We are hosting a teen right now. She showed no interest in anyone we introduced her. Tons of teenagers that we know and she said she didn’t have anything in common with them. She made friends with only kids from her own country. She pushed and not obeyed any curfews. Very rude to us and kids. Rejected all information so she can have initiative in things. Also she feels she does too much at home, and we just ask her to clean up after herself and clean up dinner dishes. I think one thing exchange students NEED to learn before going anywhere, is that they need to respect the home and know that there are different rules in place. It took a lot of talking and stress to get to the point that we can finish the school year.
I have myriad rules for my students, but all boil down to one thing - ‘Respect”. This means self-respect, respect for classmates, respect for property, and respect for us as HF. Most boundaries are self-evident. My wife and I treat our students just as we did our natural children. We expect to meet the parents of our student’s friends if they will be in their homes. We expect to know where are students are, what their schedules are, etc. Our students know that we are only a phone call away, and will always be available if needed. We support them in all their extracurricular activities, sports, etc. We facilitate their journey into American HS culture and pieces of the American dream. As much as they learn from us, our friends and family, and their newly acquired friends and classmates; we learn from them. For many in our local schools who may never leave the area the exposure to these International Students whets their appetite to travel, to explore, to become better citizens of the world. So before each of our students leave I make sure they know how thankful we are that they chose us to live with during their exchange year…. as we are the better for the experience, too.
My wife and I are in our second year of hosting. Your videos have been helpful with recognizing and dealing with some of the things our new student is going through.
Thank you you have no idea what this means to me! That is exactly why I am doing these videos! If there are any specific issues you and your student are dealing with, please let me know. I am always happy to share my perspective on things as I am sure many others will go through something similar
@@honey27003 You're very welcome...... As my wife and I have no children of our own we looked at hosting as a great way to experience parenthood. Our experience has been very good so far(this is our 2nd time). However, I do have something maybe you could offer some advice about. Our daughter (we like to refer to her like and she gets a kick out of it) is from Norway and is very outgoing, friendly, active, very pretty and is really embracing her experience so far. My concerns are about all the male attention she is getting so far. As you stated in earlier videos this is bound to happen. Being the "dad" it's obviously hard to talk about this with her. I just don't want her experience to be ruined because of some poor choices or even getting caught up in the rumor mill. Like you were, we are in a small town, not quite as conservative as Texas, and you obviously know how things go. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, and keep up the good work!!!
@@justinstiltner5706 Thank you so much! I will definitely make an advice video for how to deal with people of the opposite sex while abroad. But just to let you know: what she is experiencing is totally normal. All of the guys get really excited about girls from far away places especially in small towns. All of that attention dies down after a little while and I am sure she will make good decisions. And remember it is normal for teens to have crushes and even get their hearts broken so all you can do is have conservations about it with her and make sure she knows she can always come to you if she finds herself in uncomfortable situations.
@@honey27003 Thanks again for the good advice and words of wisdom. I guess open and honest communication will be the one of the big keys to making this experience amazing.
I find it cool that in some countries, language classes at school really work lol, like, here in Brazil, We learn the To Be verb, since the first year of the fundamental school, til the Last day of High-School lol. I mean, the teachers try to teach more, but most people forget like, at the same day, and the classes just focus on getting good grades at the test
I’m enjoying your videos! In case you haven’t done one on this subject yet, I suggest making one for potential exchange students concerning their application/profile that potential host families. Strongly suggest being completely honest with their likes and dislikes, interests, etc. Don’t answer questions with what you think families want to read just so you can be chosen. It will hurt in the long run if, for example, you say you love sports and the outdoors but then when you are in their home, you admit or show that you honestly do not like playing or watching sports, being outside doing outdoor activities. This happened to us and our student blamed us for not working with her to do what she liked to do, which was going to the city to go shopping. There is much more to our experience but this was a big huge factor to how frustrating our experience was with our student.
Thank you for all your videos. It definitely will help others wanting to do an exchange year. I've been a host family for many years. I'm glad to hear how I've checked the boxes with things I've had done and how I can improve.
Great to hear! I am so glad you have repeatedly decided to be a host family. It's people like you who make all of this possible. Thank you for that! Also if you find that I missed an important topic that should definitely be talked about, please let me know!
