The Crossroads Brief · Issue 2: Who Decides How the Money Is Spent?
B1–B2 · 25 questions · about 35 minutes · Try First · Read · Check Your Understanding · Discuss and Decide · Use It Again
How it works. Each set is one meeting of the Crossroads team: four students in four countries who write a short brief on a global issue for the online forum that links their schools. You try a few questions first, read one article with the team, check your understanding, help the team decide what to recommend, and then use the new words and the reading skill on a fresh text. Press the Check button at the end of each part to see why every choice is right or wrong.
What do you already know?
These five words are important in today’s article. Choose the best meaning for each word in bold. It is fine to guess. You will meet the words again after you read.
This week’s question
Lucas (Recife): In Brazil there is a city called Porto Alegre. In 1989 it let ordinary people help decide part of the city budget.
Jonas (Hamburg): Ordinary people? Not experts?
Amara (Lagos): Our student council decides nothing. We only choose the color of the school T-shirt.
Mei Ling (Penang): Then this week’s question is ours: “Should students get a real vote on part of the school budget?” Lucas, where is that article?
Reading move: follow the pointing words.
Writers avoid repeating the same noun. They use pointing words instead: it, they, this, these, such. When you meet one, stop and ask: What exactly does it point to? The answer is almost always in the sentence before. Put the noun back in and check that the sentence still makes sense.
Tap or click a word with a dotted line to see its meaning below the article.
A Budget Made by the People
1In most towns, a small group of officials decides how public money is spent. They choose whether to repair a road, build a clinic, or plant trees in a park. Residents can complain afterward, but they rarely take part in the decision itself. In 1989, the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre tried something different. It invited ordinary people to help decide how part of the city budget would be used. This idea is now known as participatory budgeting.
2The process usually has four steps. First, residents meet in their neighborhoods and talk about local problems. Next, they propose projects, such as better street lighting or a safe place for children to play. Then volunteers work with city staff to check what each project would cost. Finally, residents vote, and the projects with the most votes receive money. Such a process takes months, not days.
3Supporters point to several benefits. When people help choose a project, they are more likely to trust the result and to take care of what is built. The process can also bring money to neighborhoods that officials have long ignored, because the people who live there finally have a way to make their priorities heard. In addition, residents learn how a budget works. They discover that money is limited and that every choice means giving up something else.
4However, the idea has limits. Usually only a small part of the budget is opened to a public vote, so the biggest decisions stay with officials. Meetings take time, and people who work long hours or care for children may not be able to attend. As a result, those who do take part are not always typical of the whole community. Some critics also warn that a well-organized group can win votes for its own project even when other needs are greater.
5Since 1989, the idea has spread to thousands of cities around the world, and some schools now use it too. In these schools, students propose ways to spend a small fund, campaign for their ideas, and vote. Supporters of school programs say that students take the vote more seriously when the money is real. The lesson for a town or a school may be the same: people learn to make public decisions by making them, but only if the process is open to everyone and the choice truly matters.
Read closely
Look back at the article as often as you like. Each question shows the reading skill it practices.
Step 1 · Find the evidence (3 questions)
The team wants every point in the brief to come from the article. Which paragraph supports each point?
Step 2 · Write the team’s recommendation
Amara: So should we ask our schools for a student budget vote?
Jonas: If we do, we must say how to keep it fair.
Mei Ling: Your turn. Three to five sentences.
Useful frames: We recommend that … because … · The article explains that … · However, … · To make it work, …
Try to use at least two of these words: budget, resident, propose, vote, priority.
Then say your recommendation aloud in about 45 seconds, as if you were speaking at the forum.
One possible answer. We recommend that schools let students vote on a small part of the school budget. The article explains that people who help choose a project are more likely to trust the result and take care of it, and that they learn how a budget works. However, meetings take time, and a well-organized group can win votes even when other needs are greater. To make it work, schools should let every student propose ideas, hold the vote during school hours so that everyone can take part, and explain the priorities before the vote.
Check your own answer. Give yourself 0 to 3 for each line (0 = not yet, 3 = clearly yes).
My recommendation is clear.
I used at least one idea from the article correctly.
I gave a reason and also a limit or risk (for example with however).
I used at least two of the five target words correctly.
My self-check: 0 / 12. A different recommendation can be just as good as the model if it is clear and supported by the article.
New sentences, same words
Choose the word that completes each sentence.
New text, same reading move
Amara found this short text for a later issue. Use the reading move from Part 2.
In a growing number of towns, neighbors share a “tool library.” Members borrow drills, ladders and garden tools the way readers borrow books. This saves money, because most people use a drill for only a few minutes a year. It also saves space at home. However, organizers have learned that the system depends on trust. When members return tools late or broken, others cannot use them. Such problems are rare, they say, when members help write the rules themselves.
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| Reading skill | Correct | What it means |
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