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Working with Older Volunteers in Manual Intergenerational Projects
exchange in Vigy received a slightly less
favourable evaluation. The French elderly
were not included in the planning process
because the French senior citizen organisations
were also just guests like the others
and, furthermore, consisted of participants
from all over France. This again shows the
importance of integrating the elderly in the
planning process of tasks. Moreover, on the
last day of the exchange an appointment
was re-scheduled, which prevented one
group from completing their (self-added)
goal, which in turn caused some discontent.
Participants’ evaluation of exchanges
The projects were organised in such a way
that they connected to the specific skills of
the elderly, which in turn enabled them to
guide the young. On the other hand they
also included new aspects for the seniors
themselves who could accept these as challenges.
In this respect the integration of the
elderly in the planning process of activities
proved successful.
Furthermore, in most cases the project
work also corresponded to interests of the
adolescents. The project week meant a break
from everyday school life and many pupils
preferred the practical work to abstract learning.
The young also profited directly from
the project work because in many cases the
school equipment was improved. This is of
course a motivation-promoting factor. In
addition, children and adolescents learned
new techniques and, as one teacher emphasised,
the project work helped some pupils
in terms of their future job orientation.
Since the method of encouraging communication
by the involvement in manual
work has proved successful it should by
all means be retained for future activities.
Again, it is important to include the elderly
and the schools in the planning process.
3. Intergenerational Cooperation
Intergenerational cooperation was determined
as a second central method to encourage
communication processes. The idea to
do so proved successful, however, slightly
different than planned. The youths were
supposed to function as a bridge by acting
as interpreters when faced with communication
problems. The idea behind it was
that due to increased mobility demands
youths nowadays develop foreign language
skills much sooner than senior citizens
and are often less inhibited in using their
skills, even if these are very limited. However,
English was not the lingua franca of
the exchanges, Czech is rarely taught in
German schools and French-speaking pupils
were not specifically involved. Nevertheless,
pupils were still able to function as
interpreters, for instance the children with
migrational backgrounds in Hamm who
spoke Russian or Polish or, if they were
Exchange Hamm, intergenerational rest
Final Report 33