Happy Spring!
For those of us in Wisconsin, we are still experiencing intermittent snow or rain with day to day temperature ranges from 28 to 80 degrees. We were very thankful for a sunny Easter! Children could play outside and if you could find a place out of the wind and in the sun, it was beautiful!
A family of friends congregated at Hope & A Future for a beautiful Easter meal at 1PM. After an amazing meal prepared by many, children played on the tree swing and adults visited. It was a fun day.
Then on Easter Monday we had a wonderful crew of children and their parents for an Easter egg hunt. We have done this for enough years now that we have watched babies turn into children! And children turn into helpful teenagers. And babies keep coming! This year Jarek, Reba and Hans came with their newborn twins. They are healthy and perfect. Such fun!
We have had a lot of intergenerational fun this month. Some of it was with the Leadership Greater Madison (LGM) Cohort through the Madison Chamber that I am part of. In the program we look at strengths and needs in the Greater Madison Area. And we commit to doing a group project that helps meet an identified need. The group I am part of looked at societal loneliness and intergenerational learning needs. We decided to find a way to bring people of different ages and backgrounds together to learn from each other and enjoy meaningful time together.
We collaborated with Wisconsin English as a Second Language Institute (WESLI) and asked some older adults to volunteer for the event. The WESLI teachers hoped students would learn about American culture while practicing language skills. We also hoped the students would share about their culture and experiences coming to Madison. We hoped that younger and older people would both teach and learn while having fun. Our plan was to have the students and volunteers meet three times. Once to get to know each other. The second time, students would take the lead to focus on a topic that interested them about the person they were getting to know. And the third time students would do an oral history presentation about the person they met with and also share what they learned from them. Students received direction from their teachers and volunteers were given food for thought talking points to get conversations rolling.
There was evidence of some anxiety when everyone came together the first time. We met at the Madison Public Library. Students huddled close together. Seniors sat down and looked around with anticipation. We started with brief introductions and then broke up into small groups to begin the conversations. Within minutes people were noisy, listening, talking, smiling and laughing. By the end everyone was excited for the next meeting! Volunteers were impressed with the “wonderful young people” bravely learning a second language and culture for study or employment. We all learned, reflected and had fun.
There was a spring blizzard that caused a need for rescheduling for the second session. That didn’t work for everyone’s schedule, but together we figured out how to make it work. The second session was hosted at the Latino Academy. Students and volunteers greeted each other as happy friends. In this session students asked more focused questions in preparation for their presentations. The conversations were also recorded so students could refer back to them. The atmosphere was fun. One volunteer learned the true meaning of LOL during this session. She had thought it meant lots of love and wondered why people never replied with LOL. Now she realized people were probably wondering why she was laughing out loud at the end of all of their communications. When the story was shared a lot of LOL happened in the room! The group shared a real sense of comradery and friendship. This happens quickly when everyone is honored and listened to as both a teacher and a student. Figuring things out together is a good lesson for all of us to learn because it is a great way to make friends of all ages.
The presentations were wonderful–complete with power points. Sometimes what was learned was surprising. If there had been time, it would have been interesting to let the volunteers share. I know from conversations that everyone learned and everyone enjoyed being listened to!
A final part of our project was to share an intergenerational event with our LGM Cohort. We were able to match up
young teenage WESLI students, who were having an English as a second language immersion experience, with LGM professionals. Once again, despite some apprehension, within minutes the room was filled with chatter and laughter as people focused on each other, talked and listened. Toward the end of our time together, students had the opportunity to share something they had learned. To our delight they referred to their adult, as their new friend. After the students left, we reflected on how instant the conversations were when we gave all of our attention to the person across from us. I made a statement to the effect that I hoped this would help everyone feel more comfortable starting conversations with people of different backgrounds and ages when finding yourself near them in lines or anywhere they may be in close proximity for a space of time. I felt this practice could begin to help all of us feel less alone in our fast paced world. One person laughed a little and said, “When you said that, my first thought was, no young person is going to want to talk to me. And here I just had a fun 45 minute conversation with a young person I never met before!” I said I thought that was a good example of ageism. We have accepted the notion that young people will not be interested in hearing from older adults because our mindset is that older people are boring to young people. Yet we had just had an experience that showed that was not true. We need to recognize intergenerational communication as being more than passing on sage advice. All generations benefit from shared curiosity about each other, and we should expect to learn something new when we listen. If you do not listen because you think you know everything, you probably are boring to talk with. But if you listen, learn and share–that may be the start of a fun exploration!
This week, I hope you can learn something new from someone that is not your age! And I hope it is fun!
Here’s to putting a new intergenerational spring in your step!
Karin