La enseñanza del español a adultos mayores en Quebec : experiencia de talleres prácticos
The demographic growth of the senior population in the last third of the XX century, and their desire to choose a productive retirement which allows them to reinvent themselves in this new stage of their life, have resulted in changes in the environment in the classroom of formal and informal educational institutions in Quebec. Today’s seniors return to school with very different objectives from the time they were teenagers or university students, when education was connected to career goals and social advancement. They want to return for personal growth through life-long learning. Actually, as our population ages, Third Age Education has become increasingly important along with the area of Gerontagogy (branch of Gerontology) which addresses the learning needs of seniors. In addition, the role of the Universities of Third Age and other institutions such the Elder Hostels and Community Centers dedicated to seniors becomes more important. In this context, and based on our own experience as an instructor of Spanish workshops at a university in the province of Quebec, we introduce some of the methodologies and strategies applied in our courses of Spanish foreign language (ELE). These methodologies and strategies are summarized in our teacher diary. The teacher diary will help us to observe the level of effectiveness of these strategies in conversation workshops, which in turn, will allow for the creation of our own methodological approach. Hopefully this will help other Spanish teachers of seniors.
Seniors Second language acquisition Spanish foreign language Conversation workshops University of Third Age