Alzhimers and Language Learning

 This post is a story that I found both inspiring and heart warming and it was told to me by Reetta my Finish buddy (if you haven’t read my two blog posts about Finland then please do!)

Some years ago Reetta needed some summer work and was keen to improve her Swedish. Looking for jobs in Stockholm, the nearest city by ferry, was disheartening. Most jobs were taken already by avid Swedish students or required a high level of Swedish. There was one type of job that came up again and again though, and these jobs were always linked with some form of care for the elderly. It was not exactly what Reetta had in mind for a summer abroad but all the same she applied and got the job.

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

Arriving at the elderly care home that was to be her home for the summer she set about meeting the residents and getting to know them and their quirks. In the beginning she said, 'those with alzhimers were the most difficult. The hardest part in communication was learning to feign interest and to hear over and over again the same story.' It wasn’t until a few weeks had gone by that Reetta suddenly realised that in certain areas her Swedish was almost fluent, she could for example, tell the same story as Patient X!

Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash

The light bulb lit up! This was it ... this was a way to learn the language while giving the care and companionship so relished by the elderly.

In the weeks that followed Reetta would listen intently to the same story again and again which gave her the practice and repetition needed to learn the basics of a language. But the best thing, Reetta told me, ‘was that each evening I could work out a response to the story that I knew I would get from each patient almost every day. I could work out new questions, new ways of saying things, and different constructions of sentences that would allow me a fluid conversation with each patient while at the same time learning and improving on my Swedish.’

I think many of you will also find this short tale heart warming and I hope, will think about this as a way to learn a language and gain work experience at the same time.

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

Tips for Erasmus students:

• Care for the elderly is a very big area of employment in Sweden and there are often vacancies available.
• Working with immigrants and teaching them languages and integration skills is also an area where employment is always to be had.

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