CHAPTER 5
MONEY
Money is probably the single most important maths topic there is for learners in any country, English language learners or not
In the UK a decimal point is used to separate the pounds (£) from the pence (p)- many other countries use a comma instead
The words ‘pound’ and ‘change’ are commonly used in money but have more than one meaning
Money calculations need competence with performing calculations with a decimal point
Introduction
Money is so fundamental to our culture and to the learners' needs that I try to cover it early and thoroughly. I have had learners who asked for a lesson on banks, banking terms, how to get an appointment with a bank to open an account, credit versus debit cards (not all countries have credit cards) and filling in cheques. The spelling of ‘cheques’ came as a surprise to one group as they all thought it was ‘checks’, which might explain why they were having trouble getting hold of some!
Cheques have fallen from fashion, as using mobile phones for transactions as become more common, but this varies wildly by age group. Overall, according to the 2026 statistics, half of the population of adults are now using banking apps on phones to pay for goods and services, but it is 78% for the 19- to 24-year-olds, and under 20% for the over 65-year-olds, like me, who do not trust the new systems! The use of phones for transactions will, no doubt, continue to increase, but it is noticeable in my area that smaller shops are starting to request cash payments. if possible, as bank charges for these small shops are increasing.
Writing money
Money is written using a decimal point in the UK, for instance ‘four pounds, fifty pence’ is written £4.50. It will be common to find learners using a comma where in the UK we use the decimal point, as this is what happens throughout Europe and in many other countries of the world. Learners may also be inclined to put ‘p’ on the end of an amount like £4.50, but this is incorrect- we have a decimal point there so do not need the pence symbol.
Sometimes learners will miss off the zero at the end, especially if they have used a calculator to work out a sum, because unless they have used the money function, the ‘0’ will not be there. It also seems to be the fashion in pubs and restaurants to miss off the zero. When you ask learners to say £4.5, you may find you are told it is ‘four pounds, five pence’, which is wrong, because it is four pounds, fifty pence. In my experience, learners will often realize that their answer cannot be correct and will be able to correct the answer themselves, given a bit of time.
Personally, I am very tempted to avoid outlets that drop the zero from amounts like £4.50, on the grounds that they are pretentious!
Some confusions with the language of money
The next area of confusion is the word ‘change’, as change has a number of meanings, such as I can change my clothes, or my job, or make a change to the text I am writing. The idea that someone might hand me some change if I hand over a £5 note for an item which costs less than that is one that will need some practice. It is worthwhile using worksheets that practise the giving of change, and some are included at the end of this publication under ‘Resources’.
Paying for items and giving change cross references with shops and shopping work required in the ESOL Core Curriculum, and comes in at Entry 1, so the maths work can be embedded in the ESOL work, or vice versa. This is good for a speaking and listening exercise and paired work. You could even set up a pretend shop and do some practice buying and selling. Of course, younger or more technically competent learners may try to pay with their phones!
Another source of confusion is that in English the word ‘pounds’ has two different meanings maths -wise, and at least one other non-maths meaning. For instance, ‘pound’ is used for money, with a symbol £, and for an old imperial measure of weight (lb). I could also pound the table with my fist in frustration at the number of English words with more than one meaning. I do seem to spend some time every lesson apologizing to learners and reassuring them that it is not their fault, we just seem to like having one word with many meanings if we possibly can 😊.
Money calculations
Maths examinations usually have two types of papers, one when learners can use a calculator, and another non calculator section, or paper. Hence, learners need to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide using decimal numbers. These skills will need to be practised in class, as many people now use their phones for calculations, so ability to do these without technical assistance has been lost.
There are a few examples of money-focussed work sheets in the relevant section of this publication, and there are many websites with free resources that will help. BBC Skillswise is one of my favourites, as it also has wordy problems which require interpretation Maths for adults - BBC Teach.
JMS 2026