It’s coming to the end of the year and some students may be leaving or some students may be heading home just for the winter break. Either way, when it’s time to drag the luggage out and dust off that passport, we need to start thinking about our pre-departure rituals. What is it like when your student finally leaves? What strategies are you going to put into place when it comes to saying goodbye?
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?
Culture shock can come in many different forms, not just language for international students. From food, to hygiene, and even the way people dress. It’s not about what each culture is doing right or wrong, but about how things are done and are acceptable in different countries.
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.
This is part two of our conversation with Jennifer Wilson, the Managing Director of the Canada Homestay Network. As relationship experts, they are not only working with you as a homestay host, but also juggling relationships with agencies, student’s parents, and of course, the students themselves. However, in this episode, we hear how Jennifer’s role reverses by sharing her experience of being a parent sending her daughter to study abroad. Plus, we discuss the future of the homestay industry, and dive more into common issues that hosts might navigate through during their homestay hosting journey.
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.
Homestay families can be any structure you can think of. Older couples with room in their home, singles, parents with or without kids; as long as you have a spare room and are welcoming to people into your home, you can host! However, if you have kids, hosting students can really be a way to include teachable moments for your own children.
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.
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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