Yea, even though our country is very small it has lots of beautiful parts. Even I need to explore it more. If you are serious about waning to spend some time here, I am sure there are ways
You are such a dear for making this video! So very helpful for me. We have bought a very rural, and large house with 8 acres and will be moving around the 1st of October, so this year is not really doable for exchange hosting. Next August will be good though. (My 1st grade daughter's private Christian school has an exchange program they work with, and a donor who pays their school tuition!) A couple other questions if I may... What did you learn about American culture, and how did that reality differ from your expectations or movie stereotypes? Regrets are something everyone lives with, and generally take two forms: something you didn't do that you wish you had, or, something you did that you wish you hadn't. Any regrets from your time in Texas? Frankly, I find it amazing that many young people hang themselves out like this (doing an exchange year); it takes courage to do so. This all reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt's speech "Citizen of the Republic" speech and his very famous "Man in the Arena" quote. (I'll leave you to look that quote up, it is worth reading) Kids who desire to undertake this adventure are deserving of some support; this seems a worthwhile arena to step into...
Thank you so much! Again, very interesting questions that I will definitely be talking about in an upcoming video! It is funny because I honestly feel like the High School Musical trilogy played a huge part in me choosing the USA as the country I wanted to live in for a while.
And it's totally understandable that you don#t want to take in an exchange student at the moment. The house stuff is probably more than enough to deal with right now. But when the time comes, I am sure both parties are gonna have a great experience!
@@honey27003 Thanks, things are very busy right now, with house showings happening at random. Since we still live in our current house, it's always a stressful rush to get things straightened up for a showing. Two adults, one child and one dog, always tons to do. We should close in about two weeks on the new house, then we get Occupancy in 30 days. So we can't move until beginning of October. And we have to complete the sale of this house and go thru all of that too. I could not put an exchange student through the stress and craziness of moving. And so an exchange student is deferred until next year. Well, the lower level of the new house has 9' ceilings (2.74meters), a fireplace, two LARGE bedrooms, a full bath, seperate laundry room and central family room. Our daughter will have one room and the other bedroom I once thought might be an office for me, since the actual upstairs office will be my wife's music room. Well, I think that 2nd lower bedroom will be better used by some German girl on an exchange year. Life is all about choices and opportunity costs; I'd rather give an exchange student a chance in America than to have a seperate office for myself.
@@Elizabeth-fy3ud That's some serious allegations. Do you have actual first hand knowledge, or just hearsay? Any actual specifics, like which program and which areas? Actual experience and first hand knowledge lends credibility; your comment was bereft of first-person details.
Hi Laura, remember when making videos aimed at future exchange students : their listening isn't ready for 100% speed Laura. You have to slow down so they don't have to watch you at 50/75%
That's a very good point. I will try and remember that. Although I must say I hated it when people spoke slowly to me. It always made me feel like they didn't believe I was capable of understanding them at a normal speed
We have our very first exchange student this year. She is from Spain 🇪🇸 she is such a sweet girl. Did you have a hard time adjusting to the American food? What did you do then?
That's amazing! I met a lot of lovely exchange students from Spain. Which state do you live in? I think I might talk about your questions in a part two of this video or a general Q&A video soon if it's alright with you. It's such a good one!
@@Lovelymargs It's probably not going to be in my very next video as I have some videos pre-filmed but I will talk about it as soon as I can. Georgia sounds great, I bet you have some lovely food options for your exchange student there
@@honey27003 Well, we have introduced her to the American food or what you call it the southern food. We have taken her to different restaurants but it seems like she didn’t like it. She told us that she did like it but I can tell that she doesn’t really like it. I have told her to tell us upfront if she doesn’t like it, it won't hurt our feelings.
@@Lovelymargs hmmm maybe she shows her love of food differently. Sometimes there could be cultural differences. I know most countries aren't as obvious about showing that they like something as the U.S. is. Also, portions in the U.S. are a lot bigger than in most European countries so don't worry if she doesn't eat up. Or maybe she is just a bit shy in general and it will take some more warming up. In case she actually doesn't like it, I think it will just take some time for you guys to figure out what works best for her and for her to warm up enough to tell you when she doesn't like something. Unless it's actually health or allergy related I don't think it's something to worry about. You will figure it out as the time passes.
2:51 it’s so great that your host family let you to close your door!! I know it seems to be something little but I used to stay in a host family that they would never let me to close my door unless I’m changing. It was a not too good experience I could say but I’m still grateful that they provided me a room with my little area🤍
Every family has different rules but personally, I would have felt very uncomfortable if I had to keep my door open at all times. I wonder what they think you are doing just because the door is closed? If anything makes you feel uncomfortable I think it's best to just have an open conversation about it with your host family
@@honey27003 yea! I’ve talked to them before but they thought I would do something bad or something I shouldn’t be doing as a teenager. I guess it’s just their rules and their way of parenting. I felt very uncomfortable as they looked into my room and checked what I’m doing however I really need some privacy. Anyways I found out things couldn’t work so I decided to change my host family after living with them for a year. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in this journal in America. I have to say that the relationship between host families and exchange students are very special and things might not worked out sometimes. I can say things work way better now after getting a new host family and it doesn’t hurt to give it a try (on getting a new host family!
