Episodes

Episode 27: Homestay Family Mindset with Jodi Johl

Being a homestay parent comes with many challenges and rewards. If you are new to hosting or considering taking on this gratifying experience, you’ll want to listen to our chat with seasoned host parent, Jodi Johl.

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Episode 26: Top 5 Things To Not Do as a Homestay Parent

This episode about what not to do as a homestay parent has a lot of laughter. Not because the subject matter isn’t serious, but because humour boots creativity and problem-solving. Laughter encourages risk-taking and develops thinking skills that we use to analyze situations to create more positive outcomes for you as a host and your student’s experience.

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Episode 25: Food Culture and Improving Your Food Relationship with Carla Beer-Carpenter

Food brings people together, but what if food becomes a barrier? Eating disorders are mental health issues and some students arrive with a negative dependency on food, without you even noticing. So what are the clues? Today, we chat with Carla Beer-Carpenter, a registered dietitian for almost 30 years with a passion for helping people improve their relationship with food while working towards their health and nutrition goals.

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Episode 24: Financial Reality of Hosting Homestay Students

Okay let’s get real. One of the top or main reasons families participate in a homestay program is so that they can make some money or at least they think they can. Heck, it’s why we both started looking into the opportunity for our own families. However, over time it becomes more than that.

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Episode 23: Positivity, an Open Heart, and Hosting in Toronto with Rosalyn Benatar

How do your intentions bring out the best in your family to have a successful homestay experience? What differences do the big city of Toronto and the west coast of Canada provide to an international student? In this episode, we chat with Rosalyn Benatar, a recent transplant from Toronto to Victoria, BC. 

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Episode 22: Parenting and Being a Mom to International Students for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day, in North America where we are and in a large portion of the world, is May 12th. To mark this occasion, we give examples of how we mother our international students… Or not. It really depends on the situation, the student’s needs, and your own parenting views. Whether you actually have your own kids or not, you are still a homestay parent and this comes with some responsibility.

In this episode, we share our stories of Erin’s way vs. Mary’s way, of being a homestay Mom and the unexpected journeys it can take us on.

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Episode 21: Awkwardness and Complexities of English Language and Communication

In this episode, we get into the difficulties of learning English and how you need to see the humour in embarrassing situations. When your student enunciates a word differently, this could result in miscommunication. We provide plenty of examples of how saying a word slightly different can lead to some very awkward situations. But we do it all in stride with plenty of self-deprecating humour.

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Episode 20: Top 5 Reasons to Host an International Student

In this episode, we share our top 5 reasons for hosting an international student. There are so many points, but these 5 things are the core of what we do and love. They encompass our own personal values and how those desires play a significant role in our everyday lives.

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Episode 19: Creativity and Curiosity for Learning English with Greg Demmons From Real English Victoria

What happens when you open up your curiosity as a student or as a homestay parent? Education is essentially curiosity. We love this perspective from our guest on the show today. We really enjoyed our chat with Greg Demmons, who currently serves as the Vice-President of the Co-op Board and the original founder of Real English Victoria.

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Episode 18: Rest for Productivity

And we’re back! Thanks for listening to the show and being so patient waiting for new episodes. In this episode, we go through what happened and why we (mostly Mary) needed this unexpected break. In these moments, Mary realized how important rest is and wanted to share how this impacted the arrival of her sister’s student. Mary gives tips on watching out for signs of burnout and what you can do for yourself to get some self care and rest.

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