Intergenerational learning of english as a foreign language – first triad primary school students and their grandparents

In the past, grandparents had a significant role in their grandchildren's upbringing and education. Nowadays, the importance of their role is decreasing. Furthermore, many older people are physically separated from other generations. The number of older people is rising and the society conditions are changing. Multicultural and multilingual environment in Europe presents no barriers to younger generations. On the other hand, the elderly will have to learn new skills to function in this society. The common misconception that older people are not able to learn anything new, is wrong. We are never too old to learn. The same applies to learning a foreign language. Younger students do have the advantage of gradual and long-lasting learning and they can acquire native-like pronunciation, but older students have the advantage of previously acquired learning strategies and skills to moderate learning. Intergenerational educational programs in Slovenia are at the beginning of their development and they are crucial for developing coexistence between generations. In this kind of setting, older generations establish social relationships with younger generations. The process of learning contributes to their well-being and maintaining mental skills. Intergenerational learning helps younger generations to overcome the prejudice about the old people. Grandparents teach their grandchildren about the past and grandchildren teach them about new inventions. English teacher needs to provide the environment, where participants have fun, topics are known and useful, and activities motivational. Younger students should establish a positive learning attitude during the course of the learning process and older students should change their attitude if it is negative. Learning a foreign language contributes to acceptance of other cultures which is important in time of mass migrations. The case study, involving 16 first triad primary school students (aged 6–8) and 14 grandparents showed that grandparents participate in educational process for the purpose of obtaining knowledge (theirs or that of their grandchildren's). They put socializing on the second place. Both, grandparents and grandchildren showed progress in knowledge of English (oral and auditory skills and vocabulary) during the course that lasted for 12 weeks. The study showed that most of the grandparents and grandchildren already have a positive attitude towards learning English as a foreign language and they think it is fun. According to the research, the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren hasn't significantly changed. Still, both generations liked learning together. Both, grandparents' and grandchildrens' learning self-esteem has improved during the course. The research has also shown that on average grandparents' initial and final knowledge of English during the course was better than their grandchildrens'