Money discussions (FCE / CAE Intensive)

Here are some paragraphs / recordings from the FCE / CAE Intensive students about money. They would be grateful for your comments. Thank you!

Andrea:

Cash or credit card

Katka:

Do you think it´s better to borrow money from friends or family?
I think it depends if you have better relationship with your family or friends. But personally I would borrow money from my family, because they would lend you bigger amout of money and there would be stronger feeling of guilt if you don´t pay it back. And that´s better motivation for paying back.

Saving money

Klara P:

Is there anything you feel guilty about spending money on? Why?
I have to admit, that I love clothes and shoes a lot and sometimes I feel really guilty about spending money for these things. Honestly, I don´t usually need this beutiful sweater or T-shirt, but I buy it because I like it. The worst thing is when I find a piece of clothing with tiger or striped pattern. That´s what I love the most. I think that the good thing about it is not spending big amounts of money as I very often look for bargins or sales.

Are you good at saving money?

Klara T:

Did you have a Saturday job or a holiday job when you were younger? What kind of work did you have to do?
My answer is of course, I had a holiday job last summer, when I was really younger. ( )
I worked in the restaurant of Česká televize Brno, in Brno. It was only one street from International house.
I was there for one month and I had to work in kitchen as auxiliary power. I had to clean all kitchen and clean vegetable and fruits and all clean restaurant including toilets. I had to prepare six salads every morning and it was really very hard. I had to think up new kind of salad every day and every morning first I had to clean all restaurant and after that I had to prepare the salads. And when I was doing it, I was so slowly at that and I lost many time for cleanning dishes. After that I was in haste all the time, because I had to washing plates and other dishes and in the end all kitchen. It wasn´t easy work and I know, that I never would like to do this job in my life. As a brigade-work it is good but as life´s work is very bad.

Tommy:

Do you give money to any charities or non-governmental organizations? Which ones? Why did you choose them?
Every month I donate a small amount of money from my bank account to an organization called UNICEF. Being one of the biggest organization involved in saving children lives, this one is one of the most trust-worthy organizations in the world, because of its transparent politics. It provides you with a list of activities they are doing at the moment and that is why you know exactly where your money go to.

Do you know anyone who won a substantial amount of money on the lottery?
My great grand-mother used to try her luck in the lottery and because she had been trying it for at least 50 years, she eventually did win several times an interesting amount of money. She had never told anyone about her winnings and saved the money for her children which came as a unbelievable surprise when she died and they found out about it. Her story remind me a bit of the short novel “The man who planted trees”. It shows that if you take a bit of effort every day, you can eventually achieve significant results…