English Learning Guide

Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

Name: Cohort: Date:

Training program: Instructor:

FINANCIAL SERVICES (SAVING ACCOUNTS/ CURRENT ACCOUNTS/ LOANS/ AUTOMATIC PAYMENT

SERVICES)
This workshop attempts to help you improve your basic knowledge about Financial Education, starting
with services that some financial companies and Banks offer to the public, such as current accounts,
savings accounts, loans and automatic payment services. You will learn about what the financial services
are, their difference and similarities, and pros and cons, in order to suggest to your costumers the best
option they have in the Colombian context.

Objective: From the development of these activities, you will be able to describe and suggest some
financial services that banks offer to costumers, according to the Colombian context.

1. Work in groups and discuss:

- Did you or do you have a bank account? What type of bank account do/did you have?
- What types of bank accounts exist?
- What are the differences between them?
- Which type of bank account do you recommend? Why?

2. Skills practice: do the following activities to practice the learnt vocabulary and English structures.

2.1. Listening Practice: Savings account and Current account.

Before watching the video, work in groups and discuss:

- How often do you save money?

- Where do you usually keep your money?
- What is your source of money?
- Share your answers

Look for the meaning of the following vocabulary:

Savings/ withdrawal/ withdrawal form/ amount/ balance/ interest-bearing/

Passbook/statement/transaction/ overdraft/ ledger/ opening balance/

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Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial Education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

Now, watch the following video about “The Difference between a Savings and Current Account” at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D740SawepFU

Based on the information presented, write at least 3 features/ characteristics for savings account
and Current accounts.

SAVINGS ACCOUNT CURRENT ACCOUNT

Taking into account the information from the video and your personal experience, answer these
questions:

- If a Company came to you asking for what the best account bank for the Company, what would
you suggest?
______________________________________________________________________________

- If a person came to you asking for what the best account bank for him/her, what would you
suggest?
______________________________________________________________________________

- What is the average rate of interest that most banks use in Colombia?
______________________________________________________________________________

2.2. Speaking Practice: talking about loans

Make four-person group and gather information about one of the following topics:

- What is a loan?
- What are loans’ pros and cons?
- Different types of loans.
- Rate of interest of the loans.
- Describe any loan experience you have had.

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Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial Education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

Look for models and examples of Loans and interest rates from different banks in the city and prepare a
presentation for your class about this topic. Take into account the following tips for making your
presentation.

- Use adequate vocabulary according to your topic.

- Search for videos, readings and articles for gathering relevant information.
- Practice your pronunciation in your house or work, when you don’t know how to pronounce a
word, please google it, and then repeat it out loud.
- Include statistics, data, and relevant information related to the bank and its services.
- Use multimedia resources for your presentation (videos, images, slideshares, slides, podcasts.)

2.3. Reading Practice: reading about automatic payment services

Before reading the following text, discuss the following questions:

- What do you know about “Automatic Payment Services”?

- Do you think these services are a good or bad idea?
- Have you ever had or taken an “automatic payment service”?

Look for the definition of the following words:

Bill/payment/ automated/ checking account/ Schedule/ mortgage/ bill-paying/ credit score/ online
account/overdraft fee/ late payment/ withdraw/ due (due date)

Read the following text about “Automatic payment services” and complete the activities proposed.

What are “Automatic payment services”?1

An automatic payment service is a money transfer scheduled on a predetermined date to pay a recurring
bill. It can be scheduled for all types of payment transactions: loans, auto loans, mortgage loans, credit
card bills, electric bills, cable bills and more. These payments can be automated easily from a checking
account. This involves making arrangements with the bank holding the checking account to make the
exact payment each month. The set of instructions is typically created online by the account holder. More
frequently, this power is given to the vendor (the utilities company, for example) to charge the checking
account for whatever amount is owed that particular month. In both cases the individual paying the bill
must initiate the automatic bill payment and provide the necessary information required to make
automated recurring payments.

1
Adapted from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/automatic-bill-payment.asp
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/automatic-bill-payments-pros-cons/ Used by SENA for academic purposes,
exclusively.

