You’ve lived abroad for the past three months. You’re on a budget, but you want to do something good for your local area.

Help a local charity.

IN THIS LESSON, YOU WILL

1. Listen to a podcast about the cost of living in your new country.
2. Choose a worthy cause to donate to.
3. Negotiate the price of items for donation.

PRACTICE

STEP A EXERCISE

Answer the questions in complete sentences.

1. Which item usually costs an arm and a leg?

a diamond ring

a bag of walnuts

a bag of potato chips

 

2. Where can you buy dirt cheap clothes?

a name-brand store

a fancy boutique

a flea market

 

3. Which of these does not cost a fortune?

flying on a private plane

buying a soda

getting a new car

 

4. Which of these couples is struggling to make ends meet?

Logan and Rose

Amy and Owen

Mara and Leon

STEP B EXERCISE

Replace the underlined parts with expressions from the box. The form of some expressions may need to be changed.

rip someone off
the best someone can do
someone’s last offer
a worthy cause
  1. Thirty dollars for an item that’s almost brand new? No way! The lowest amount I can offer is forty-five dollars.
  2. Don’t waste your money on that. Give it to an organization that does good work instead.
  3. My friend and I bought the same sunglasses, but I paid fifty dollars more! I think the salesperson made me pay too much.
  4. I won’t negotiate any more – the highest I can pay is a hundred dollars. Take it or leave it.

MISSION

Challenge 1

You’ve lived abroad for the past three months. Listen to an expat’s podcast about the cost of living in your new country and how it’s affecting local charities.

Remember?

  • cost an arm and a leg
  • cost a fortune
  • dirt cheap

Challenge 2

After learning that people aren’t donating to local charities anymore, you decided that you want to help a charity in your area. Tell your friend what you heard from the podcast. Then, talk about which charity to donate to.

RJ COMPASSION GLOBAL

CUDDLE ANIMAL SHELTER

  • gives homeless people temporary homes
  • provides meals and food packages

  • offers love and vet care to homeless animals
  • takes care of them until they can be adopted by good families

Remember?

  • a worthy cause
  • make ends meet
  • cost a fortune
  • cost an arm and a leg
  • dirt cheap

Challenge 3

Now that you’ve decided which charity to help, you and your friend went to a shop to buy items to donate. You only have seventy dollars to spend. Negotiate with the shop owner to get the best deal.

Remember?

  • rip someone off
  • the best someone can do
  • cost an arm and a leg
  • cost a fortune
  • someone’s last offer

FEEDBACK

Help a local charity.

MISSION ACHIEVEMENT

  • 4
    Very Good

    Could complete the task with ease

  • 3
    Good

    Could complete the task with some clarifications

  • 2
    Fair

    Could complete the task with additional instructions

  • 1
    Poor

    Could somehow complete the task with difficulty

PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK