Hosting a foreign student

[JeanneAdil 6,681]

my family has hosted many foreign students

Mom and dad hosted 3 from Ecuador,  Chile and San Salvador

My brother and his wife hosted one from Japan

My niece now has a student from Spain 

I am thinking to go thru the Rotary Club to host one /club chooses the student and country

 

Seriously this is an experience that has enriched our family and led us to understand the diversity of several cultures and i recommend it to any of u that would be willing to participate

 

An example of one thing bought out and explained was from the Japanese girl who didn't want to go home as she would have to begin her studies on Japanese history

my nieces didn't understand the issue until we explained "in US we have just over 200 years to learn about USA/  in Japan the history goes back to 30,000 and the Jomon people who started a recorded history of Japan "   big difference

 

Mom and Dad visited Chile family

mom ,  my sister and I visited the family from Ecuador many times and them here

the Japanese girl came to my niece's wedding and than a funeral for my brother

 

These people are family  now

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

I had an ex boyfriend who had been a rotary exchange student (in the US) and kept in close contact with his host families, I am not sure if it still the same but he had 3 over a year (same town/school). I think when my younger kid starts high school next year we may look into hosting.
Questions if you know the answers perhaps -  1. my ex ‘s host families all had kids the same or similar ages to him, do you think that is necessary?  2. Does Rotary choose the destination town and then look for a host or do they allocate according to who is prepared to host? 3. Were your hosted students all in high school or were there older kids?

 

Thanks for raising this as a topic, something I have thought about from time to time.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

I did a little reading. Rotary is a 3-5 month period, AFS can be one or two semesters. 

[JeanneAdil 6,681]

Program is for students 15-19 

thru the Rotary they stay with several different families

and i am part of 4 families here that would share 1 student to give that person a chance for living in different family situations

my mom and dad were grandparents and had no kids left at home when they hosted the 3

 

AFS you can host one student for a year-that's the one my family went thru

there are several other agencies to go thru including several Christain agencies

 

my niece specifically asked for a girl same age as her daughter

i would be ok with any age from any country 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

We would not be wanting a religion based one. Seems like rotary or AFS are the way to go depending on what time frame we think would suit us best.