Giving Tuesday with Teacher Robin

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Hello, welcome to another class. I’m Robin. And today our topic is giving, specifically Giving Tuesday, which takes place on December 1st.

Now, this day started not that long ago actually, in 2012 in the United States, and it was started by the 92nd Street Y, YMCA, and the UN, the United Nations. And they started this day, to encourage people to help the less fortunate. So to encourage individuals, families, school groups, companies, etc. to give, to give to their communities, to get to people who need help. And this is something that is necessary all year long, and especially this year, but as Christmas approaches, we need to keep this in mind. Okay, so we have this day, Giving Tuesday, and I am going to share with you some ways that we can talk about giving, some vocabulary, some synonyms of “to give”, and then some ways that you and I can, can give, especially this year with the situation the pandemic.

Okay, so let’s look at some other ways to say, “give”, okay to give.

Another way to give is “to help”, if you help someone, then you are giving , you are giving yourself, you’re giving your time, for example. So “to help” is another way to say to give.

“To offer”, if you offer something to someone that could be money, that could be to help them with something. Okay, an offer is another way to give.

“To volunteer”, okay, this is the best way if you volunteer, then you are giving as well, you give your time, you give your efforts, etc. So to volunteer. There’s so many ways to volunteer, I’m going to talk about that in a minute. And that’s another way to give.

“To donate”, now to donate is to give something that could be money, that could be clothing, that could be food, okay. So if you donate it means that you give something. So this is another, another synonym. Alright, another word is “to contribute”. So if you donate, for example, if you give money to a charity, you contribute, or if you participate in an event, a fundraising event, then you contribute. Another way to say this is “to collaborate”.

Okay, so there are so many different words that we can use in these situations, related to giving. An idiom that we can also use is “to give a helping hand” or “to lend a helping hand”, which is an expression another way to say, to give. All right, so hopefully, that gives you a little bit more vocabulary when we’re talking about this kind of subject. 

And now let’s talk about what you can do now, during the pandemic. How can you give? It doesn’t have to be on December 1, it can be any day. What are some different ways that we, humans, people, can give to our communities and to the world?

Okay, you can give voice, you can give your voice and I don’t mean to sing. I mean, you can spread the word on your social media platforms if you have a website, about a specific cause. So if there’s a charity that you really like or if there’s something happening in your community, like a food drive, food collection, then you can give voice which means that you tell people about it. Okay, so you can post on your Facebook or your Instagram, “Hey, everyone this is happening” or “This is a really great charity. This is a wonderful cause where you please consider donating or help me to also spread the word.” Okay, so to give voice is another way to give.

You can donate all kinds of different things. As I said before, money is one but it doesn’t have to be money. If you go to the supermarket, and you buy your groceries as you normally would. You could buy one extra can, for example, of food, and you can leave it at the supermarket there. And you can also now this year, there are ways to donate through your supermarket but online. So that’s a great way to do that as well. If you’re going to purchase, you’re going to buy groceries, food, anyway then you can buy one extra thing or a couple of extra things and donate, okay, so you can collaborate that way. You can also donate your talent. So what do I mean by this? There are many nonprofits, many organizations that need people, but they cannot pay them a salary. So let’s say you are good at web design or let’s say you speak several languages and you can help translate a website. Or maybe you can help with marketing or social media. That is donating your talent. So if there’s a specific skill or something that you are good at, then you can donate your talent and that’s another way to help.

Okay, and as I said, to volunteer, this is a way that you can contribute. And there are so many different ways to volunteer. And with COVID, obviously, maybe some of them aren’t possible, or they’re more limited. But check locally, what’s happening in your town and your community, and see what the restrictions are. If you’re going to help at a food bank, you probably need to wear a mask, maybe there are fewer people, you have to social distance, keep some distance in the line, etc. But it’s possible, you can still do it. So if that’s something that sounds good to you, then check out volunteer opportunities in your community. Okay. 

And now I want to hear from you. So I want to know what kind of ways that you give, and what kind of things are going on in your community. Maybe you do something special before Christmas for children or for families in need. Maybe you organize something yourself or you spread the word, you give voice to these different causes. So feel free to share about all of that in the comments. I want to know what is going on where you are because it’s always a good time to give. And especially this year, we have to help each other no matter where you are. And it doesn’t have to be with money. It can be with your talents, with your time. So I encourage you to think about this and I look forward to reading your comments. So I hope that you enjoyed the class and I will see you next time. Bye!