Brazilian Teens Learn English By Video Chatting With Older Americans

A unique program in Brazil is partnering up teenagers with elderly Americans to help them learn English.

Program coordinators with CNA language schools were looking for a way to help make their lessons more real for teens who want to learn to speak fluent English. Their idea was to pair them with Americans to chat with them via video.

At a retirement community in Chicago, Illinois, elderly residents signed up to be part of the program, mostly because they were lonely and just wanted someone to talk to. (I’m getting very teary-eyed about this, you guys.) FCB Brazil launched the “Speaking Exchange” project for CNA language schools to help make the connections. Via AdWeek:

[The] young Brazilians and older Americans connect via Web chats, and they not only begin to share a language—they develop relationships that enrich both sides culturally and emotionally. The differences in age and background combine to make the interactions remarkable to watch. And the participants clearly grow close to one another, to the point where they end up speaking from the heart in a more universal language than English. The pilot project was implemented at a CNA school in Liberdade, Brazil, and the Windsor Park Retirement Community in Chicago. The conversations are recorded and uploaded as private YouTube videos for the teachers to evaluate the students’ development.