Heliopolis Elderly Center

Thanks to our literacy program for senior citizens at the Heliopolis Senior Center the older persons in our community have an opportunity to learn how to read and write. We have found that older learners sometimes lack confidence in the classroom. This may be due to past failures at school or feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed about learning how to read at an older age. Our teachers assist students in keeping anxiety at bay by setting attainable goals. They help learners build confidence and increase self-esteem by recognizing them for their efforts. Just making the decision to take part in these lessons means they are already on the path to success. At the Heliopolis Senior Center, we provide plenty of positive feedback and praise students for their achievements, no matter how small.

A step-by-step approach with lessons three times a week means that adults have the opportunity to repeat units of learning until the material is mastered. This is especially helpful in studying phonics in order to sound out words. Senior citizens like being in control. Allowing them to set the pace of learning empowers them. Self-directed learning also means they can continue providing for their families and learning how to read during their free time. Many of our students can now read and write with their grandchildren something they couldn’t do before.

If you can read and understand what I am writing now it is because you were given a guaranteed right that was denied to them when they were growing up. The literacy lessons for the older persons of Heliopolis rescues this right. These senior citizens can now feel included again in a society that usually forgets about them. They have learned that they are still a part of society and that their citizenship does not die with time. Our adult students had a dream to learn how to read and write and to have autonomy over their own life and thanks to Projeto Velho Amigo and the Heliopolis Senior Center this dream is coming true! 

Projeto Velho Amigo and the Heliopolis Senior Center is proud of its accomplishments in inclusion & diversity for older persons, our literacy lessons exemplify how we set the bar for senior citizens in Brazil and have done so for two decades. Our Literacy program has won the 2018 Municipal Seal for Human Rights and Diversity (please see photo below).

Links:

• Prizes and Recognition