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Activity and Handouts: Ideas for Adapting
Student Stories
Prereading
1. Explain to your students that the
stories are about immigrants interested in buying a home.
2. Identify on a map the cities and
states where the students in the stories are living and
studying.
3. Identify the home countries of the
students in the stories on a map.
Reading
1. Break students into pairs.
2. Cut up a story into paragraphs and
assign one paragraph (or more, if the paragraphs are very
short) to each pair of students. Have students summarize
the paragraph. Have students underline unfamiliar words
and try to guess their meanings.
3. Have each pair present their summaries
to the class. List new words on a sheet of newsprint and
have students guess the meaning from context.
4. Have each student read the story
through.
Postreading
1. Develop comprehension questions to
check students’ understanding of the story.
2. Ask students which part of the story
they found most interesting and why.
3. Ask students if any part of the story
was similar to their own experiences and why.
Olga’s Story
Olga is a student at the Community Learning Center (CLC)
in Cambridge, MA. She has finished all of her classes at
CLC and will soon be starting a home health aide program
while looking for a job. Olga lives alone in Malden but
used to live in Cambridge. Someday she would like to buy
a house in Malden or Medford because homes there look affordable
and small enough for a single person. When she gets a job,
she intends to start saving for a down payment.
Olga said she was very pleased with the
class on first-time home buying and is confident, after
going through the Fannie Mae Foundation course, that she
understands the steps one needs to take before buying a
home. “The first step is to save your money and keep
a permanent job for about two years. It is important to
hire a lawyer to look over the papers; you will need to
hire an inspector also and you must be careful about selecting
a house that you can afford without too many repairs,”
said Olga during the interview.
Before starting the class at CLC, there
were things she didn’t know. Now she understands them
better, she said. They include how to get a mortgage and
where to call for advice on home buying and subsidies for
low-income people.
What was most helpful about the class?
Olga said that putting new vocabulary words on the board
was very useful and that their meanings were explained well
by the instructors and the speakers.
Olga still had some pressing questions
that were not answered fully in the class. She wanted to
know if a person could obtain a mortgage without citizenship
or documentation. She learned that permanent residents should
have no problems with a mortgage and neither should other
classes of immigrants, but that unqualified immigrants may
have trouble with government subsidy programs (soft-second)
because of bars to public benefits under the welfare reform
law. I explained that the regulations of the new welfare
reform law were still being analyzed and no one was able
to give a clear explanation. She also needed to know if
having unpaid hospital bills under care could prevent a
person from obtaining a mortgage. We discussed her problems
with receiving a bill from a collection agency about an
outstanding payment. She had heard on Haitian Radio that
unpaid hospital bills affect your mortgage.
In conclusion, Olga suggested that we
create a video that would take students step by step through
the home-buying process. She recommended a teacher at CLC
who could probably do it, as she was in the process of buying
a home now. She thought that some students were not able
to follow everything, especially the terminology, and that
a video would help them. She kept up with the class very
well in part, she said, because she owned a dictionary.
Questions for Olga’s Story
1. Where was Olga a student?
2. What does Olga intend to do when she
finds a job?
3. What does Olga say is the first step
to take before buying a home?
4. What does Olga understand better after
taking her class?
5. What was most helpful to Olga about
the class?
6. What is one of Olga’s pressing
questions that was not answered in the class?
7. What did Olga suggest that the class
do to help other students?
Discussion Questions
1. What do you understand better after
studying home buying?
2. What has been most helpful to you
about the class?
3. What questions do you still have?
Jama’s Story
“About a year ago, I went to a real
estate office on Massachusetts Avenue looking for apartment
rentals. The real estate guy asked me, ‘Why not buy
a house?’ He checked his computer and said, ‘We
have many homes for sale.’ I said, ‘Don’t
give me a headache! It’s too much money!’ I was
afraid to think about buying a house. Now I would look at
it [the listing of homes for sale].”
Jama is young Somalian man studying English
as a third language (after Somalian and Italian) at Roxbury
Community College. His instructor, Veronica Gouvea, participated
in the special home buyers’ curriculum sponsored by
the Adult Literacy Resource Institute (ALRI) in Boston.
Veronica attended a series of workshops at the ALRI that
explored how to adapt the curriculum and how to get additional
information suitable for the students in her classes.
Before he attended the classes, Jama said he didn’t
know much about home buying—he was too nervous to consider
the large amount of money needed to purchase a home. Now,
he thinks that in a few years, as soon as he can get a down
payment and closing costs together, he will be ready to
aggressively seek a home to buy.
“Owning a home is better,” Jama
said. “Two years ago I called my landlord with problems.
Landlord says he will come right now—but he doesn’t
come. If you own a house you can fix it yourself or have
someone fix it for you. Also, your rent money just goes
out the window when you rent.”
During the interview, Jama leafed through
the curriculum guide and pointed out things he didn’t
know about before he took the class. Now he realizes it
is not as complicated as he thought. He has learned, for
example, more about the lender’s role in home buying.
