Hosting a foreign exchange student?

[karenbaco]

How do I go about this? Has anyone done this before? What was involved as a host family? Was it a good experience?

Thanks

 

[petchie]

Contact your local Rotary Club, they are always looking for hosts for their RYE program.

https://www.rotary.org/en/youth-exchanges

 

[tomthebarncat]

I had a Chinese 16 year old just come back from 2 weeks in London on some type of program. Her only complaint was that her host family who were from India did not have anything nice to say about China. As someone who lives here I understand that is there really isn't anything nice to say about this crappy country, but I would never share that sentiment with my students!!

 

[KennesawNemo]

I had a Chinese 16 year old just come back from 2 weeks in London on some type of program. Her only complaint was that her host family who were from India did not have anything nice to say about China. As someone who lives here I understand that is there really isn't anything nice to say about this crappy country, but I would never share that sentiment with my students!!

Oh, wow

 

[MAJPLO]

World Heritage Organization. My mother hosted a high school junior who was planning to stay for a semester. She liked it so much that she stayed the whole school year. Since she left to go back home to Italy, my mom has visited there once and the student has returned twice here to visit. She is here now GREAT experience for everyone including my kids and DH and I who were not hosting, but just getting to know her through our regular family time with my mom.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

When I was a teenager my parents did. It is a very rewarding experience.

It is just sooooo hard to see them leave!

 

[clori]

Many many years ago my family hosted two students (two different years). First we had a girl from West Germany (see it was a long time ago). The second was a boy from Switzerland. They both stayed close to year and attend the local high school with me. They spoke English fluently from the start.

They were from YFU - Youth for Understanding. They flew to NYC then flew to a local airport where we met them. There was a local rep who called or visited monthly and would come by more if needed. We never had any issues that I recall. YFU also had a trip to Washington DC for exchange students and teen host siblings.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

My brother and his family hosted an exchange student from Germany last school year. It was a great experience for them. They provided room and board, of course, but his family provided his "wants." They brought him along when they came for Christmas last year (his family bought his plane ticket) and he was a nice young man. He attended the Christian school where my SIL is the asst principal (although he could have attended the public school where my nephew goes, his parents wanted him to go to private school and paid for it). They keep in touch periodically through Facebook; my SIL told me recently that his mom told her that he "left his heart in (city)" -- he apparently loved living in America... except that he turned 16 while he was here and was not allowed to drive (rules of the program), nor was he allowed to drink alcohol (16 is the legal age in Germany). My brother's family has also hosted a couple of summer program students through a non-profit center in their area and has enjoyed that, also.

 

[EMom]

We might host an exchange student someday. I have a few interesting memories of exchange students.

1. Dated a Dutch exchange student in high school. That was fun.

2. A friend was an exchange student and fell in love while abroad. Several years later, she wound up marrying him and they've been married a few decades now. I'd say that was a successful exchange.

3. Back in the early 80s, when girls still wore all their underwear, an exchange student arrived from Denmark with no bras and just a few pair of panties. She also brought only swimsuit BOTTOMS. Apparently, the host daughter was helping her unpack and noticed the omissions. She told her mom and the host mom quickly took the exchange student shopping at good old JCPenney to stock up on undies and TWO piece bathing suits.

 

[karenbaco]

Thanks everyone!!!

I have been in touch with 2 exchange companies. ASF and YFU. I have a girl on hold from Germany and one from Norway. Not yet which girl will end up here but I am really excited. My only gripe is having to pay for their school lunch, that is going to get costly!! Hope its a great match for both of us

 

[MAGGIED]

We hosted a young lady from Chili... through Rotary..... that was about 6 years ago and we still keep in contact... for Christmas that year we gave the children (we have two of our own) a week long trip to Disney..... we cleared it with her parents and Rotary first of course since we were getting on a plane and traveling.... OMG she was so excited.... it was during the time when they were still doing the Pirate and Princess Party..... it was great.... such a worthwhile experience.

 

[MAGGIED]

Thanks everyone!!!

I have been in touch with 2 exchange companies. ASF and YFU. I have a girl on hold from Germany and one from Norway. Not yet which girl will end up here but I am really excited. My only gripe is having to pay for their school lunch, that is going to get costly!! Hope its a great match for both of us

We treated our exchange student just like she was one of our children.... for birthdays, Christmas, all holidays.... she received what our children did.... was it a little more expensive... yes but she was part of the family.... if your worried about the cost of school lunches maybe you should reconsider.... not trying to be a jerk... but these kids travel from far away and what they need is to be made to be part of the family..... honestly what we spent is insignificant to the rewards we got back from having her with us.

