Tandemgo
by E-Seniors – Intergenerational activities in France
An Intergenerational “WII battle” (with
interactive Nintendo games)
This intergenerational
tournament, based on interactive Nintendo game consoles, was prepared jointly
by the Cultural Center Daviel (where E-Seniors provides computer trainings), the Youth Information Point
(PIJ), a group of students from University of Paris X, and the team of
E-SENIORS.
We chose
Wednesday, since Wednesdays in France are usually the days when grandparents
take care of their grand-children.
A large
poster had been prepared by the Center to announce the event and was visible at
the entry.
The meeting
took place in the large cafeteria area, which, being located at ground floor, is visible from the entrance.
We installed
2 game consoles (2 gaming corners), each connected to a video projector in
order to obtain a larger visual field for the games, and to loudspeakers,
as the spoken explanations are significant in the games.
As we wanted to have mixed ages, we divided the participants
into teams and registered on the whiteboard which was also used later to
mark the results.
In the first
part of the event, the intergenerational association “A l’Unisson" proposed some classic physical exercises to
warm up the participants.
We started
with Wii sports games, such as tennis and
bowling, as they are multiplayer games.
The teams,
waiting for their "turn", had the choice to:
·
Observe the
players and learn how to manipulate the joystick
·
Sit and talk
around the tables enjoying drinks and cakes.
Several senior students of E-SENIORS came,
some of them with their young grandchildren.
Young
participants came from several neighborhoods in Paris (we believe that the
interest came from the fact that Nintendo Company had given a
number of Wii game consoles to the City of
Paris).
Following
this event, additional sessions were planned and realized in other locations
such as Hopital Paul Brousse, Centre d’animation MJC Mercoeur and
Centre d’animation Oudiné .
Training for
animators was also developed in order to qualify more animators for this
activity and enable its multiplication in other sites.