Hosting Foreign Students
Written by: Richard Corcoran
Why do families host students? Have they lost their minds? Having a perfect stranger come from another country, or even another continent, come and live in our house?
Absolutely. There are many benefits to hosting an exchange student. Look at some of them, and you may be willing to give it a try. You may be so happy with the experience that you do it again, possibly several times.
We first hosted a student back in the eighties. The main reason then was that it worked on a quid pro quo basis. We took in a student, so a member of our family got to go to another country as a student. This is quite common with many exchange programs, but not the only way to go. We were thrilled with the experience and volunteered to host several times after that. Some were reciprocal, some were not, but all were a blast.
What exactly made it so much fun? The first time there was a lot of excitement because it would be on a reciprocal basis. But this provided a unique opportunity for the entire family, not just the one person who would be traveling. We all got to learn about another culture. We got to sample food that we may have never tried before. We got to hear other languages and dialects, to think in different ways and from other perspectives. In this particular case, we got a chance to understand the culture of the ancestry of one side of the family.
Hosting an exchange student allows the entire family the ability to vicariously experience a little bit of the fantastic experience of traveling to another country. This is a great boon to those who can't travel because of work obligations, poor health, or that it may be cost prohibitive for the entire family. Hosting a student allows you to take advantage of economies of scale. This is an opportunity for parents to experience something that may not have been available to them before. It's a great opportunity for the family to get exposure to another culture, and to get those who do plan on traveling into the right mindset of accepting new things. Think of it as not as fostering a child, but fostering open minds.
When a student comes to your home, it's on your terms. The rules of your home apply. Your schedule is the deciding factor. Very few are going to do anything so bad that they might need to be sent home. A lot of work goes into finding, getting, and affording the opportunity to study abroad. The vast majority realize that and will behave accordingly. They recognize this as a fantastic opportunity that they have been given.
Once you've done it, so will you.
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