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Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial Education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

PROS

It’s convenient: You shouldn’t be visiting several different websites or fielding mailed invoices at various
times during the month, all you need is to automate the bill-paying process. If you do this through your
bank, your bills can be organized and viewed in one place. And some companies will email to let you know
they are about to take a payment. In a sense, instead of you going to them, they come to you.

It can improve your credit score: If you have some negative marks on your credit history or want to have
some good credit history, you should accept some automatic payment services because you can control
your payments and avoid missing those payments, and over time, your credit history should get better,
fade those negative marks and increase your credit score.

It’s secure: You shouldn’t keep your money under your pillow or put in a check in an envelope in an
unguarded mailbox any longer. It is suggested to have an online account, so your accounts may be better
protected through the encryption techniques that banks use online to secure customers’ information.

CONS

You risk overdraft fees: Some payments fluctuate in amount, so you need to pay attention to your bank
account and your automatic payment, because if you’re not careful, your account may be
overdrawn. Overdraft fees vary by institution, but the median is $34; you should keep a good balance in
your bank account.

… and late fees: Even though it’s called “automatic,” a payment still takes time to process and reach a
merchant or service provider. You need to check and confirm how long it takes for payments to arrive,
you should avoid to get some extra fees for late payments.

They might make a costly mistake.

What if your phone company accidentally withdraws your monthly payment twice? Or your cable
provider adds a zero to your balance and takes out $850 instead of $85? Such mistakes, while rare, can
happen, you should check and confirm your bills monthly avoiding errors in your payment and legal
problems.

How to use automatic bill pay wisely

Sign up in the right place

- Is your bill for the same amount every month, or does it vary? The answer should determine
where you sign up for automatic payments.
- For bills that are the same amount every month, we suggest that you use your bank’s auto pay to
keep multiple accounts in one place.
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Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial Education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

- For accounts where your balance changes each month, such as a credit card, you should better
sign up for automatic payments directly through them.

Set up electronic alerts.

Some banks and credit unions offer email or text reminders that let you know when your balance is
running low or when a bill is due. Think of yourself as a manager. You’re delegating the task of paying
your bills, but you still want to know when something pops up that requires your attention. You need to
pay attention to those reminders.

Mark the following statements true (T) or false (F)

- Automatic payment services are related to bill-paying any time during the month ( )
- Setting an automatic payments, makes it easier to manage your money and your bills ( )
- Negative marks on your credit history, might become positive by accepting automatic payment
services ( )
- Automatic payments will always be the same amount of money ( )
- The electronic alerts help you remember payments are in progress ( )

Answer the following question according to your understanding of the previous text.

- What is the purpose of the text?

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
- What is an “Automatic payment service”? What can this service do for you?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
- What is your opinion about the automatic payment services?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

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Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial Education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

2.4. Writing Practice: writing about financial practices

Imagine you were asked to write on an important financial blog about your experience and knowledge
about financial services, and you have to talk about some pieces of advice, suggestions, tips, pros, cons of
the financial services (saving accounts, current accounts, loans, automatic payment service). Write at least
200 words.

______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

2
Images taken from: https://www.calbanktrust.com/blog/

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English Learning Guide
Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial Education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

3. Extension Activities
- Complete the Crossword using the key words seen in this workshop, take into account the
definitions below.

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English Learning Guide
Competency 1
Unit 6: Financial Education
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

- In pairs or in a three-person group, perform a role-play activity where one or two people are
some costumers asking for information about financial services (what a current account/saving
account/ loans/ automatic payment services are, their characteristics, pros and cons) according to
a hypothetical need. And another person has to provide information and to answer some
questions about financial services, also, it has to be related with real information about
Colombian Banks and their policies about these services.
- Based on your instructor’s orientation, explore the following website and practice the English
structures. Do these activities according to what was studied in class and deliver them to your
instructor:

https://elt.oup.com/student/project3rdedition/level3/unit6/grammar/exercise1?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

https://elt.oup.com/student/solutions/elementary/grammar/grammar_05_022e?cc=co&selLanguage=en

http://www.focus.olsztyn.pl/en-should-should-not-exercises.html#.XGMCmlVKiUk

https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-87185.php

https://www.englishgrammar.org/uses-of-need/

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