Tutoring programs, involving one or a few older persons in the classroom, are the second most common intergenerational programs in Illinois. The usual scenario finds a teacher, concerned about students¹ reading, writing, or math, realizing that some special attention could make a big difference. This teacher will ask other teachers about their older relatives, make contacts at church, or just find the volunteer serendipitously. The teacher provides the volunteer with a little orientation and training, the volunteer comes to class and the program is created. Some expand, many continue on a small scale because that is the most comfortable basis for the teacher and volunteer. The students look forward to the visit of the older volunteer. The teacher says: ³I could use 20 just like Mrs. X,² and the older volunteers witness the contribution they are making. Programs such as this exist all over the state with little fanfare or attention beyond the local community. Tutors help students in a variety of subjects, but most frequently in math and reading. Intergenerational tutoring programs are also found in libraries, churches, community centers and private homes.

The Homework Helpers program was organized as a community project under the auspices of the Aurora Area Retired Teachers Association and the Aurora Branch of the American Association of University Women. It was designed to assist middle- school children with their homework assignments. The volunteers hold 90-minute sessions after school in the basement of a local church. The service is available to any student needing assistance.

North Shore Senior Center Tutors travel to the Cove School, a school designed for children with learning disabilities. Each Monday, 15 senior tutors work one-on-one with a child, and together they go over reading and math concepts. The children¹s teachers explain the assignments and problems that the children are having to the tutors and assist them when necessary.

The Conrad Senior Citizen Center provides tutors to elementary students at Chicago Housing Authority's Lathrop Homes through the Education Network for Older Adults. The program links senior citizens with students at-risk of dropping out to spend time together during the summer to talk, study math and read.

Senior volunteers from the nursing home come to the Des Plaines C.C. School District 62 to serve as tutors in a program called Caring and Sharing.

The Intergenerational Tutoring Program, a tutoring service covering comprehension and vocabulary skills, began its pilot stage in January 1986. This program represents a collaborative effort between the Chicago Public Schools Bureau of Volunteer Programs and the Department of Aging, Southwest Multipurpose Center. Volunteers assist fourth through sixth graders with homework assignments and tutor in reading and math.

The Coles County RSVP assists teachers by listening to the students read. Many times, the volunteers will have a comfortable chair placed in the hallway outside the classroom. The students take a book to the volunteer and read for a designated period of time. They also serve as tutors, either in small groups or one-on-one. Teachers select two to three students who need extra help with reading or math. The students meet with the volunteer once or twice a week and work on projects the teacher has prepared. If one-on-one tutoring is required, the volunteer and student meet once a week to work on homework.

The RSVP Program in Quincy targets at-risk pre-kindergarten students. The volunteers assist teachers by telling stories, reading, and working individually with the children. The program convenes at least once each week.

The East St. Louis Foster Grandparent Program provides one-on-one tutoring for children with special needs. Students are tutored by senior citizens at the Leaning Tower YMCA in Chicago. Tutoring is one-to-one, and both groups share swimming lessons and lunch. Seniors in the Classroom is a tutoring and teacher¹s aide program through the Forest Park School District 91.

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Mentoring

The Elder Mentoring Program for At-Risk Students at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale involves retired university professors working with freshman students once a week and helping them with basic skills. The retirees are recruited by a volunteer coordinator, provided orientation and training, and attend weekly discussion sessions. The mentors use structured activities with the students, including time management, test taking, note-taking. The university environment and goals are part of the program, but a critical purpose is to be advocates for students, to help and to listen.

Share and Learn is a network designed to link seniors and young adults through the DeKalb County Cooperative Extension Service. The two generations share skills and talents with one another to promote learning.

AARP Mentor Program is a minority educational outreach project that involves older citizens, college students, community outreach, and aging-service programs. Through their years of wisdom, mentors help students bridge the gap between aging services and the community. The mentor provides leadership, guidance, and inspiration to college students in a mutually planned and executed minority outreach project. This program pairs college students and minority elderly vis-a-vis visits to the elderly, volunteering at a senior center, or helping seniors access services. Mentors take part in an initial orientation along with monthly multi-group discussion.

The Amicus program through the Volunteer Visitation and Reunification Project in Rockford was developed to provide assistance to children who are separated from their parents. Older adults enter the lives of the children to help and listen. The program is sponsored by the Department of Children and Family Services.

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Guest Lectures

Guest Lectures by older adults in the classroom provide opportunities for seniors to share expertise, travel experiences, and humor, thereby adding diversity and interest to learning.

The Lebanon Community Unit School District 9 uses a speakers' bureau staffed by senior citizens from the Belleville Senior Center.
The Traveling Grandparent Discussion Group at Oakton Community College takes older adults to elementary, junior-high and high-school classrooms. They participate in discussions with students, help enrich classes, and provide models of healthy aging.
Maryville Elementary School takes knowledgeable older persons to the classroom for speeches and presentations. They discuss topics ranging from history to science. The students also have an opportunity for oral history interviews.
At Bradley University older adults with practical knowledge of the theatre are invited to lecture, demonstrate, or perform for the students.
Older volunteers assist in political involvement programs and U.S. history classes, and they speak about on age and cultural values in the social studies classrooms. This Maine Township High School Program in Des Plaines also includes participation in group competitive programs, such as the Voice of Democracy, the Constitution Contest, and the Metro-History Fair.

