Helllllloooooo! Long time no chat! We were scheduled to come back in early March and then the pandemic struck. Now we are all physically distancing and staying at home, so the Homestay Kitchen had to re-work our podcasting schedule to fit our new routine. In the meantime, we thought we’d check in with you. How are you doing?
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?
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?
So what defines a short term student and a long term student? Mary defined a short term student as being anywhere less than 6 months, but after she said that (and even after we finished recording this episode), we were still debating what differentiated a long term student from a short term student. Any way you look at it, hosting short term students and long term students can be very different experiences. In this episode, Mary and Erin go toe to toe on the pros and cons of hosting long term students versus short term students.
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.
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.
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