Hosting Tips

Welcoming a student into your home is an enriching experience that fosters cultural exchange and builds lifelong connections. However, it also comes with a set of responsibilities and preparations to ensure a smooth transition for both the host family and the student. This guide will walk you through essential hosting tips, from administrative tasks that safeguard your liability to creating a warm and inviting environment for your student. By familiarizing yourself with the Host Family Code of Conduct, preparing a comfortable living space, and setting clear expectations, you can provide a supportive and nurturing experience.

Once your student arrives, staying engaged and recognizing cultural differences are key to fostering a positive relationship. Actively involve yourself in their school and home life, while respecting their need for space. Be sensitive to their communication styles and offer support through potential culture shock, which can manifest in various forms and at different times. By being patient, listening, and offering resources, you can help your student navigate their new environment.

After your student has settled, continue to stay connected with their school and other host families, and exercise patience and perseverance in overcoming challenges. Establish mutual expectations early on and discuss important topics such as computer use, family interactions, and emergency plans. By following these guidelines, you can ensure a rewarding and successful hosting experience for both you and your student.

Administrative Responsibilities

Have all your due diligence in place when it comes to paperwork, contracts and training. It can seem like a lot of work at times, but it is crucial to protect your liability.

Review

Re-familiarize yourself with the Host Family Code of Conduct.  Even experienced Hosts forget things sometimes.

Prepare for your student

Prepare your student’s room. A good practice is to put yourself in their shoes. Imagine what kind of room you would like as a young person, travelling thousands of miles to come live in a new country. Aim to create a clean, inviting, and homey space for them. Preparing a small welcome basket is a nice gesture.  You might include bottled water; some small snacks or treats; a welcome note; a Canadian Flag; a map of the Comox Valley; a house key or code, and your wifi password.

Prepare and print your house rules and expectations.  Pro Tip: consider translating them into your student’s native language.

Familiarize yourself with their school schedule and calendar. Students may be very overwhelmed at the beginning. You can help them understand what to expect and guide them along the way.

House Tour

Give your student a tour of the house. Make them feel at home by showing them more than their bedroom and the bathroom. They may be unfamiliar with how your appliances work and need help with small details, like where toilet paper or clean towels are. Show them how things work.  Showers, toilets, faucets and appliances function differently in other countries.

Lay out Rules & Expectations

Talk about your rules and expectations. As with all young people, your student may not keep to all your rules perfectly. Setting expectations from the beginning helps and can be a conversation to revisit in the future if required.

Offer Encouragement

Encourage your student to speak. Helping your student speak English could help them feel more confident and involved, as they adapt to their new surroundings.

Be flexible

Your student may need some time to adjust to different types of food. Be patient with them if needed, as they will be dealing with multiple cultural differences. It may take time at first for them to adjust to a new diet and the types of food your family eats.

Allow Rest

You may be excited to take your student sightseeing to all your favourite places or introduce them to your friends. Try to take it easy in the beginning as they may be jet lagged and overwhelmed by all their new surroundings. Give them time to rest and get settled.

Stay engaged

Some students will be talkative and eager to join you and your family in whatever you do. Some students will be far less outgoing, so, do your best to stay involved in their school and home life, while still respecting their need for space. Keep inviting them to join your family outings, they may just need time to warm up to your family.

Recognize that cultural differences matter

Different cultures express things like disagreements or requests in different ways. Remember that there may be different communication styles in play. Also, be sensitive to the fact that your student might be too embarrassed or intimidated to share what they really think.

Support through Culture Shock

Culture shock can affect students at different times and in various situations.  Students can experience it right away or months after their arrival. The timing and intensity of culture shock can vary based on personal experiences, support systems, and individual resilience.

Watch for signs of culture shock:

  • Changes in Behavior: Become more withdrawn, irritable, or upset.
  • Complaining About the New Environment: Constantly talking about how things are better back home.
  • Avoiding Social Activities: Not wanting to hang out or participate in school, community, or family activities or events.
  • Physical Complaints: Mentioning frequent headaches or feeling sick.

How to Support Your Student Going Through Culture Shock

  1. Be Patient: Understand that adjusting to a new culture takes time.  Be patient with your student.
  2. Listen: Offer a listening ear and let your student talk about their feelings and experiences.
  3. Include Them: Invite them to join you in activities and introduce them to your friends.
  4. Share Resources: If you know of clubs, events, or support groups, share this information with your student.
  5. Encourage Exploration: Suggest fun and interesting things to do in the community or school.
  6. Check In Regularly: Keep in touch and check in on how they are doing, showing that you care.

Reach out if you need help.

Our Program Emergency number after 5 pm or Weekends/Holidays is 1.250.703.6938.  

Stay connected

with your student’s school, and help your student contact teachers or tutors if they need extra help. If possible connect with other host families, they may have some great suggestions from their previous experiences.

Exercise Patience & Perseverance

No matter how great a student or a host family is, challenges are always possible. When miscommunications arise you can help get all of you through it by being patient and continuing to work at the relationship so that things keep moving forward.

Create Emergency Plans

Go over an emergency escape plan with your student

Mutual Expectations

Early in the homestay, have a conversation with your student about expectations (yours and the student’s).

Topics to Discuss

Reach a mutual agreement about the amount of computer use and telephone time the student can have.

Discuss how much interaction the student and the family will have and the kinds of activities in which you will participate together.

Discuss these issues regularly. Situations change as the student’s understanding of our culture develops and as their English improves.

Provide list of all family members. Make sure the students has these numbers

Explain how 911 works for emergencies

Show student how to get to school.

Show student bus stops and local amenities (i.e tour of library, recreation facilities, shopping etc)

Help the student to set up a bank account if needed.

Show the student where to unpack their belongings