Lessons in later life
The answer for an increasing number of retired teachers is to head to Poland, where they are regarded as valuable educational tools and a godsend for honing young Polish minds.
The Global Volunteers service takes on people as old as 78 from across the world to help teach the basics in English. And many of the 'gray' army have found their two-week-long educational adventures in Poland as rewarding as their pupils.
Cherry Anne Ward and Nancy Hightower, from Athens, Alabama, recently returned home after their tour of duty.
"Nancy and I were overwhelmed by the Polish people - by their strong character, their continuance of life," Ward, who notched up 25 years at the chalk face, told her local News Courier newspaper.
"We developed an incredible admiration for them - the grandmothers with their hard-work faces, out in the fields with their grandchildren, dressed in babushkas, picking up potatoes," she added.
"We taught in the barest room - a huge room with a folding chalkboard. There were no bulletin boards, no manipulatives like flash cards. They were enthusiastic learners," says Hightower. "They were there because they wanted to be there. They absorbed anything we said or did."
The Global Volunteers service takes on people as old as 78 from across the world to help teach the basics in English. And many of the 'gray' army have found their two-week-long educational adventures in Poland as rewarding as their pupils.
Cherry Anne Ward and Nancy Hightower, from Athens, Alabama, recently returned home after their tour of duty.
"Nancy and I were overwhelmed by the Polish people - by their strong character, their continuance of life," Ward, who notched up 25 years at the chalk face, told her local News Courier newspaper.
"We developed an incredible admiration for them - the grandmothers with their hard-work faces, out in the fields with their grandchildren, dressed in babushkas, picking up potatoes," she added.
"We taught in the barest room - a huge room with a folding chalkboard. There were no bulletin boards, no manipulatives like flash cards. They were enthusiastic learners," says Hightower. "They were there because they wanted to be there. They absorbed anything we said or did."
