Categories Education

3 Tips For Teaching Something New To An Elderly Person

If you are going to be teaching something to a senior citizen soon, be it a grandparent that you’re wanting to teach how to use a new piece of tech or some seniors at a retirement community that you’ll be teaching a class to, there are a few things about teaching this demographic that you should be aware of in order to find success here.

To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for teaching something new to an elderly person. 

Encourage Them To Take Copious Notes

As you begin to teach your elderly students, one of the first things that you should encourage them to do is to take copious notes of the material that you’ll be teaching them.

Even if your students used to have great memories, as people age, they often need more and more help remembering things. So when you have them write down the things that they’re learning and the useful tips and tricks that you’re sharing with them, they’ll be much more likely to remember these things. And along with this, now that your students have their own notes from your lessons, they can refer back to them for help and guidance when you’re no longer there to ask questions. 

Use Different Formats To Help Them Learn

Just as with other groups of students, your senior learners won’t all learn the same way or at the same pace.

With this in mind, you should seek to use different formats to teach your materials so that they can find a way that best suits how they learn. This can include speaking like you’re in a lecture, having something visual for them to look at, letting them practice what you’re teaching them in a hands-on way, having them teach what they’ve learned to other people, and more. And once you notice that one way of learning might be more effective for your students or your group of students, you should try to focus more of your attention on these tactics. 

Amplify Your Voice

Whether you’re teaching to a large group or to just one or two people, when your audience is older, you’ll need to be cognizant of what your voice is sounding like and how it might be affecting your students. 

As a good rule of thumb, you should seek to amplify your voice when speaking to seniors that you’re teaching. While you don’t necessarily need to speak lower, if you can make your voice a bit louder and deeper, it might be easier for them to hear you. 

If you’re seeking to teach something new to an elderly person, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how this can best be done. 

You May Also Like