<p>We made a fast decision to get a foreign exchange student for this coming fall and she’s coming next week! She will be here for 6 months. There are two other girls, one from the same country, that will be in our same school district. Our youngest son is the same age as her younger brother so we’re hoping that they will find some similar activities at school. Any tips on how to make her more comfortable and the stay an enjoyable one?</p>
<p>I had a friend in school that was from Hong Kong. He was really cool. Advice: Don’t be a jackass to them and they will be just fine.</p>
<p>A friend of my daughters had an exchange student last year for the whole year- from Norway.
She was very popular, one thing that might have helped was, she was athletic and joined their sports teams.
It apparently was successful as this year the same friend is opting to have another exchange student- this time from Yemen :)</p>
<p>Will do everything I can not to be a jackass, can’t promise though. Hope our exchange student is cool.</p>
<p>We’ve had Japanese exchange students several times. It was a summertime program for girls so they only stayed about 3 weeks. </p>
<p>I think the best thing to do is to expose them to American life by just treating them much like a member of the family or a houseguest. For Japanese, there are a lot of differences for them in our way of life with our big houses, big yards (on their scale), spread out spaces (at least around here) compared to the greater Tokyo area, different food, what we do for recreation (beach for us), and many other seemingly trivial ways of life for us. This is what they’re primarily really here for anyway. We also tried to learn some words of their language and taught them words in our language. This was fun for all.</p>
<p>Your experience will vary depending on the country the student is from and, of course, with the individual herself.</p>
<p>We’ve had short term exchange students from Japan and a boy from Germany who stayed the entire year. (He was supposed to stay one semester, but he liked it here so much–and we liked him so much–that he stayed the whole school year.) We just tried to make them feel at home by learning about their likes and dislikes–like Japanese in general do NOT like root beer or peanut butter, so we did not serve pbj sandwiches or root beer floats. Mostly, just help them become one of the family, but be sensitive to cultural differences. It can feel a bit tense at first, but they soon settle in and become like just another of the kids.</p>
<p>Hi Kathiep!</p>
<p>We had many year long students and I did volunteer host family recruiting for an exchange organization as well. It is fun!</p>
<p>My advice - get the student in and settled. They will feel very funny in the beginning(wouldn’t you as a guest in a strangers home). Once they have slept and acclimated to the time difference, have a brief family rules discussion (we all clear the table, pick up towels etc). Let the student get used to your rules and try to be as helpful as you can while still starting that phase of becoming a family member NOT a guest. Once school starts, things may change a little. </p>
<p>About 6 weeks in, the honeymoon is over and the student may become either very happy or very sad - they are adjusting to a new life! They may even begin to dream in English (a big deal). If your host group offers meetings/events, try to attend them if you can to keep the student connected as well. Other exchange students can make them feel less like an aberration and since there will be others from her home country, that will help. Encourage her to make US friends as well -intramural sports teams or other clubs like drama or math are a great thing to encourage them to join. </p>
<p>These a few things off the top of my head - it is fun and worthwhile to do. Feel free to PM me if you need more thoughts or help(or just a shoulder who understands!)</p>
<p>MikksMom</p>
<p>Hey neighbor!
Thanks for your excellent suggestions. I’m hoping that since this is my son’s first year in HS that they can explore it a bit together and perhaps join key club if that suits her. Son has already expressed an interest in it. </p>
<p>I hope she’s easy going and will become like family quickly. I’m not real good at hosting, i.e., serving people and asking if they would like this or that. I really appreciate friends who just help themselves.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for how she might address my husband and I? I’m not comfortable with first names for adults. My kids friends - ages 22 - 14 call us Mr. and Mrs._______, but that seems a little formal. Aunt and Uncle?? She is from France and has been in a language camp here in the U.S. for a little bit this summer.</p>
<p>
Just clarify up front that she’s to just go to the fridge herself if she wants something and make sure she has what she needs up front and you won’t have to worry too much about the hosting. She’ll probably end up following your son’s lead (of helping himself). </p>
<p>Especially since she’s a girl, make sure you take her with you to the grocery/drug store so she can pick up any ‘personal’ items she needs. She’ll have fun going there with you anyway. I think it’s okay to ask her if there’s anything she needs in the first few days after arrival since she might still be shy but just make it clear she can come to you anytime with her needs.</p>
<p>Also, make sure you work out the telephone usage. If she’s going to call home much it could get very expensive. She could buy her own phoone cards for this or better yet, use a PC to communicate for free (Windows Messenger) or low cost (Skype).</p>
<p>I’m definately planning on a grocery shopping trip, especially since the only shower soap in the kids bathroom is something for guys. :)</p>
<p>Not too worried about the telephone thing. We have skype although we are having a bit of a problem with our webcam, the audio is fine. Since our daughter is in China we had to set that up before she left.</p>
<p>You may find that she is much more used to a first name basis for adults (many Europeans are). I am orginally from the South and I have all my kids friends calling me Mrs.M. I had a little trouble with it as well. Our students typicially called us by our first names however we were hosts before we had our own kids and when they were very young. You might ask your student what she is comfortable with (and reminding her that teachers in the US are NOT to be called by first names!) and then suggesting what you are happy with as well. Maybe there is a French name she could use or some students called their host Mom “Mom P” or whatever. </p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>MikksMom</p>
<p>Formality is respected in every dayFrench life, especially when addressing people.
She will have no problem with Mr or Mrs.</p>
<p>– I have never heard of a student calling their teacher by their first name in France or in any other European country.</p>
<p>I had 6 students from Scandanavia(where my husband is from) and they (and he) reported it was not uncommon to call upper grade teachers by their first name.</p>
<p>We had a (German) exchanges student last year. Here are a couple of things that worked (or which I learned the hard way):</p>
<p>go over rules and expectations early on (the sponsoring organization gave us a list, which saved a lot of misunderstanding). Often it’s little things that turn out to be important: I remember that our student was amazed whe we told her that everyone in our house was responsible for doing their own laundry, for instance.</p>
<p>Try to get the exchange student involved in EC activities that interest her from the get-go. Our D was very good about including the exchange student in her social circle for the first few months, but at a certain point, there was some minor tension about the exchange student’s lack of social contacts of her own. We really worked to encourage her to do things with her own circle of friends, including having them over and including them in family activities.</p>
<p>To the extent that it’s possible in your family, treat the exchange student exactly like your own kids–same expectations for chores and homework; same rules; same # of presents at holidays and birthdays. </p>
<p>We had a great experience, and feel like we now have another daughter! Enjoy your 6 months!</p>