My family has hosted two exchange students. What is an exchange student? Itâ?Ts a student from a different country that signs up with a program to go and study in another country. The hope is that by immersing themselves in the host country they will become fluent in the host country language and benefit from the school system there.
Our first exchange student was from Spain. She knew english but wanted to become fluent enough to watch a movie and understand everything about the movie. When she got to our home she was so overwhelmed that we could see her eyes glaze over about halfway through dinner. She Skypeâ?Td with her family almost every day, but over the course of the school year she improved. She became part of our family, so much so that our daughter went over and visited with her and her family in Spain for Christmas one year, and then the rest of us went and visited with her and her family another year. I still consider them part of my family.
Our second exchange student was from China. He did not integrate into our family. He was very aloof and separate, hiding a superior attitude behind shyness. He was online all the time, watching Japanese anime. At one point he even said he struggled with english because he â?ospoke anime languageâ?. Our experience was disappointing.
I like the exchange student program. It has allowed us to bring the world into our home and weâ?Tve learned a lot. Weâ?Tve made lifelong connections and hope that we were able to help them as much as we benefitted and learned from them.
If you are at all interested in it I highly recommend hosting an exchange student. It helps spread the American way in ways that we normally canâ?Tt. And it fosters an understanding here of what their countries are like. Good stuff!
