Moraph for Good · Teaching guide · moraph.org/commons/sessions/teaching-guide
Quick reference
- Read the whole kit, especially Take care, and the country block for where you are teaching.
- Explain how money, healthcare and government work. Never tell someone what to do about their own situation.
- “What should I do?” goes to their own provider or adviser, and to the free official help on the help pages.
- Take no side on parties, candidates, ballot questions or campaigns. Bring it back to how the process works.
- Nobody has to share anything. Never collect names, contact details, passwords or records.
- Someone in immediate danger: the local emergency number or the police first. Any other safeguarding concern: email hello@moraph.org marked URGENT, and at a host’s session tell its safeguarding lead too.
- Short on time: keep the key points, the country block and the handout, and drop the activity.
- Afterwards, tell the host and the Moraph lead what worked and which questions came up, without names.
Before the session
Most of a good session happens before anyone arrives.
Read the kit
Each of the session kits has the same parts: who it is for and what people take away, what to prepare, the run sheet, the activity, Take care, questions people ask, and a block for each country. Read all of it, not just the slides. Take care is the kit’s own list of what not to do or say on that subject, so read it twice. The questions section gives general answers you can use when the same questions come up in your room.
Check the country block for your country
Every country fact in a kit is in its Where you are teaching section, one block per country, with the official sources it comes from. Kits currently have blocks for the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Philippines. Teach the shared material from the slides, then use the block for the country you are in, and hand out that country’s sheet.
- Open each official source listed for your country, so you know what it says and that it still says it. If it no longer matches the kit, the official source is right: teach from the source and tell us at hello@moraph.org.
- Don’t fill gaps from memory or from another country’s block. If you are teaching somewhere a kit has no block for yet, what to use is agreed in the written plan with the Moraph lead.
- Look at the free help page for your country and subject too (see When someone is in trouble right now), so you know where you will point people.
Time the run sheet
The run sheet gives a start time and a length for each part, adding up to the length of the session, with the slide numbers for each part. Read it aloud once with a timer, using the slides. Mark two or three points where you should be by a given time, and decide in advance what you would drop if you run late (see Short on time).
What to print
- The kit itself, for you: the Print this kit button on each kit page prints it with its questions opened.
- One worksheet and one handout for your country per person, plus spares. Both are one click from the kit page.
- A printed copy or a PDF of the slides, in case the screen or the connection fails. The slides page prints one slide per page.
- Anything the activity needs, as listed under You will need on the kit page.
Ask the host
- Whether anyone needs large print, an interpreter or extra time, so you can plan for it.
- Who the host’s safeguarding lead is. The safeguarding statement asks every volunteer to know.
- Who people can talk to if the session brings up something that is happening to them now.
- How the room or the online meeting will be set up. The hosting guide covers the host’s side.
A series is planned in writing before it starts: the modules, the audience, the language, the dates and a named Moraph lead. Hosts choose and order kits with the series planner. If something you need is not in the kit or the plan, ask the Moraph lead rather than deciding it on the day.
Explain, never advise
Sessions explain how money, healthcare and government work. They are not financial, medical or legal advice about anyone’s own situation.
Explaining describes how something works, what people in general can do, and where to find out more. It is true for everyone in the room. Advising tells one person what to choose, or judges their own situation. A quick test: if you are about to say “you should” about someone’s own money, health or case, stop and explain instead.
Money (Fluent)
Explaining“A credit report lists your accounts and how they have been paid. The handout shows the official way to see yours here.”
Advising (don’t)“With a score like yours, you should apply for a different card.”
Explaining“When people compare loans, they often look at the total they will pay back, not only the monthly payment.”
Advising (don’t)“Take the longer loan. The payments are lower, so it’s better for you.”
Health (Reach)
Explaining“A sliding-scale fee goes down as income goes down. When you call, ask what proof of income to bring.”
Advising (don’t)“That sounds minor. You don’t need to see anyone about it.”
Explaining“Your plan’s own documents say what it covers and what you pay. The plan or the official service on the handout can explain yours.”
Advising (don’t)“Switch to the cheaper plan. It covers the same things.”
Local government (Voice)
Explaining“The agenda shows what will be decided, in what order, and how the body takes public comment.”
Advising (don’t)“You should speak against item 4. It will be bad for your street.”
Explaining“Each public body says how it handles requests for records. Here is where to look for this one.”
Advising (don’t)“You have a strong case. Ask for everything they hold on you and threaten to complain.”
When someone asks “What should I do?”
It is a fair question, and it usually means the session is working. Answer it without advising:
- Say what you can’t do, briefly. “I can’t tell you what to do about your own situation. I don’t know all of it, and I’m not your adviser. I can show you how it works and who can look at it with you, for free.”
- Point to the free official help. The country handout, and the free help pages for their country: government services, regulators, ombudsmen and statutory bodies only.
