This Unique Education Initiative Connects Lonely Seniors to Chatty Teens

You can use it to make Skype calls. Or to check on your baby as she sleeps. But this brilliant — yet simple — idea is probably the most charming use of webcam we’ve ever seen.
As part of a language exchange program launched by FCB Brasil and the CNA language school in Liberdade, Brazil, elderly residents of Windsor Park Retirement Community in Chicago are helping Brazilian teens improve their English through one-on-one video conversations. The exchanges are recorded and then uploaded onto a private YouTube channel for instructors to evaluate the student’s progress.
As you can see in the heartwarming video below, these exchanges don’t just help the students speak English with increased accuracy and confidence; the lessons provide the seniors new friends and exposure to a world outside their retirement home, too.
As the students and teachers share their hopes and dreams, it’s clear that strong bonds have been created. One student told his “more-mature” friend who was eager to visit Brazil, “You can stay in my house if you want.” And in a particularly touching moment, an elderly woman tells her young friend, “You are my new granddaughter.”
MORE: These Seniors Needed Affordable Housing, and These Kids Needed Love. Together, They’re Beautifully Solving Both Problems
“The idea is simple and it’s a win-win proposition for both the students and the American senior citizens,” Joanna Monteiro, executive creative director at FCB Brasil, told Adweek. “It’s exciting to see their reactions and contentment. It truly benefits both sides.”
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How Tennis Helps These Boston Students Graduate High School

Tenacity was founded by Ned Eames, a management consultant and tennis pro who wanted to give more opportunities to inner-city students. The organization is built on a unique collaboration between athletics and academics. Tenacity staff work with teachers and school administrators to create individual study plans to help students in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and journaling, while the tennis program gets students active, and teaches them discipline, confidence and social skills. More than 95% of Tenacity students graduate from high school, versus Boston’s average of 70%. Also, 80% of Tenacity students go to college. In the next five years, Tenacity will serve 2,000 students, expand its academic support to math, and partner with schools to create multi-purpose spaces to increase capacity in its tennis instruction.  Sound academics, life skill development, field trips and athletics is clearly a winning combination.

How iPads Can Totally Revise the Way We Teach Kids to Write

Everyone knows the drill of writing a five-paragraph essay for school: the blank notebook paper or Word document, and the daunting process of brainstorming and organizing. But that writing process can all be changed by the iPad. Tablet apps provide a variety of options for students to brainstorm and compose according to how they work best. And using technology, teachers and peers can easily leave feedback both in the form of written comments and videos. Using iPads also opens up new opportunities for collaboration among students or classrooms — like when students from a school in Chicago collaborated with students in Iceland to write a book about communities. The iPad takes the writing process and its many stages of drafting and editing off a static page and into a dynamic, digital learning environment — exactly what students need to engage with the process of creating essays and stories.

These Kindergarteners Already Speak More Languages Than You

Students at one Wisconsin elementary school are learning to read, write and speak two languages…at the tender age of five! Schurz Elementary start kindergarteners in a dual language, Spanish-English program that runs all the way through elementary school. Their teacher currently teaches 80% of the day’s lessons in Spanish, and the program helps both Spanish-speaking students who are learning English as a second language and vice versa. The district is planning on adding more classes at the middle school level, to make sure that students continue to use their language skills and remain fluently bilingual.