4 min.
Adele Berti Suman (18) attends her last year at the Liceo classico Lucrezio Caro.
Coordinating teacher Vulcano Ortenzi speaks very highly of his student who received a special "Social Commitment” Award for her tutoring effort.
What the teacher says:
She is highly motivated to live her life for the common good and has participated in the project with enthusiasm and intelligence. She showed a good ability to structure the didactics efficiently for her students and fill her with enthusiasm, allowing the elder to overcome her initial difficulties and learn how to use a computer. The profound bond of respect and friendship that has grown between the two is a concrete example of how we can provide efficient solutions to the solitude of many elders.
What the classmates and elders have to say:
She showed a great ability to listen to her students and was extremely patient whilst directing her correctly. She was positive and managed to raise her enthusiasm about multimedia. She is an excellent tutor. (A classmate)
Very helpful, precise and clear in explaining the programmes and she was always present! (A grandmother)
What Adele says:
My tutoring experience as a knowledge volunteer was extremely positive. I learned to relate to a different generation, that of the elderly, with whom I had never had much contact and seemed very different. The relationship that I built throughout the course has helped me understand how much young people can learn from the elders. Before starting, I was a little worried. I didn’t know if I would be able to relate to people with such a different outlook. However, as soon as I entered the computer lab, I saw my elder student smiling. We began speaking and I immediately realized that it was not hard at all to deal with a “grandmother.” I listened carefully to all her stories and she was always attentive and studied extremely well! The last day was fantastic. We made a video together and I could tell she had discovered something great. She was going to go back home with a video of her grandchildren’s photos and she was enthusiastic. And her enthusiasm made me really feel fulfilled, I had managed teaching something constructive to my student! It was a nice experience not just on account of what I taught my grandmother, but because I became friends with a world that I had previously considered very distant. It’s interesting to see how to very different generations can unite around an experience and find out that they actually have many points in common.
What the Project Coordinators Ana Lain and Cecilia Stajano have to say:
Observing the gestures that she used during her explanations, you could tell Adele was fully involved in what she was doing. She was never absent and was an exemplary tutor exhibiting passion, curiosity and a fantastic enterprise.
Her grandmother was absent for the first lesson due to a medical issue. She told Adele she would come back, but at the end of the lesson she was still nowhere in sight. Adele waited and wrote out notes for her student on what had been done in class and some ideas to practice on at home. Finally, the elder came back, but expecting not to find her. That’s all it took for Adele to win her over, and it was just the first day. Adele comes from a particular family. Her twin sister Anna had also participated in Telemouse, but she was not present at the Awards Ceremony because she was receiving a prize for another project she had participated in.
