The walled retirement communities going up in her area troubled Sharon MacKenzie. The walls might provide security, but they also seemed a tangible sign of increased alienation between generations.
A Grade 5 teacher at the Kidston Elementary School in Vernon, B.C., MacKenzie saw society separating generations both physically and socially; children and elders weren’t getting a chance to know each other in a meaningful way. She decided “immersion might be the answer.”

Her friend and neighbour Elaine Borden and her family had recently bought a seniors’ residence. The two women conferred, and eventually 30 students, aged 9 to 12, moved into a makeshift classroom in the chapel of Coldstream Meadows Retirement Community. MacKenzie and her grade fivers would spend eight weeks going to school there – five in the fall, three in the spring, with monthly visits in between.
“It took a lot of planning,” Borden says. She explained to the residents that they could participate as they wished. She also wanted to make sure the students understood the seniors they met might have impaired sight or hearing, might be unsteady on their feet. They would need space and time to respond. Parents needed reassurance too.
When the Grade 5 students arrived that first morning in 2001, most didn’t know what to expect. Some thought it might be boring. Others didn’t know any seniors and weren’t sure how to talk to them. But they noticed the way seniors’ faces lit up when they saw them.

As suspected, the intergenerational immersion broke down barriers as students discovered that they could be themselves, that the seniors liked them and had stories to tell. It took a while. Residents had to understand their part. Students were shy at first, one woman said, but they soon “started looking at us like we’re people.”
After morning classes, students learned with the seniors through the day. The two generations studied subjects like immigration, the body’s growth and aging, literature and poetry; they sang and held spelling bees. Pairs of students visited seniors in their rooms. They also learned responsibility each week through 90 minutes of public service assignments: helping set lunch tables, filling bird feeders and cleaning their classroom.
Staff noticed residents seemed happier, less lonely. People who didn’t usually come out for activities showed up when students were there. Young and old were having fun. Maybe they’d sit together around tables making strange creatures out of clay, or students would discuss history with people who’d been there as Canada was built. Seniors displayed their collections from earlier times. One man played his fiddle for a group singalong.
The immersion project continued at Coldstream Meadows Retirement Community through seven years with various classes. Year-end goodbyes were hard, bringing hugs, sometimes tears, and were followed up with annual reunions. After the school pulled out of the partnership, MacKenzie went on to promote intergenerational projects on a wider scale.
She founded the i2i Intergenerational Society, and her school immersion project is now an award-winning model. As she travels across Canada, MacKenzie is making connections with seniors’ residences, health officials, elder abuse councils and school boards.

Last year, members of the B.C. Care Providers Association, B.C. government officials and school organizations looked to MacKenzie’s model to produce a new resource, an intergenerational toolkit called Creating Caring Communities. It outlines the steps to creating successful immersion projects – small, medium and large. Marlene Williams, executive director of the British Columbia Seniors Living Association, was a member of the toolkit’s steering committee.
Sharon MacKenzie knows first-hand that immersion projects can narrow gaps between generations. One of her students, Lisa Stewart, wrote a song about her experience, putting it this way:

“Walking into a different generation,we made a connection that feels so right.
We stand hand in hand, as I begin to understand they’re still kids but in a different skin.”


To Learn more:
The comprehensive website of the i2i Intergenerational Society, founded by educator Sharon MacKenzie, supplies background philosophy, program directions, activities, songs and videos. It is a not-for-profit resource.
www.intergenerational.ca

An intergenerational toolkit, Creating Caring Communities, was produced last year. This 40-page collaboration can be downloaded from the B.C. Seniors Living Association website.
www.bcsla.ca/education/industry-articles.html

— Muriel Duncan is editor of Dialogue magazine. She can be reached at editor@dialogueplus.ca