Ageing Well Public Talks Series: Culture in language learning for older adults – Natalia Balyasnikova

Join us for the next in the Ageing Well Public Talks Series 2023/2024 where we explore the power of storytelling and social engagement can help adults thrive

In this talk, Natalia will explore the role of culture in language learning for older adults, highlighting the power of storytelling in recognizing older learners' agency in promoting their well-being. Drawing on her expertise in community-based language learning Natalia will delve into how social stimulation in language classrooms can support healthy ageing and how embracing culture and community, along with social engagement, can help older adults thrive.

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The speakers

Dr Natalia Balyasnikova is an assistant professor at York University, Toronto, Canada, with a broad interest in lifelong learning, particularly for older adults. Her current focus is on older immigrants' educational engagement in community-based settings, using creative research methods that merge traditional ethnographic data generation with oral, written, and multimodal storytelling. Through her work, she aims to better understand the complexity of learning processes in later adulthood and suggest new pathways for community-based curriculum and educational policy in the context of changing demographics in Canada.

About the series

The Ageing Well Public Talk (AWPT) series explores how important it is, over our lifespan, to maintain well-balanced nutrition and hydration as well as regular physical and social activity in older age, also known as The Five Pillars of Ageing Well.

Ageing demonstrates most significantly when we reach a certain age, the usual benchmark being 65+, but ageing starts much sooner and the way ageing demonstrates when we are over 65 depends on decisions we make over our life span.

The AWPT series and related materials such as The Five Pillars of Ageing Well became the cornerstones of further engagement with the public, specifically around COVID-19 and the relating self-isolation, which are now available on the OU website and the Internet.

The overall aim of these series of interventions is to facilitate a step-change in user behaviour and support service provision. Self-management and becoming a partner in our own healthcare is an important aspect of these talks. This may have a wider impact on healthcare economies, as ageing and related co-morbidities have a substantial health and economic burden footprint.