- Point to their own provider or adviser. Their bank or lender, their clinic, doctor or pharmacist, their insurer or plan, or the office that sent the letter. For anything about registering or voting, the official election office.
- Offer to talk at the break. Personal questions are better handled privately than in front of the room. Look at nothing they don’t choose to show you, and never take their papers, numbers or account details.
- Say “I don’t know” when that is the answer, and note the question for the Moraph lead so the materials can improve.
The same goes for products and firms: nothing taught promotes Moraph, a Moraph client, your employer or any product. Don’t recommend a bank, insurer, plan, clinic or app, don’t hand out business cards, and don’t follow up with the people who came. Declare anything that could look like a conflict, and step back where the conflict-of-interest policy says so.
Staying strictly nonpartisan
Moraph for Good takes no side on parties, candidates, ballot questions or campaigns, in Voice or anywhere else.
Voice sessions are about how to take part, whatever your view. The same rule applies when politics comes up in a Fluent or Reach session, for example over tax or healthcare. Each Voice kit’s Take care list says what to avoid for that subject. In general:
Neutral framing
Say“Some people will support this proposal, some will oppose it and some will want it changed. Today is about saying any of those clearly.”
Not“This proposal is a bad idea, but here’s how to comment on it.”
Say“The budget shows where the money comes from and where it goes. We’re going to read it, not judge it.”
Not“Look how much they spend on that.”
Say“Here is how to find out who represents you and how to write to them.”
NotPraise or criticism of any named elected member.
Say“Today is about how the rules work now, not whether they should change.”
NotYour own view on a current debate, even as an aside.
Say“For registering or voting, the official election office is the place to ask.”
NotHelping anyone register, or saying how or whether to vote.
- Use the made-up, neutral examples in the kit, not real current controversies.
- If someone asks how you vote or who you support, say that you keep it out of the session, and move on.
- Moraph for Good doesn’t organize letter-writing or petition campaigns, lobby, or tell people what to say. Help people say what they think, clearly.
- Current candidates, party officials and campaign staff don’t teach Voice.
If a participant campaigns
Someone may make a speech for a side, hand out leaflets, or ask the room to sign or join something.
- Acknowledge it, without agreeing or arguing. “Thank you. I can hear this matters to you.”
- Restate the ground rule and bring it back to the process. “This session doesn’t take sides. What we can do is look at how to make that point to the people who decide.”
- If it continues, ask them to keep campaigning outside the session, and ask the host for help: it is their venue, and their rules apply.
- Don’t debate the view, and don’t let the room pile on. Everyone is welcome; the session is just not the place for a campaign.
- Tell the Moraph lead afterwards what happened, without the person’s name.
When someone is in trouble right now
Sometimes a session brings up something that is happening to someone today. Pause, keep them safe and point them to the right help. You are not there to fix it yourself.
If someone is in immediate danger, call the local emergency number or the police now. Don’t wait to contact anyone else.
First, pause
Offer a break, or carry on with the room while the host or a co-host sits with the person. Don’t press for details. If someone chooses to tell their story, thank them and don’t ask for details or amounts. Then use the kit’s Take care list: it says what to do for that subject.
Common situations
- Being scammed right now
- At the break, help them call their bank on the number on their card, and show them the reporting routes on the country handout. Don’t promise the money will come back, and never ask anyone to read out a code, a password or account details.
- A medical emergency
- If it might be an emergency, get help first: the emergency number. Cost comes afterwards. Don’t judge whether something is urgent yourself. Know the emergency number where you are teaching before you start; the Reach handouts and help pages show where to go.
- A debt collector, a cut-off notice or an eviction
- Speak with them privately at the break or the end, and point them to the free help in the country block and on the help page, rather than advising on it.
Free official help, by country
Each page lists government services, regulators, ombudsmen and statutory bodies only. Some have a Need help now? box at the top with urgent routes, such as where to report fraud.
Safeguarding concerns
For any concern about the safety or wellbeing of a young person or an adult at risk, or about how someone from Moraph has behaved, follow the safeguarding statement:
- Email hello@moraph.org with URGENT: safeguarding concern in the subject line.
- If it arose during a host’s program, tell the host’s safeguarding lead as well. Where the host’s rules are stricter than Moraph’s, theirs apply.
- You don’t need proof, and you don’t need to be sure. Describe what you saw or were told, when, and who was involved, in your own words.
- Don’t investigate it yourself.
The statement also sets the rules for every session: no Moraph volunteer is ever alone and unobserved with anyone under 18, in person or online.
Checking understanding without testing people
People came to learn, not to be marked. Check that your explanation landed, not that they passed.
Ways to check
- Ask the room, not a person. “What’s one thing you would tell a friend about this?” works better than “Does everyone understand?”, which mostly gets nods.