 

[aprilchem]

My family hosted three exchange students (each for a full year) when I was in high school. One was from Germany, one was from Sweden, and one was from France. Two of them (Germany and France) were great experiences - I've visited our exchange student from France many, many times (probably more than 10) and we've remained close friends.

The exchange student from Sweden was not so successful - my parents almost sent her home several times during the year. She was disrespectful to my parents, sneaked around with boys, bullied my sister and I, etc. We totally lost touch with her after she went home, but I randomly ran into her (at a funeral, of all things) once when I was in college about 5 years later. She had moved back to the US and was living in the next state, probably 150 miles from my house. Since then I have no idea where she is.

 

[Green Tea]

Thanks everyone!!!

I have been in touch with 2 exchange companies. ASF and YFU. I have a girl on hold from Germany and one from Norway. Not yet which girl will end up here but I am really excited. My only gripe is having to pay for their school lunch, that is going to get costly!! Hope its a great match for both of us

I have worked with two programs. With both, the school lunch was technically the responsibility of the student. When I hosted I packed for her as well as as my own child. The program I worked for, the cost of the school lunch was also stated stated as the student's responsibility. Other meals were the cost of the family.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My sister hosted a Chinese girl a couple years back. She was actually not getting along with her original host family (basically using her as free maid/babysitting service), and then my sister's family took over.

Honerstly, they had a ball with her. Super nice kid & we all still keep in touch with her via FB.

 

[MAJPLO]

we treated our exchange student just like she was one of our children.... For birthdays, christmas, all holidays.... She received what our children did.... Was it a little more expensive... Yes but she was part of the family.... If your worried about the cost of school lunches maybe you should reconsider.... Not trying to be a jerk... But these kids travel from far away and what they need is to be made to be part of the family..... Honestly what we spent is insignificant to the rewards we got back from having her with us.

+1

 

[NinaBella]

I have considered hosting an exchange student. I have a 5-bedroom home but my two oldest children (20 and 22) are still living at home. Once they move out of our home, I will look into it more. I would want to provide the student their own room. I also would like the student to be a similar age to my two younger children who are currently 11 and 12, so we have a few more years to research options for when the kids are in high school.

Has anyone specified a country? I have lived in Korea 5.5 years and my step-mom and her daughters are Korean. I would love to host a Korean student. I am aware they want to be emerged into American Culture, but I would also like to be familiar with their culture. When I lived in Korea I use to volunteer at a Korean preschool teaching English and loved it. I also use to volunteer at Korean group foster homes.

 

[elphaba91]

We hosted two French exchange student, and it wasn't a particularly pleasant experience either time. We provided them with a lot in terms of food (man, those girls could eat!) and entertainment and they were not at all appreciative. They didn't really contribute at all to household chores (we weren't expecting them to become a live-in maid, but unloading the dishwasher once in awhile would have been nice). They also didn't help me at all with my French. Neither stayed in contact.

The first girl unfortunately spent a lot of time hanging out with my friend's French exchange student, which would be fine except that she was not a good influence at all. They didn't like the school rules (and the lack of a special smoking room apparently?!) and I think they skipped a lot of classes, pretending they were going to art or drama with another student instead of maths with me. It didn't help that the only thing we had in common was that her parents were also divorced. To be honest, based on her experience, I don't know why anyone from France would come to Australia (or vice versa) as everything was apparently 'the same' - even the gum trees! As she and her sister had done several exchanges and school trips over the past few years I don't know if it was something she really wanted to do or just her parents wanting to get rid of the kids for the summer.

I actually knew the second girl before she came. She had stayed with a friend of mine the year before and we had all loved her, so when she said she wanted to come again I begged my mum to let her stay with us. My friend was actually from New Zealand and she and her sister were living in Australia with their aunt and uncle, who were paying their school fees. Funnily enough, about a week after the French exchange student left, there was a major blow up and the girls moved back to New Zealand two days later. I suspect that the way the aunt and uncle worshipped the exchange student may have been a factor in the fight. Everything we did was apparently inferior to the way the aunt did things - even the entrance to the market I took her through! It was probably better than the first girl, but still not great.

On the other hand, some of my friends have had great experiences with exchange students and are still in contact and visit each other years later and are even invited to weddings on the other side of the world!

 

[karenbaco]

Change of plans.......I now am possibly getting a cute little girl from Thailand