple of different jobs during the two years, so long as your job history is in the same field and shows the lender that you have enough income to repay your mortgage loan.

Buonlap’s job history

Buonlap has lived in the United States since 1991. His first job was at C & D Components as an electronic assembler. He worked there for 30 hours a week for two months from September to November. The pay was only $12,000 a year, and he needed more money. He got a job for more pay at Pacific Components. Buonlap was an electronics assembler at this company from November 1991 until December 1994. He was earning $20,000 a year when he left to become a supervisor at Electro Tech. He has been working there since January 1995. His salary is now $29,000 a year.

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