In a recent novel by a Dutch writer, Hendrik Groen (2014/2016: 5), entitled Little Experiments with Happiness. A Secret Diary of Henrik Groen, Age 83 and ¼, the author says in the opening diary entry dated Tuesday 1 January, 2013: ‘Also this year I am ill-disposed towards the elderly. They all walk slowly with their zimmer-frames, demonstrate their impatience, constantly complain, demand cookies with their teas. All this sighing and grunting. I myself am 83 and ¼’. The novel is a moving story of the elderly living together in a home, in which Groen expresses the comic and the romantic aspects of life. He finds honesty, irony and emotions intertwined in the daily lives of the elderly. In his reflection, he ponders over the changes in a man’s life that occur with age. Challenges are a driving force; in youth they are like climbing Mount Everest, now they are more like climbing out of a chair – a task equally important and equally difficult to perform. He also says: ‘When you are young, you want to grow up quickly. When you are adult and reach your sixties, you strive to be young. And when you are an old dog, you do not want anything anymore’ (Groen, 2014/2016: 151). However, despite the humorous anecdotes, the picture of the place and its inhabitants is pretty grim. Even allowing for the fictitious character of the text, it nevertheless comes quite close to reality. But there are ways out: new opportunities, new people and new challenges. These come with the growing interest in lifelong education, where there is definitely a special place reserved for the elderly.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the topic of seniors who can find a purpose in life by going back in time and becoming learners once again, third-age learners of foreign languages (FL).