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Me the area rep
In the past I was an area representative for a student foreign exchange service. My husband and I worked with EFFS—Educational Foundation for Foreign Study. At one time I had two people working on “my team,” so-to-speak. In six years, we placed 36 students in the Hot Springs, Benton, Malvern and Bauxite counties. Our students were from 22 different countries and I hosted two foreign-exchange daughters myself. We had Jopie from the Netherlands (also known as Holland), and Ana from the Canary Islands, Spain. Ana liked it so much in our area (from a tropical island to the deep woods mountains), that she stayed for five years. She wound up getting her Bachelor’s degree in business from Henderson, a small college in Arkadelphia.
Go for it
Obviously I’m an advocate for student foreign exchange. And if you are thinking about being a host family, I think you should apply. It’s a brilliant, educational, and fun way to learn about a new culture. It’s a good family adventure. As an area rep I took the position seriously, and worked it hard by throwing parties every other month to assess the families’ progress, I invited all the student’s to come and spend a weekend at my own home, and I continued to educate myself about different peoples. (As an aside, I tested out party games on the students and wound up with two book’s worth of games and events; I figured if teenagers from other countries could get into the occasion, it was a sure-fire hit. It made for two great games party books.)
Here are some tips and advice about hosting:
Cautions
Make sure that you go into the program with the right intentions. Students are not built-in babysitters or housekeepers, they are not companions, they are not a paid meal ticket. The low-down is: they can do some work in the home but no more than your own child would do, just simple chores and keeping their room up. You do not get funds for housing them but if you itemized on your taxes, you can claim a deduction. They will not necessarily be “best buds” for your own children. In fact, expect there to be a certain measure of sibling rivalry and if they turn out to be long-time friends, that’s good luck.
Realistic expectations
This is probably the most exciting year your foreign student will have. That’s good and bad if you both have unrealistic expectations. He or she may experience homesickness. They may compare their country to ours and find it lacking and say so. You may see brilliance but forget that he is a teenager who may have his own angst about growing up and changing. It may be challenging, but very few host families will ever say they regret doing it and most have a hard time bidding their student good-bye.
Benefits
The biggest benefit is what you will learn about another culture, how people acclimate, and your new-found respect for caring. It’s a wonderful way to see America through someone else’s eyes. It can create lifetime friendships. It’s a nice way for you to be an ambassador. Hosting is a way to discover things about yourself and your own family. You will see examples of the best and worst in the course of the school year. If you participate in their lives (for example: we went to see Jopie’s volleyball games and I also substitute taught for that year), you will learn much more about the school and the students in your community.
Anyway, I thought I would toss out the idea about how to add culture (and extra love) into your home by hosting a student from another land. Remember to do your research, find a highly reputable company and be open for anything.
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