How to Find and Live With a Foreign Exchange Student

More and more foreign exchange students want to come to the states and they all need a place to live. If you own your own home, hosting a foreign exchange student can be an enriching experience.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. FINDING THE STUDENT
   1) Advertise on Craig's List.
   2) Go through a local agency.
   3) Go to your local community college or University.

2. SET UP AN IN PERSON INTERVIEW
   It's important to know you can live with this person as you would with any roommate. If you are going through an agency, issues around getting payment on time and background checks will not be an issue. If you go without an agency, be sure to get some references and check them out ahead of time. Also, get a list of questions prepared in advance. Issues around when rent is due, chores, privacy, shared areas of the home, and expectations such as purchasing food together or separately should be dealt with up front. During the interview, see how the student interacts with your children, if you have them. Also use your intuition. Finally, how does this he/she present themselves? Are they neat and organized? or not? Only you can decide what you are willing to live with.

3. EXPECT THERE TO BE SOME LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL BARRIERS
   Depending on the student's fluency in English there will be issues with misunderstandings in terms of language. In addition there will be cultural differences that will be an adjustment for your student. Do your best to be flexible and help him/her bridge the gap by explaining why things are a certain way in our country. Be empathetic. Never poke fun at their way of doing things.

4. SHARE MEALS
   The best way to get to know more about your student is to share meals. This is often a mandatory part of the exchange if you go through an agency. But if not, it's a great way to learn about each other. You can cook an American style meal and then ask if he/she is willing to cook or share recipes from their country.

5. SHARE EXPERIENCES
   If they are open to it, take the student to the places in your town that are memorable. Take them food shopping to help them navigate the funny foods or packaging that are likely to be different than what they are used to.

6. GET THEIR E-MAIL ADDRESS
   Since you've established a relationship with your student, you may want to stay in touch after they leave so you can visit them in their home country.

[dawnzlight]

on 11/12/2007 Funny that I just came across this article, someone was just telling me about them doing this, and I used to be involved in AFS in High school.. Thank you! Going to look into it now :)