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The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented effort to repair the economy and financial markets severely damaged by risky home loans and falling housing prices.

Look at a short article or video with the latest economic news. Ask students to highlight or write down terms or concepts they don't understand. Print out the financial crisis glossary. If the words are not in the glossary, divide the class into groups to use the internet to research the remaining concepts. As a class review any major concepts .

Divide the class again, this time into pairs, and have students explain the current melt down to each other using their own words. Once all students have had time to explain to their partner pick two or three students to present to the whole group. Ask the rest of the class to vote on who had the most succinct and correct explanation of the situation.

Lastly, ask each pair of students to brainstorm further questions about the current situation using new vocabulary and concepts. You can enter those questions at Paul Solman's Business Desk -- make sure you mention that you are a class using this assignment. Include an email where we can send the answers.

Students can write an essay on how the financial crisis is affecting them on a personal, community or state level. Send completed essays to extra@newshour.org

FINANCIAL CRISIS GLOSSARY - print out

401(K) plan - An investment and savings plan that enables workers to put away money tax free into an account they can access when they retire (around age 65). 401Ks create a tax incentive to save money for retirement.

Bank - a business establishment which keeps money for saving or commercial purposes. Banks also loan money and exchange foreign currencies.

Bank run (bank panic) - A series of unexpected cash withdrawals caused by a sudden decline in confidence or fear that the bank will be closed, i.e. many depositors withdraw cash almost simultaneously. Since the cash reserve a bank keeps on hand is only a small fraction of its deposits, a large number of withdrawals in a short period of time can deplete available cash and force the bank to close and possibly go out of business.

Capital -The wealth - cash or other assets - used to fuel the creation of more wealth. Within companies, often characterized as working capital or fixed capital.

Central bank - The principal monetary authority of a nation, which performs several key functions, including issuing currency and regulating the supply of credit (see credit) in the economy. The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States.

Central bank intervention - The buying or selling of currency, foreign or domestic, by central banks in order to influence market conditions or exchange rate movements.

Commercial bank - Bank that offers a broad range of deposit accounts, including checking, savings deposits and extends loans to individuals and businesses. Commercial banks can be contrasted with investment banking firms, such as brokerage firms, which generally are involved in arranging for the sale of corporate or municipal government bonds and securities.

Credit - When you borrow money, you promise to pay in the future. A "line of credit" is permission from a bank to borrow money.

Credit crunch - The situation created when banks hugely reduce their lending to each other because they are uncertain about how much money they have and whether the institution they lend to will be able to pay it back. This in turn results in more expensive loans and mortgages for ordinary people.

Credit default swap - A complicated type of insurance for investments. Investors who want to protect themselves against a risky investment buy a credit default swap, which will give them a payment if the company they invested in can't pay them what they originally owned. It is similar to buying home insurance that pays you money if the house burns down. The unregulated market for buying and selling these contracts has been a major contributor to the 2008 global financial crisis because failing financial institutions were unable to pay investors on their credit default contracts.

Debt - Money owed; also known as liability.

Default - Failure to meet the terms of a credit agreement.

Equity - Ownership interest in an asset after liabilities are deducted. For example, the value of your house after deducting the total amount of your mortgage.

Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac - Government-created financial institutions that buy mortgages from banks and then sell those mortgages as investment products. They were created to help make more money available for banks to make more home loans(see liquidity). Because of the housing crisis, both independent companies were on the verge of collapse and were taken over by the federal government in September 2008. Fannie Mae was created in 1938 and Freddie Mac in 1970.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) - An independent deposit insurance agency created by Congress in 1933 to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's banking system. The FDIC identifies, monitors and addresses risks to the deposit insurance funds. The FDIC protects bank accounts up to $250,000 (the amount was $100,000 before Congress passed the rescue plan in October 2008)

Federal Reserve Bank - One of the 12 operating arms of the Federal Reserve System, located throughout the nation, that together with their 25 branches carry out various functions, including operating a nationwide payments system, distributing the nation's currency and coin, supervising and regulating member banks and bank holding companies and serving as banker for the U.S. Treasury.

Federal Reserve System - The central bank of the United States, created by Congress and made up of a seven-member Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, and their 25 branches.

Finance company - A company that makes loans to individuals.

Foreclosure - The legal process used to force the payment of debt secured by collateral (such as a house) whereby the property is sold to satisfy the debt. Usually means a family needs to leave their house because they cannot pay their mortgage.

Inflation - An increase in the general price level of goods and services.

Interest - When you borrow money from a bank, you pay interest, a fee for the use of money over time. For instance, if you borrow $100,000 for a house, you may end up paying back $300,000 at the end of the 30 year mortgage. Interest also refers to the money earned on a savings account.

Investing - Buying part of a company, enterprise or fund in the hopes of making more money.

Liquidity - The liquidity of something is how easy it is to convert it into cash. Your current bank account, for example, is more liquid than your house. If you needed to sell your house quickly to pay bills you would have drop the price substantially to get a sale.

Liquidity risk - The risk that a bank will not have sufficient cash or liquid assets to meet borrower and depositor demand.

Loan - When you borrow money and promise to pay it back-with or without interest.

Moral hazard - The risk that someone is cheating, has provided misleading information, or has an incentive to take unusual risks in a desperate attempt to earn a profit.

Mortgage - When you borrow money from a bank to buy a house.

Mortgage-backed securities - From about 2001 to 2006, Wall Street firms bought the mortgages on lots of houses and put them all together in a pool. They then sold slices of the whole pool of mortgages to investors. The repackaged debt from the pool of mortgages were then traded and re-traded. As the mortgages were moved around, more funds were freed up to lend to more homeowners.

Nationalization - When the government takes control of a business.

Regulation - A principle rule, or law designed to control or govern how the financial system works. For instance, banks are required to keep a certain amount of cash on hand, but those regulations were scaled back at certain times.

Security - Essentially, a contract that can be assigned a value and traded. It could be a stock, bond or mortgage debt, for example.

Sub-prime mortgages - Home loans offered to people who have had financial problems or who have low or unpredictable incomes. These loans often had high interest or interest rates that went up after a certain number of payments.

Sources: BBC, federalreserveeducation.org