The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/988970
JUNE/JULY The Linguist 7 @Linguist_CIOL FEATURES idea with Alzheimer's Scotland, and also work with Age Scotland and various care organisations. Q How is Lingo Flamingo funded? A The Big Lottery funds one role, the Tudor Trust funds our volunteer programme, and the rest comes through private sales. Q What were the initial challenges and what changes have you made? A People tend to be sceptical of new ideas; it does sound strange, teaching language to people in their 80s and 90s. The older generation may have got the belt for making mistakes at school, so we have to show them that language learning can be entertaining and a lovely intercultural experience. It's about breaking down misconceptions, so we started to do free taster sessions. There was a lot to learn from the pilot sessions in terms of making the materials more accessible and dementia-friendly. I found that if I wore a suit to meetings it would put people off, and the way we approach things is now more laid back. Some marketing campaigns weren't so successful, so we got feedback to find out why. We've got better at spreading turned the idea of teaching languages to a into a thriving social enterprise awareness by word of mouth, videos and social media, but we're still working on it. Q What skills have you outsourced? A I learn new skills when possible, but the website was done by a social enterprise here in Glasgow and the accounting is also done externally. In-house, we now have a Development Manager who works on the funding model; an Engagement Officer who liaises with our organisations and works on marketing; and a Volunteering Officer. Q What does volunteering involve? A There's 20 hours of training for volunteer tutors, which is done in person and online, and then initial volunteering for 1 hour a week for 10 weeks. We have 35 volunteers across Scotland, mainly in the central belt, but we're looking to get more in rural areas. Q Tell us about the befriender scheme… A People living with dementia tend to revert to their mother tongue, even if they've lived in the UK for decades. This can be very isolating for people in care homes, which occasionally use interpreters to deal with the issue. We thought, with the volunteer base we have, that we could train volunteers in befriending to meet with the older adults, incorporating intercultural aspects such as photos and songs from the home country. It's at quite an early stage; we just got a wee pot of funding and the tasters have gone well. Q What are your plans for the future? A We're looking at expanding into England and Northern Ireland. It's about building up the contacts, and making sure we're not overstretching ourselves. To find out about volunteer opportunities with Lingo Flamingo, visit lingoflamingo.co.uk or contact papoula.romao@lingoflamingo.co.uk. Q Did you have a background in languages? A At university, I did Law with German. After a two-year traineeship as a solicitor in Scotland, I got a job teaching common law systems at a university in Germany, and also taught at a school for people with learning disabilities, using accessible techniques. It was then that I really started falling in love with languages. Q You work with a number of organisations; how did you develop those partnerships? A I approached the University of Edinburgh during the Converge Challenge and we've worked together ever since. They helped in terms of monitoring and benchmarking the research. The Open University got in touch quite early on; they developed a training programme for our tutors. I contacted Alzheimer's Scotland because they are a big advocate for saying you can live well with dementia. Often, out of kindness, a spouse or family member will take things away like making dinner or going for walks, but the best thing you can do is empower the person living with dementia, because the more challenging the activity, the better it is for the brain. We now do sessions across Scotland