Magic unfolds at preschool in retirement home
A Filmmaker Evan Briggs had spent a
long time thinking about aging in America, our relationship to the
elderly and how dysfunctional it seemed. “What is it about our value system
that makes it so these people don’t really have a place here anymore after a
certain age? Why are we OK with that?” she thought. “There is so much wisdom
and life experience that our elderly members of society have that we're just
not availing ourselves of, and that just seems like a huge
loss.”
B When she learned there was a
preschool in her town set inside a retirement home, where the residents and the
children interacted on a daily basis, she knew she wanted to film a documentary
there. Briggs spent the 2012-13 school year filming three days a week at the Intergenerational Learning
Center for children 6 weeks to 5
years old inside Providence Mount St. Vincent, a retirement home for about 400
adults in West Seattle. Her first
feature-length film, “Present Perfect,” explores “the very real experience of
aging in America
– both growing up and growing old.”
C The five-minute trailer, which was
released in early June as part of a crowdfunding
campaign, is filled with loving and life-affirming interactions between
the little ones and the elderly residents. A little boy named Max patiently
repeats his name as a hard-of-hearing resident keeps getting it wrong. A
resident reaches down and strokes a toddler’s hair.
D Intergenerational programs exist at
approximately 500 long-term care facilities, senior centers and other
facilities across the country. The Seattle
day-care center, now nearly 25 years old, was developed to enhance the sense of
community in the long-term care facility, said director Marie Hoover. “It was
clear to the leadership, at the time, that creating the feeling of ‘a village’
was going to require the addition of children along with a robust plan to bring
the two age groups together,” Hoover
said.
E This week,
Briggs set a new stretch goal of $100,000, which she says would allow her to
finish the film without seeking additional funding sources. “It’s so exciting
to me that the idea is resonating. It’s just the most amazing surprise,” she
said. She imagined people are responding to the film’s implicit message of
hope. “Look at this simple thing that’s being done, and there’s no reason this
can’t be replicated everywhere.” Since the trailer was released, the Seattle school has had a
huge response from local families looking to enroll in the program, and
inquiries from people around the world who would like to know how to create the
intergenerational model in their own community.
Adjusted to (1)
avail – využívat
crowdfunding – společné financování
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to
a paragraph.
1 Film trailer
2 Evan Briggs’ initial thoughts
3 Impact of the film
4 Intergenerational program
5 Spending a year in Providence Mount St. Vincent
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1 What were Evan Briggs’
initial thoughts?
2 Where did she start making her film?
3 What was the trailer about?
4 Why are new intergenerational centres opened?
5 What is the impact of the film?
3) Explain the following words and phrases.
1 relationship to the elderly
2 Intergenerational Learning Center for
children
3 life-affirming interactions
4 long-term care facilities
5 to enroll in the program
4) Answer the following questions.
What is a care home? What new skills do children
get through interaction with seniors? What is social intelligence? How are
seniors stimulated by children? Is there a similar program in the Czech Republic?
Video:
Tips, sources of information:
Source:
(1)
SASHIN,
Daphne. Magic unfolds at preschool in retirement home. CNN News [online].
2014 [cit. 2015-09-22]. Available at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/19/living/preschool-nursing-home-seattle/
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