Jama explained how he thinks it is like
buying a car. “You take out a loan and you pay it off,
then the car is yours. I am advising my friends about this
now,” he said. “It’s the same thing with
buying a house, but a house is not like a car—a house
is permanent. In Italian we say properti imobile.”
Jama also said, “The class helped
me to understand how much money I would need to put down
as a down payment and to cover lawyer’s fees and other
expenses. I didn’t understand that before the class.”
Jama also explained that he feels more knowledgeable about
different styles of homes—condos, multifamily, and
so on. He is more confident reading real estate ads in the
newspaper.
In addition, Jama discussed the importance
of exploring a community where you might want to buy a home,
then looking at property, mortgage companies, and how to
approach banks. He explained that he didn’t know before
the class that the government offers assistance to first-time
home buyers with limited incomes. Jama has worked as a parking
attendant for about five years. He realizes the importance
of a good credit history. He plans to eventually become
a U.S. citizen. His goals for buying a home extend past
his own needs—he wants something he can also pass down
to his children and grandchildren. “That’s the
way we think about it in Somalia,” he said, again referring
to “properti imobile.”
Jama said that he is eager to spread the
word about home-buying possibilities to others in his situation.
For example, he was giving advice to his supervisor the
other day about finding the best lender.
Jama enjoyed several class meetings where
students exchanged experience, ideas, and information in
a large group, with the teachers as facilitators. It seemed
clear that before the project, Jama felt intimidated and
mystified by the concept of owning a home. Once he realized
that you didn’t need to pay for the home all at once,
the process became more manageable to consider. At the end
of the interview, Jama said, “Before, I thought I don’t
have the money, I can’t buy a house. Now I know, one
day I can tell my landlord: Goodbye!”
Questions for Jama’s Story
True or False?
1. Jama is from Mexico.
2. Jama speaks two languages.
3. Jama thinks owning a home is better
than renting.
4. Jama is more confident reading real
estate ads now.
5. Jama has worked as a house painter
for five years.
6. Jama wants to become a U.S. citizen.
7. Jama does not like talking in large
groups in the classroom.
8. Jama feels confident he can buy a home
one day.
Answer the following in a complete
paragraph:
1. Do you feel confident about buying
a home one day? Why or why not?
Camelia’s Story
Camelia is a 35-year-old Romanian woman
who has been in the United States for 10 months. Her husband
is an engineer who has lived and worked here for three years.
They have an 11-year-old daughter. In Romania, Camelia worked
for several years as a nurse and hopes to continue her studies
here so she can resume her career. She is also an accomplished
pianist.
Camelia studies English as a second language
at the Jamaica Plain Community School in Massachusetts with
instructor Diana Satin. Diana participated in the series
of ALRI training sessions facilitated by Catherine Anderson
on how to use the Fannie Mae Foundation home-buyer curriculum.
Camelia’s English is excellent, but she is still learning,
she noted. She appreciated the grammar lessons in the various
chapters.
Though they do not yet have their green
cards, Camelia and her family are working toward becoming
permanent residents and hope to become citizens. Camelia
was especially interested in the home-buying curriculum
because she eventually wants to own a home here.
“This is my dream to have a big house.
The most important thing is to have a little land around
the house. I like to work in the little garden, to plant
a little garden, have a place where children can play. Environment
is very important.”
“The class and book were very important
because they helped me begin to think about buying a house,”
Camelia said. “I had heard that banks can be very tricky—you
need to know a lot. I think it is better to have a real
estate agent to help you.” Camelia noted that she wasn’t
aware of this before she used the materials and worked with
Diana. She has also shared the new information with her
husband so they can plan together. She was most interested
in the financial aspects of home buying, and she felt she
learned a great deal about down payments, closing costs,
broker fees, legal fees, and other costs. She was also able
to compare the benefits and limitations of 15-year and 30-year
mortgages.
In Romania, Camelia noted, it is difficult
to buy a house because you have to have all the money at
once, usually around $100,000 for a decent house. Also,
under communist rule (before 1999) it was impossible to
buy a home. Flats were provided to you by the government.
This was a good benefit, she noted, but she is looking ahead
to when she can own her own home.
Having taken the ESOL class and read the
curriculum, Camelia said that she understands the home-buying
process much better. She is optimistic because she realizes
she can meet the conditions necessary for home buying: Her
husband has an established work history of more than two
years, and they have established credit in this country.
She has also learned more about the kinds of homes that
might be available to her, expressing a preference for a
ranch-style house. Like other students, she voiced the opinion
that she would rather not continue to waste her money on
rent; instead, she would like to apply it toward a mortgage.
Camelia also noted that she learned about the Fannie Mae
Foundation and how they help people to buy homes. “There’s
a lot of support for people to live decently in this country,”
she said. “Not like in my country.”
Questions for Camelia’s Story
Fill in the blanks.
1. Camelia is from _________________________________________.
2. Camelia has a __________________________
who is 11 years old.
3. Camelia used to work as a _____________________
in her home country.
4. Camelia plays the ______________________________.
5. For Camelia, the most important thing
about owning a home is having a ___________________________.
