Teaching English to Senior Classes

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live.”          Mortimor Adler
 
Though I've been involved in adult teaching for some time, in 2011/2012 I've had my first experience teaching English to senior citizens, a group of retired people who simply refuse to sit back.
It's exactly this attitude that I admire, that allowed them to learn so well and so much, and that got me wondering about the claims that adults / senior citizens are at a disadvantage when it comes to learning a foreign language. How true is this??? What is it like to learn a language as an adult?
It's often argued that adults are bad at language learning and that kids absorb it like a sponge - who hasn't heard this yet? However, from my own experience, the most important factor is MOTIVATION (or the lack of it and now I'm comparing to my teens' classes!).
While most had already studied English, they were truly rusty to say the least, but in every single class the group I had showed so much interest and such a level of participation and involvement that I believe some brain myths have to be debunked: they may have time now to commit themselves to learning English, but in no way should lack of it be confused with ability - otherwise, teens may have all the time in the world, but too many aren't successful. Is it only because of the teachers??? Every year, there are more and more unmotivated students and I find it harder to motivate those unmotivated or to connect with disengaged students. Is it only me?
Coming back to my senior students, here is another example of their willingness to learn English with reading (always!) info: one of the senior students in my class (who happens to be a former colleague), read no fewer than 8 graded readers and obviously got book prizes - thanks to the generosity of both Macmillan, Pearson and Oxford!
Thanks to the publishers / editors, but, above all, thanks to this senior class and their lesson of Lifelong Learning!