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).