This lesson addresses what to call older people - language plays a major part in defining attitudes. By looking at the contribution of older people to our communities and by considering the issue of autonomy and choice for older people, the children have many opportunities to explore both their own attitude and the attitude of others, to older people.
The overall aim for the theme Mise agus tusa is to enable the child to:
The objectives of this lesson are to enable the child to:
For Activity 2 in this lesson, the children will need writing or drawing materials and a dictionary. For Activity 3 in this lesson, you may want to think about examples from the children's own local community to identify how older people contribute to the community.
| Lesson plan | Discussion Visualise and describe Finish the sentence Case studies Role-play Discussion |
Names will never
hurt you Ageism Older people take part in... Autonomy and choice I'll make up my mind Respect for older people |
| Online activities | Pop-up facts | Being older in Ireland |
Multiple choice Mathematics Worksheet Worksheet |
Older people in Ireland A trip to see Manchester United What is OWN? Bealtaine arts festival |
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Interview Art Class debate |
What was life like then? Design a poster for Bealtaine Rights and responsibilities |
Have a short brainstorming session on the nick-names that are used among the class, in the playground, in a family setting, etc. Discuss whether any of these nick-names may be hurtful. It is likely that there will be disagreement about whether a particular name is hurtful - focus the discussion on the fact that if the recipient is hurt by a name, damage is done, regardless of what the user of a nick-name thinks.
Then, brainstorm with the children words that are used to refer to older people - the range of terms is likely to be broad and may include old people, pensioners, grannies, old fogies, over the hill, etc.
Share with the children the following information on names that older people like to be called. The information is taken from the Eurobarometer survey, which was carried out in 1992.
In a survey carried out among older people in Europe, people were asked: "Which of the following ways of describing people aged 60 over is the one you prefer would be used?"
Most people (31%) preferred to be called senior citizens, and many (27%) would like to be called older people. Most older people disliked the following terms: the elderly, the retired, the old, the golden age, oldies, pensioners.
Discuss this information with the children. The following questions may be helpful:
This is an individual relaxation exercise, followed by a class discussion. Each child should have a pencil and a sheet of paper to write on. Start with a visualisation exercise for the class, by asking the children to relax - "Close your eyes. Quiet yourself."
Let the children stay like this for two or three minutes. Then read out each of these words and ask them, with their eyes still closed, to picture what the words suggest to them:
After allowing the children to visualise for a few minutes, ask the children to open their eyes and either to write down a few adjectives or to draw a picture that describes what they visualised. Then, repeat the visualisation exercise with these three phrases:
(The latter phrase is the name used by at least one Active Retirement group, but do not worry if the children visualise evergreen trees - these in themselves can be likened to some older people!) Repeat the writing or artwork exercises as above. The children are likely to use a different set of adjectives and to draw different pictures than in the first visualisation activity. Use the outcome of these visualisation exercises to begin to discuss the term ageism.
Ask the children to look up the words attitude and ageism in the dictionary and discuss. Ask the children to identify any negative attitudes to ageing or any signs of ageism that they have observed - the use of some of the terms in the visualisation exercise is a good starting point. Record their input on the blackboard. Here are some examples of ageist behaviour and laws:
Ask the children how can these ageist attitudes be challenged. Here are some suggestions:
The main objective of this exercise is to help the children to identify ageist attitudes and to begin to prepare the children to counteract these attitudes. Note that this issue is dealt with again in the theme I am like you, which looks at the way older people are portrayed in the media.
This activity can be conducted as a class or a small group activity. Asking each child to complete the following sentence: "In my neighbourhood, older people take part in...."
Answers may include: older people are part of many clubs and organisations, work in shops, farms, (schools?) run businesses, mind grandchildren, look after the environment, garden, care for other older people, help out adult children, help in local initiatives, for example, Tidy Towns competition. If there is any ageism during the discussion, for example, a granny couldn't do that, point out the example of ageism and discuss.
Discuss the fact that older people have a right and a responsibility to contribute to the local community. Note that the nature of the contribution of older people to a community will vary over their lifetime in older age, in the same way as the contribution of other adults and children varies, depending on age, mobility, health, pressure from work etc. You may like to discuss the contribution of people like Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill, Eamon deValera etc. Note that in the Online activities, Have a go, Activity 5 and Have a go, Activity 6 look at organisations and activities for older people.
Read the following stories about autonomy and choice. The first story shows the lack of options that an older man, Joe, is given about deciding where he wants to live. The second story is more positive, where Mary, an older woman, freely makes a choice in her own interests to move.
Story: Joe has to make a decision.
"I live on my own in a lovely thatched cottage near the sea. Some people say it is too far from the local village - the village is about six miles down the road. I’ve lived in this house all my life - the house is very familiar to me and holds many memories for me. I really like it here. I’m not as active as I used to be.
One of my neighbours is very kind and does the shopping for me every week, because I can’t go into the village myself. Two weeks ago, I fell and cut my leg. The public health nurse calls by and changes the dressing for me. A few days ago, she said it would be much better for me to go and live in the village in a sheltered housing scheme with other older people. She says it would be much safer for me.
My doctor called in yesterday and said, 'Joe, the best option for you is to move into the village. They have some lovely houses there. You’re on your own here all week, it’s not safe for you. What will happen to you if you fall again, you could be on your back for a week and no one would know'. I said that I’d think about it. But I feel I have to leave, although I don’t want to."
Discuss the story with the class. The following questions may be helpful:
Story: Mary decides to move
"My only daughter, Deirdre, visited me last weekend. We had a lovely weekend together. She lives in Dublin, and it’s a three-hour journey on the train. She comes to see me about every three weeks. She worries a lot about me, because I’m 78 years old and living on my own. My best friend, who used to visit me every day, died last year.
I find it really hard to do all the things I used to do, for example, going to the shops. I even find cooking tiring. Sometimes, late at night, if I hear a noise out on the street, I feel frightened. It never used to bother me before, but now it does.
I was talking to Deirdre about this at the weekend. She suggested that I might think about moving to a sheltered housing scheme on the other side of town. She said that there is a warden there all the time and there are generally a lot of people around. There’s a common room where all the people who live in the houses meet to chat or read during the day. Before we talked she had already gone up to look at the houses, she said they were lovely and very warm in winter. She said she had been thinking about this idea for a while, but wanted to wait until she felt I wanted to talk about it. The public health nurse is coming to tell me more about it tomorrow. I’ll be sad to leave my own home, but I think it’s for the best."
Discuss the story with the class. The following questions may be helpful:
Organise some role-play activities, based on the previous two stories. Here are some suggestions:
Ask the children whether they think people are treated with greater respect when they reach old age. Then, share the following information with the class. A survey of older people in European countries showed that:
Discuss this information with the class. The following questions may be helpful:
Allow the children to discuss each of these questions and to link the questions and answers to attitudes to ageing and ageism.
This lesson provides opportunities for many cross-curricular activities and links directly to the curriculum for primary schools as follows:
| SPHE | Myself and the wider world | Developing citizenship |
| English | Developing cognitive abilities through language | Oral |
The key questions for this lesson include: