Beyond Numbers: Teaching financial literacy to newcomers through stories, community, and real conversations

Context: Development of a financial literacy curriculum for newcomers learning French, second langage on the costs of living and budgeting. For a national organization, funded by IRCC, 2024. 78 pages with exercices, quizzes, test, vocabulary.

When newcomers arrive in Canada, they don't just need to learn about TFSAs and credit scores. They need to navigate the shock of $2,800 monthly rent in Toronto on a $4,200 salary. They need to understand why someone in a secondary city spends almost as much on their car as their apartment. They need a space to voice their confusion about why milk costs triple what it did back home.

Traditional financial literacy education often offers rules, templates and definitions. Prosperities' approach always offers something more: a bridge between ideals and realities, between what should/could be and what is, built through authentic conversation and shared experience.

The reality gap no one talks about

This program could have started with theory—compound interest, budget categories, investment vehicles. But when you're a newcomer learning a new language while simultaneously trying to survive economically in Canada, you have little headspace for a lecture about the importance of saving 20% of your income.

You may need to hear stories about changing shopping habits to survive on a salary. You need parents to tell you how they reorganized their entire budget so their kid could play hockey, because understanding Canadian culture sometimes means understanding that hockey registration can cost more than groceries.

This is why when I have been invited to design a curriculum on budgeting for newcomers learning French, I designed it not as a financial literacy course that happens to teach French, but as a conversation space where economic reality and language learning merge into something transformative.

Creating Curriculum that reflects Life, not textbooks

I wanted this curriculum to normalize financial difficulty without stigmatizing it.

By presenting financial challenges as shared experiences rather than personal failures, learners discover they're not alone in finding Canadian costs overwhelming. The exercises don't ask "What's wrong with your budget?" but rather "What strategies can we develop together?"

When learners fill out mock financial assistance applications, they're not just practicing past tense verbs. They are also rehearsing dignity. They're learning that seeking help is a skill, not a shame. They're discovering that community resources exist not as charity but as collective support.

Language as a vehicle, not a barrier

Financial concepts aren't simplified for language learners; instead, language learning is elevated through meaningful content. When you're genuinely concerned about making rent, you'll remember the vocabulary. When you're actually comparing grocery prices, those numbers stick.

This approach recognizes that newcomers are sophisticated thinkers navigating complex realities—they don't need dumbed-down content, they need accessible pathways to express their full intelligence.

Prosperities' focus: Building financial citizens, not just consumers

Financial literacy often focuses on individual optimization—maximize your credit score, minimize your taxes, optimize your portfolio. This curriculum takes a different path. It builds:

• Economic awareness: Understanding inflation isn't abstract when you're tracking milk prices month by month

• Community connections: Financial he

  alth improves through shared strategies, not isolated struggle

• Cultural navigation: Recognizing that a car in majoriity of Canadian cities isn't a luxury but a necessity

• Systemic understanding: Seeing personal budgets within the context of Canadian economic realities

When we teach financial literacy through real conversation and authentic experience, we're not just building financial capability. We're building belonging. We're creating spaces where the phrase "faire attention à ses dépenses" (being careful with spending) isn't a judgment but a shared strategy. Where "santé financière" (financial health) includes mental and community wellbeing, not just positive net worth.

Because ultimately, newcomer's financial literacy isn't about knowing all the right answers. It's about having the vocabulary, confidence, and community to navigate the questions.