Lingo Flamingo
Lingo Flamingo provides tailored foreign language workshops delivered by students and refugees to older adults to help the battle against dementia, brain ageing and other forms of mental illnesses.
Lingo Flamingo’s workshops aim to help reduce isolation among older citizens whilst also giving vulnerable people a safe haven where they can feel welcome, enjoy themselves and learn a new skill all at the same time.
The workshops improve the communication, cognitive development and inter-personal skills of older adults and makes learning foreign languages more accessible for adults with disabilities or older citizens. Benefits have included improved self confidence, companionship, self worth and empowerment. Recent research has shown that speaking a foreign language can dramatically postpone the effects of dementia by up to five years. The workshops are delivered to individuals both within the care sector and through other third sector organizations. Lingo Flamingo is also working with Edinburgh University to research the effects of delaying the effects of dementia with positive early signs.
It is a misconception that people later in life cannot learn a new language; our aim is to empower older people to fight against brain ageing.