Patty Middleton, an English as Second Language teacher in St Paul, Minnesota, with a degree in ESL from Hamline University, says it is important to incorporate exercises with money and checks into your curriculum. ESL students need to understand how to use money and how to write checks in order to use their new language in society.

Money Usage
For full day classrooms, give out fake money as rewards for behavior, and have prizes with set prices available that students can "buy" with their money. In this way, a money activity can also become a behavior activity and can serve both purposes for you.

An expanded lesson plan can have the students earn and keep their pretend money on a daily basis. Make a store in your classroom of items that you find and buy, like candy, small toys, and school supplies. The lesson will help the students get used to saving and spending English money, but also teaches them about how money works.

Some money learning games can be worked into lessons. Have the students exchange coins and bills to create sums, and score points based on those sums. For example, put the amount $3.06 on the board, and have teams of students create that exact amount with their pretend money. The first group to get the amount correct wins a point.

Checks
Begin with a stack of catalogues and a fake budget. Each student should have a blank check book register with a set balance. Students then search the catalogues and write checks for the things they want. As they are writing checks, they should balance their checkbooks and keep up with how much money they have left. Use fake checks or checks that have been canceled so students don't attempt to use them elsewhere.

Middleton says this exercise not only teaches, but motivates the students to get better at balancing checks. It can be tied to behavior for any age student. Students can spend their money on things like time to play games, silent reading time or any other thing that you deem appropriate.