6. In her class, Camelia learned a lot
about _______________________________________.
7. Camelia and her husband have established
_________________________ in this country.
Answer the following in a complete
paragraph:
1. What is the most important thing to
you about owning a home?
Elena’s Story
Elena has been visiting housing auctions
sponsored by the bank. She is looking for a “single-family
house in Lynn that needs some fixing up.” She tells
me that she has already spoken to a mortgage broker, and
with their combined incomes both she and her husband are
confident that they will receive financing from the bank
when she finds the right house. As a result of her ESOL
class and reading the curriculum, Elena says that she understands
the process of home buying and feels confident that with
her husband’s construction skills they can maintain
a house.
When Elena speaks about the home-buying
process, she explains how important it is to go from bank
to bank to find “someplace you feel comfortable.”
Also, she emphasizes how interest rates and special first-time
home-buying programs vary from bank to bank—another
reason to do some “bank shopping.” Elena tells
me that a friend of hers suggested that she first speak
with a particular bank because most of the bankers speak
Spanish and she can communicate what she needs and wants.
She’s also happy with their current mortgage rates,
and soon she will apply for a prequalification on a mortgage
loan.
“Together, four years ago, we came
from Cuba. We lived in a little city right in the middle
of the island. Now I am happy because I learn English and
I learn about what you can do here in America. With the
language, I have opportunities…just last week, at work,
I get moved to a new job. The trainer is American and, thank
God, I understand everything she says to me!”
Elena found the unit on home buying one
of the best she ever studied. She learned so much from working
with an amortization chart, and she loved learning about
the different kinds of houses: “Victorian is still
my favorite. My husband wants to live in a Tudor.”
She was especially appreciative of hearing about home buying/homeownership
through the experiences of others: “In class, we interviewed
three ladies who are students who bought homes. That was
my favorite part of the class because we ask them all questions
about buying homes, and they give many kinds of answers.”
This kind of practical, firsthand information seemed to
be very valuable to Elena. “One lady was very happy,
and another women had difficulty with her tenants. That’s
maybe why I don’t want tenants.”
“This is my advice, if a friend came
from Cuba, I would say, wait, save money in the bank and
stay for a time at one job. Also I would tell them to get
a credit card but not to use it. I have good credit now
because I have a credit card but I don’t use it. That’s
the way to buy a house for you and your family in America.”
Questions for Elena’s Story
1. What kind of house is Elena looking
for?
2. What does Elena say about choosing
a bank?
3. What did Elena love learning about
in her home-buying class?
4. What was Elena’s favorite part
of the class?
5. Why doesn’t Elena want tenants?
6. What advice does Elena have for a friend
coming to the United States from Cuba?
Discussion Questions
1. What kind of house would you like best?
2. What is your favorite thing about the
home-buying class?
3. Do you want to be a landlord? Why or
why not?
Vanda’s Story
“English is my fourth language after
Russian, Ukranian, and Azerbaijani. I was born in Azerbaijan,”
Vanda explains, “but I am Armenian and moved to the
Ukraine because of the wars in Azerbaijan.”
In the Ukraine, Vanda was a mechanical
engineer. In the United States she works as a home health
aide for an elderly Russian man. “I don’t mind
for now. We keep each other company during the day. But,
see, I only speak English six hours a week and I need to
know more English if I want another job that makes more
money.”
Vanda has been in the United States for
three and a half years; she has been studying English at
Operation Bootstrap in Massachusetts ever since. When she
first came to the United States with her husband, they worked
very hard to save money to bring over their two children,
their “big children,” ages 27 and 30.
“In Russia you don’t buy a house.
No one has that kind of money anymore. Remember, you need
the whole thing in cash or gold.” She notes that before
1990, under communist rule, living accommodations were always
provided, although the apartments were small, dingy, and
decrepit.
After keeping her money under the bed
for two years, “like in the picture of the book the
teacher showed us,” Vanda, who is 56, and her husband,
who is 59, bought a condominium in Lynn. They paid the entire
cost of the condominium in cash, most of which they borrowed
from their Russian friends.
“That’s the way to do it. We
all lost our money in the banks in Russia. Now we don’t
trust banks. We help each other. You need money, I have
so I give. I need money, you have maybe a little, so you
give.”
“I think now we will buy a big home.
The children are adults and need their own apartments so
I look at the cable TV and the newspaper to find a new home.
I search for one year because I want to live in Lynn. Lynn
is good for me, good prices of homes and I love the ocean.”
How will they buy their next house? I
ask her. Does she still not trust the banks? She offers
this to me: “Now, when we find the house we want, we
will maybe use a bank and borrow from them. I meet the people
from the bank for our class, they are very nice and one
speaks Russian. I guess in the United States, it’s
good to use the bank. Different economics in the United
States. Maybe here the banks won’t all crash.”
Questions for Vanda’s Story
1. Vanda was born in Azerbaijan. Can you
find this on a map?
2. Why did Vanda keep her money under
the bed?
3. How has Vanda’s thinking about
borrowing money changed?
Discussion Questions
1. What do you think about borrowing money
from a bank?
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