What it Takes to Host:
Hosting a student can be an extremely rewarding experience for everyone
in the family, yet it is a role that requires a lot of responsibility. Host families
are to meet the following expectations:
Before the Student Arrives
- Host families participate in training and orientation sessions offered by ISE.
- Establish communication with the student.
- Understand the program rules that the student must follow.
- Know how to contact ISE or their Representatives involved in Youth Exchange and community services in case of an emergency.
During the Exchange
- Provide a safe and welcoming environment for trust and friendship to develop between the student and your family.
- Support and make the student feel like a part of the family, with the same privileges and obligations.
- Gently encourage the student to learn and adopt most of the ways of your household.
- Provide room and board for the student. All students must have their own bed. If the student must share a room, it should be with a child of the same gender and similar age.
- Provide a place in the home where the student may study in private.
- Recognize the student's birthday and other special occasions.
- Ensure the student knows how to contact family members, friends, and other support networks.
- In case of an emergency, know how to access and use the student's travel insurance policy.
- Voice any concerns and questions regarding the student to the Rotarian host counselor, including serious homesickness, difficulty adapting to family life or school, or illness.
- Maintain close contact with the host club, and address problems and concerns quickly.
- Exercise supervisory and parental responsibility to ensure the student's well being.
- Encourage involvement in community life by introducing the student to neighbors, friends, and local groups.
- Teach the student about the local culture, and learn about the student's culture.
- Advise the student about matters related to school, family, community
The "hosting experience" strengthens the family through increased interaction among family members. The addition of the new extended family member enhances the family setting and improves mutual respect as a family.
What is a Host Family:
A host family is a vital part of the cultural exchange, immersing the student in a variety of activities while in the host country. The host family plays a large role in offering the student a view of another country and gains the opportunity to learn about a new culture from a young leader. Hosting is a tremendous experience in which you can share in a young person's hopes and dreams and develop a lifelong connection with a student and family from another country. It can be challenge to help a young person transition to a new culture and ease into their surroundings but the rewards are immeasurable.
Who Can Host:
Host families represent the diversity of American culture. Host families are of varied economic, religious and racial backgrounds and include working parents, couples without children, singles and single parents, adoptive parents, and empty nesters. Host families live in all 50 states of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. You don't need to have teenagers to host – you can host if you have young children, adult children, or no children at all. If yours is a non-traditional household interested in sharing your home with a foreign exchange scholarship student, ISE will consider your application to host following special selection procedures.
Open your Heart and Home for Peace and Understanding – Become a Host Family