- Ask people to say it back. “So I know I explained it well, could someone say how the first step works, in their own words?” The test is of you, not them.
- Use the kit’s questions for the room after the activity. They are written to bring out what people took away.
- Wait after asking. A silent count of ten gives slower and less confident people time to answer.
- Watch the room, not the worksheets. Don’t read anyone’s worksheet unless they invite you to.
Mixed confidence
- Let people pass. Reading aloud, answering and sharing are always optional; never call on someone by name to share.
- Mix pairs and tables so people who are confident with a subject sit with people who are not, and give the activity simple roles: one reads, one writes.
- Invite confident people to help their table work through the activity, but not to advise others about their own situations.
- Go over a step again at the break for anyone who wants it, rather than slowing the whole room.
- When a session uses a website, people tap and type on their own device. Show them where to go; never type a password or code for someone.
Nobody has to share personal details
Every worksheet says so, and it is worth saying again in the welcome. Examples in the kits use round, made-up numbers and made-up people. Never ask anyone for their own figures, health, status or story aloud, and never collect the names, contact details, passwords or records of the people who attend.
Interpreters, mixed languages and online sessions
Sessions are taught in the language the host asks for, and the written plan sets the language for each series.
Whether a session needs an interpreter, and who arranges one, is agreed in the written plan with the host and the Moraph lead. The kits, handouts and worksheets on this site are in English. If people need them in another language, how they get them is agreed in the written plan too.
Working with an interpreter
- Meet before the session. Share the kit, the slides and the Take care list, and go through the words that matter for the subject, such as “credit report”, “sliding scale” or “agenda”.
- Ask them to interpret what you and the participants say, without adding to it, and to keep to the same rules: explain, never advise, and no side on parties or campaigns.
- Speak in short sentences and pause after each one or two. Look at and speak to the participants, not the interpreter.
- Allow more time, and decide in advance what you will drop (see Short on time).
- When a relative or friend interprets for someone, keep to general information. People may not want to talk about money or health in front of family.
Mixed languages in one room
- Use plain words and the slides’ headings. Write the key words for each part on a flip chart or whiteboard.
- For the activity, let people work in pairs who share a language.
- Several Reach kits show people how to ask for an interpreter when they call a service. Point to that part when it comes up.
Teaching in Spanish, French or another language from the English kits: Teaching a session in another language.
Online sessions
- Run the session on an account Moraph or the host manages, never a personal account.
- When learners under 18 attend, at least two adults from Moraph or the host are present, and there is no private one-to-one messaging or calling with them.
- Don’t record without consent given in advance by the participants and, for anyone under 18, a parent or guardian.
- Ask the host to send the worksheet and the country handout beforehand, or the links to them, so people can print or open them.
- Turn on captions if the platform has them. A co-host can watch the chat, let people in and help anyone who drops out.
- Remind people not to post personal details in the chat, and never ask anyone to share a screen showing an account.
- Do the activity in pairs in breakout rooms if the platform has them, or as a whole group if not.
Short on time
Kits are written for about an hour. If the slot is shorter, keep what people need to leave with and drop the practice.
Keep
- A short welcome with the ground rules, including that nobody has to share and that the session is general information, not advice.
- The main explanation parts of the run sheet: the points the kit’s outcomes depend on.
- The country block for where you are teaching, and the handout.
- The close: where to get free help, and a few minutes for questions.
Drop first
- The activity. Hand out the worksheet to take home instead, and point to the exercise that matches it.
- Optional extras: showing an official website live, practice reading aloud, a second example of something already covered.
- Long questions at the end. Offer to stay a few minutes afterwards, or to take questions at the next session in a series.
How
- Mark the cut on the run sheet before the session, with the slide numbers you will skip.
- Tell the room at the start what you will cover, so nobody waits for something that won’t come.
- Cut whole parts, not words per minute. A rushed explanation is harder to follow than a shorter one.
- The kit’s Take care list always applies, however short the session.
Don’t rewrite the kit or its slides. If a shorter session is needed for a whole series, agree it in the written plan with the host and the Moraph lead.
After the session
The host, the Moraph lead and you each say what worked and what didn’t after each series. That is how the materials and the training improve.
What to note for the host and the Moraph lead
- Which questions came up, especially the ones you couldn’t answer.
- Which parts ran long or short, and what you dropped.
- Anything in the kit or a country block that looked out of date or didn’t match an official source. Tell us at hello@moraph.org as well.
- What helped or got in the way: the room, the screen, printing, language or access.
What not to note
- Names, contact details or photographs of the people who came, or anything they wrote. Worksheets belong to the people who filled them in.
- Anyone’s own story, figures, health or status, even without a name.
Don’t follow up with the people who came. A safeguarding concern doesn’t wait for the feedback: report it as soon as you can, as set out in the safeguarding statement.