Brazilian kids learn English through heart-warming webcam chats with retired Americans

Language students have formed touching bonds with lonely residents of a retirement home in Chicago

(CNA)

A Brazilian language school is helping students perfect their English by getting them to form heart-warming bonds with elderly Americans.

An advert for CNA language school’s ‘Speaking Exchange’ shows examples of the unlikely friendships between young Brazilians and senior Americans, many of whom live lonely lives in retirement homes.

Students are paired up with elderly residents of the Windsor Park Retirement Community in Chicago.

They then have conversations via webcam about their lives, families and future hopes, developing strong bonds in the process.

In one clip, an elderly American woman tells her video pen pal, “you are my new granddaughter”.

Another man shows a young boy in Brazil black-and-white photos of him and his wife when they were younger. “Oh you were good-looking when you were younger,” the boy responds. “And you're still good-looking!”

Another elderly lady is shown patiently perfecting a Brazilian girl’s phrasing.

“I live with my older brother. He has 23 years,” the young girl says. The lady responds: “Do you know instead of saying, ‘He has 23 years,’ you could say, ‘He is 23 years old.’”

Joanna Monteiro from CNA explained that the video links “benefit both sides”.

She told AdWeek: 'The idea is simple and it's a win-win proposition for both the students and the American senior citizens. It's exciting to see their reactions and contentment.”