Read the text about pocket money British teenagers have

Young people are working hard to earn more pocket money. The average pocket money is about 3 pounds between 14 and 16 years (in Britain). How do the teenagers earn their money? The most popular jobs are delivering newspapers, baby-sitting, washing cars and cutting hedges. Some teenagers do Saturday jobs. They can help in a hairdresser's or they can work in a shop. Let's see how some of the British teenagers get and spend their pocket money.

SUSAN has been getting 10 pounds every week from pocket money, presents and a small weekend job. She usually spends about 1 pound on make up and she puts 2.50 towards her holiday. She loves horse-riding and she goes on a riding holiday each summer with a friend. She goes on holiday with her family too, but they pay for that. The riding is an extra holiday so she pays for it herself. She spends about 3.50 when she goes out to the cinema or the sports centre. It's difficult to find something cheap to do at the weekend! She buys a cassette every two weeks - cassettes cost 6 pounds.

CHARLIE has been getting 12 pounds - most of it is from a weekend job. His hobby is football - he plays in a team and he goes to watch big football matches; it costs about 2.50 a week. He usually spends something on clothes - about 3,00 and he likes to buy a CD or a cassette every week. If he is lucky he saves something – usually about 50 pence a week!

MATTHEW has been getting 4 pounds pocket money. He doesn't save anything. He spends everything on going out. His parents buy him clothes and pay for holidays and everything like that. He doesn't spend anything on alcohol or cigarettes because he doesn't smoke or drink.

Now discuss in small groups the following questions:

How much pocket money do you get? Where does it come from? What do you spend it on? Do you manage to save anything? What do you save the money for?

It’s interesting to know

The heaviest currency ever was stone disks used on the Pacific island of Yap up to the outbreak of World War II. Most of the disks were one foot wide, but one denomination had a width of twelve feet and, when used for purchasing, was transported on a pole. Change was given in smaller stone disks.

In contrast, the lightest-weight money was rare types of feathers, used in New Hebrides. Also, for centuries salt circulated as money, especially in Ethiopia, and the Romans used it to pay their workers, hence the word "salary" which evolved from "salt". And in Borneo, as recently as the nineteenth century, human skulls were legal money.