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International Students

Through Arm Chair Travel in Edwardsville, once each month, international students visit nursing homes and describe their countries.

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Students Serving Seniors

In the Bloom Township Youth Committee, Youth provide minor repairs and maintenance tasks for older and handicapped residents living independently, safely and with dignity in their own homes.
DeKalb middle-school and high-school student council members, and Northern Illinois University students help as drivers or navigators to deliver meals.
The Centrillio Council of Girl Scouts in Bloomington prepares birthday cards monthly for the Heritage Manor Nursing Home.
In Quincy, through a learning-service program, students help with Meals on Wheels, visit nursing homes and produce a Carry Out Caravan. The Carry Out Caravan is a grocery-shopping assistance program for homebound elderly and handicapped persons who are unable to shop for themselves. The service is a cooperative project of the Adams RSVP, Chaddock School and SAVE U MORE Foods. Grocery orders are taken on Mondays at the RSVP office. Volunteers from RSVP fill the orders and volunteers from Chaddock School deliver the groceries. The Chaddock School service-learning program also provides volunteers for chores and handy-work around the homes of elderly residents.
Wee Care, Inc., taps the services of young people from local schools. High-school students serve and provide programs and decorations for the Care-N-Share group and help with Meals on Wheels. They also serve meals at the high-school cafeteria, plant flowers, perform and provide support services to the Morton service organization.
The Snow Removal Resource Exchange in DeKalb matches students willing to shovel snow for older adults who need the service. The senior center sponsors this program involving 50 students and 100 older adults.
Elder-Teen Project of the Charlie Murdough Foundation helps young people to see and experience people "who have lived life." A survey conducted by young people with older adults creates cross-generational communication. Several hundred older adults are interviewed during the summer to determine their needs and talents, and to help understand what is happening in their lives socially and spiritually.
Northern Illinois Radio Information in DeKalb offers students the opportunity to read on the radio for the blind and physically handicapped.
The Newman Foundation in DeKalb obtains names from the senior center of needy elders with suggestions for Christmas gifts. These are hung on the tree for students to select. The students purchase a gift and deliver it before Christmas.
La Voz Latina Hispanic Resource Development Center in Rockford utilizes the skills of youths to help senior citizens learn about and access services.
Augustana College sponsors a program called Generations. Generations is a friendly visitors program with students visiting older adults in retirement centers and nursing homes.
Design students at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale renovated the lounge at the Carbondale Senior Center. The experience brought a new dimension to their learning as they attended to the acoustical, lighting and space needs of an older population.
Oral-health screening is conducted by Parkland College students at health fairs in conjunction with the Champaign Geriatric Dental Committee.

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Career Days and Career Exploration.

Career Days and Career Exploration brings in older volunteers to discuss their experiences with students. For example, Career Connections, in Palos Heights, allows retirees to share career information and skills with 19 schools, kindergarten through eighth grade.

In many classrooms throughout Illinois, older adults enter the classroom to demonstrate arts, crafts, and skills, such as sewing, quilting, drawing, woodwork, basket weaving, and others. For elders who are frail, these activities may also be a part of nursing home visitation. The spirit of Circle of Helping is readily apparent is such cases the children visit to share their time and enthusiasm, and the elders teach them to sew or read.

A Career Day is held for students in grades six through eight at Highland Park School District 111 where older adults describe their occupations. They provide similar presentations on their lives and careers throughout the year.
E. Adopt-A-Grandparent or Adopt-A-Grandchild

Mary Givens from the Cherrywood Health Care Center in Vandalia describes the benefits of Adopt-a-Grandparent. ³It is a chance for the young to be of service; to feel needed; to develop sensitivity; to respect the needs of others; to learn how to develop friendships with older people; to work as a team for the benefit of someone else; to develop better communication skills; and to establish a sense of concern for the community and its people. For the Grandparent, the program offers an chance to share talents, knowledge, and friendship with the young. The elderly regain the feeling of being useful and productive. Through the personal contact of a handshake, a hug, a kiss, the grandparent experiences the most basic of all human needs, that of love.²

In Grandparents Unlimited older adults become surrogate grandparents as they volunteer time and services at local child-care and nursery schools. This provides an opportunity for young children and older adults to share a close relationship within a school setting. Grandparents Unlimited is just one of several intergenerational programs created by Helene Block, Oakton Community College.

The DeKalb County Nursing Home brings in junior-high, high-school, and college students to experience one-on-one interaction with specific residents. The students read, visit, talk, take walks, play cards, and participate in group activities together. The students are given an orientation to the facility. ³These programs help maintain and spark interest in life essential to our aging adults,² commented Michele Green.

The Adopt-A-Grandparent is a little different for the Coles County RSVP. The RSVP volunteers are adopted by college students. The students fill out interest cards, and then they are matched with an RSVP member. A break-the-ice potluck is held at the beginning of the program so that volunteers and students get together, visiting at the seniors' home, going out to dinner, and attending functions together. The Chicago Heights Foster Grandparent Program targets at-risk pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. The grandparents visit the classroom four hours each day five days a week.

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