Pocket money jobs for a retiree with no English

[zendeveloper]

Need some brainstrorming from the hivemind.
Looking for some "pocket money" job ideas for the following situation.

A person in their mid-60s, with no English at all (and probably limited ability to learn it to any reasonable level from scratch now), who had a long professional career but it was not in the UK and their skills are not directly transferrable (let's say, a lawyer or an accountant).

Looking for a hobby job for them that would be more to satisfy a desire to be busy and useful rather than to earn money. Unfortunately, there are serious health restrictions so intense manual jobs are probably out of the question.

Living in London at the moment.

I've learned a couple of other languages, and really valued time spent with people who didn't speak English, as it meant I was forced to speak in the language I was trying to learn. Someone who is trying to learn Russian might pay for their time for conversation practice.

Another person for the state to pay a pension for to someone who hasn't paid a penny in.

There are lots of British-born people who fit those criteria too, none of whom have had to flee because their country was invaded and their homes and infrastructure destroyed. Don’t be a dick.

she could perhaps cook for the community centre, serve teas

They don't get a penny from the state at the moment, no need to worry about that. No pension, no benefits, no reliance on the state medicine, no housing - let it not bother you too much.

Jewish by descent, but not by religion. Atheists.

They do have money in that they get a reasonable monthly allowance from the family, they have children living in the UK, US and EU who are all quite successful financially. The allowance would be sufficient to live reasonably comfortably independently, with some holidays and travel, and minor life luxuries too. They are quite reluctant to spend it though - last year they were persuaded to use it for the language school ("for the common good"), but now back to square zero as the plan did not yield any results. It is very hard to convince them to accept anything at all, they are still of a mindset that they will do it all themselves and earn their own money. It would be SO MUCH EASIER for everyone if they could just chill and enjoy their golden years and accept that their children now want to take care of them.

They receive pensions from back home as well, but it is under £100 in total, I think.

I think they would rather starve and live in a cardboard box under the bridge than ask for welfare tbh.

You absolutely nailed it, it is about getting some control back over their lives.

They don't get any benefits (apart from the state pension they paid into all their lives, but I would not count that as state support, they earned it), but it would be a massive improvement in their self-esteem if they actually could do something in this new world that people would genuinely pay money for. Something useful.

How about set up a Russian/Ukranian tutor profile for them on italki (and preply, lingoda, verbling, etc)? Nothing to lose. I've had italki teachers who refuse to speak to me in English and only in the target language, and those were highly popular teachers so such an approach is in demand too! (For clarity I mean the couple can tutor, not be tutored)

I hope you manage to find something for them. I didn’t initially realise you were talking about two people - I thought it was ‘they’ in the coy sense of not wanting to specify the sex.

Or as a (paid) conversational partner on italki etc which is more casual. I used to book those myself

What a shame you haven’t had to flee your country as a refugee because of war. Might have taught you some empathy.

Surely after long professional careers these ‘retirees’ should be enjoying retirement - and using whatever income they have for the ‘rounds of ice cream’

My best suggestion - online conversation practice in Russian / Ukrainian, with no English allowed.

Do they have access to laptops / internet?