Boundaries. We’ve all got them or we should all have some in place. There are limits and rules to all sorts of things during a homestay experience. Boundaries around the house, food, laundry, safety issues, and even personal boundaries. What are they and how can we enforce them?
At one point or another, whether you as the host knows it or not, your student will get homesick. Sometimes it’ll show through their emotions or difference in actions. Or sometimes, it only happens when they are hidden away in their rooms, when the lights are out trying to fall asleep. When do you intervene and what do you do to alleviate homesickness?
In today’s episode, Erin had work to do, so Mary got to chat with Jennifer Longworth from Lexington, Kentucky. A new host parent who’s only hosted a total of 3 times for very short periods and all from Japan. We talk through what it’s like to be a very new host and what were some of the most surprising aspects of hosting. And it wouldn’t be right to talk to our fellow neighbours to the south without pointing out a couple of differences from our countries, like hockey for us and southern food for her.
How do you meal prep for your students? What do you incorporate into your meal plans for them? Food is a big factor when it comes to homestay experiences. Not only the culture of different foods to eat and explore, but also how we eat and when.
One of the major challenges of hosting international students is to navigate the language barrier. Communication is key to any relationship, so how do you have the confidence to speak your mind when your student doesn’t speak your language? At times you need to be fearless and in today’s episode we chat with Heather Thompson who shares this grit with a side of humour.
In today’s episode, we chat with Tatiana Robertson, whom Erin crowned the Master Host Mom, not once, but twice in our conversation. When you decide to host international students in your home, we know it’s not an easy decision, especially if this is your first time.
What are some of your favourite things? Things to indulge in, to keep you calm, or things that you love and won’t give up. What can’t you live without?
In this episode, we go through some of our favourite things. Whether they are student-related or personally loved by us, we share what keeps our hearts-a-flutter. Full disclosure, there’s a lot of food-related items. So get to know us and then let us know if you love the same things. Or if you have something that we need to know about. Maybe one of our future favourite things is actually one of yours that we don’t know about yet. So please let us know what you love to keep your life buzzing. Email us or find us on Instagram! We’d love to know. Thanks!
How do you build a successful relationship with homestay students? You ask the experts. In this episode, we chat with Jennifer Wilson, the Managing Director of the Canada Homestay Network. As a second-generation leader of the Canada Homestay Network, Jennifer is passionate about creating opportunities for building relationships and believes that homestay offers a unique opportunity for all of us to break down cultural barriers and make the world a smaller place.
Today, we chat with Dean Fox, a veteran homestay host with his wife and two kids. Dean shares with us his perspective of being a homestay Dad with a very practical and matter of fact frame of mind. He describes how miscommunication can happen even when no words are being used and how his family even vacationed to Disneyland with another student.
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.
Recent Comments