I continued with the homeless picking up on the reasons for homelessness. Their research got them to addictions, mental illness, and unemployment. But very few students discussed the dearth of affordable housing for low-income families. I wonder why that is.
We did the NorthStar 4 Unit 6 Video on Habitat for Humanity in class. The students really liked the idea of Habitat and all the volunteers working together with the family who will receive the house.
The founder of Habitat speaks in a Southern accent – students had trouble realizing that there are regional accents (not just “foreign” accents) in the U.S.
How have you handled different regional accents? Have you had any interesting lessons/discussions?
We also discussed volunteering possibilities at our university: mostly tutoring in disadvantaged neighborhood schools. We discussed what each side (children and university students) got out of this experience. For homework, students have to search YouTube for other videos about Habitat for Humanity (there are many).
Tags: efl, esl, esol, habitat for humanity, homelessness, northstar, regional accent, research, southern accent, teaching, tefl, tesl, tesol, video
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I stumbled onto your blog through a weekly Google search for things related to Habitat for Humanity and just wanted to commend you for having this kind of conversation with your students! Along with the following conversation on “mandatory volunteering,” it sounds like you have some great debates and everyone learns a lot! I would just like to point out that Habitat for Humanity may not be the best tie in to homelessness. While we do address the issue of affordable housing, we specifically get people into homeownership – the families who apply to be in our program have to have a steady source of income (at least for the last year) to show that they’ll be able to pay a mortgage consistently. Most of our families are not coming from situations of homelessness but are living with family members or in spaces that are too small for all of their family members because it’s all they can afford to rent. Many of their landlords don’t maintain the property very well, or the landlords live far away and are often unreachable when an issue with the property comes up. There are all kinds of reasons why families end up homeless, as your students researched, and there are all kinds of reasons why families apply to be Habitat homeowners. Those reasons may or may not overlap. Thanks for helping your students think about these issues!
Hi Mandy,
Thank you so much for your email! It’s great to hear directly from someone at Habitat.
I understand that the needs of those who are homeless and the guarantees needed for a Habitat home do not always coincide. When people can double up, keep their jobs, and keep working for their own home – that’s the best, but it’s not always possible. We need a whole spectrum of solutions for affordable housing.
I guess the tie-in with homelessness was more the idea of people doing something for others and looking at families in need in a positive way. What the students loved so much about Habitat was the community getting together in direct hands-on work. At the time, we talked about an “ethos of public life” and tried to figure out what this could mean.
This week we took a little break from regular readings and studied the film “Witness” and when the students saw the barn raising scene, where the Amish community built a barn for a newly married couple, they ALL thought again of Habitat for Humanity – not only of the great dream of home ownership so difficult in many countries but the spirit of community.
Thanks for your clarification and your notes will be in my program next time.
Judy