The AC is a challenge sometimes when all doors are closed as there is no return circulation. The counter point our family dogs find a room full of strange smells very enticing. We respect our students and trust that they are of good character. So, closed doors are okay, but if they want the room to be as cool as it could be they may want to leave the door ajar.
We are hosting a teen right now. She showed no interest in anyone we introduced her. Tons of teenagers that we know and she said she didn’t have anything in common with them. She made friends with only kids from her own country. She pushed and not obeyed any curfews. Very rude to us and kids. Rejected all information so she can have initiative in things. Also she feels she does too much at home, and we just ask her to clean up after herself and clean up dinner dishes. I think one thing exchange students NEED to learn before going anywhere, is that they need to respect the home and know that there are different rules in place. It took a lot of talking and stress to get to the point that we can finish the school year.
I watch your videos because we were a host family last year, and this year we are hosting a young girl from Germany :-)
That's amazing! I am sure she is going to have a great time. I hope she brings you some german chocolate.
I have myriad rules for my students, but all boil down to one thing - ‘Respect”. This means self-respect, respect for classmates, respect for property, and respect for us as HF. Most boundaries are self-evident. My wife and I treat our students just as we did our natural children. We expect to meet the parents of our student’s friends if they will be in their homes. We expect to know where are students are, what their schedules are, etc. Our students know that we are only a phone call away, and will always be available if needed. We support them in all their extracurricular activities, sports, etc. We facilitate their journey into American HS culture and pieces of the American dream. As much as they learn from us, our friends and family, and their newly acquired friends and classmates; we learn from them. For many in our local schools who may never leave the area the exposure to these International Students whets their appetite to travel, to explore, to become better citizens of the world. So before each of our students leave I make sure they know how thankful we are that they chose us to live with during their exchange year…. as we are the better for the experience, too.
My wife and I are in our second year of hosting. Your videos have been helpful with recognizing and dealing with some of the things our new student is going through.
Thank you you have no idea what this means to me! That is exactly why I am doing these videos! If there are any specific issues you and your student are dealing with, please let me know. I am always happy to share my perspective on things as I am sure many others will go through something similar
@@honey27003 You're very welcome...... As my wife and I have no children of our own we looked at hosting as a great way to experience parenthood. Our experience has been very good so far(this is our 2nd time). However, I do have something maybe you could offer some advice about. Our daughter (we like to refer to her like and she gets a kick out of it) is from Norway and is very outgoing, friendly, active, very pretty and is really embracing her experience so far. My concerns are about all the male attention she is getting so far. As you stated in earlier videos this is bound to happen. Being the "dad" it's obviously hard to talk about this with her. I just don't want her experience to be ruined because of some poor choices or even getting caught up in the rumor mill. Like you were, we are in a small town, not quite as conservative as Texas, and you obviously know how things go. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, and keep up the good work!!!
@@justinstiltner5706 Thank you so much! I will definitely make an advice video for how to deal with people of the opposite sex while abroad. But just to let you know: what she is experiencing is totally normal. All of the guys get really excited about girls from far away places especially in small towns. All of that attention dies down after a little while and I am sure she will make good decisions. And remember it is normal for teens to have crushes and even get their hearts broken so all you can do is have conservations about it with her and make sure she knows she can always come to you if she finds herself in uncomfortable situations.
@@honey27003 Thanks again for the good advice and words of wisdom. I guess open and honest communication will be the one of the big keys to making this experience amazing.
@@justinstiltner5706 definitely! Communication is always key but I am gonna make a separate video about it too!
I find it cool that in some countries, language classes at school really work lol, like, here in Brazil, We learn the To Be verb, since the first year of the fundamental school, til the Last day of High-School lol. I mean, the teachers try to teach more, but most people forget like, at the same day, and the classes just focus on getting good grades at the test
I’m enjoying your videos! In case you haven’t done one on this subject yet, I suggest making one for potential exchange students concerning their application/profile that potential host families. Strongly suggest being completely honest with their likes and dislikes, interests, etc. Don’t answer questions with what you think families want to read just so you can be chosen. It will hurt in the long run if, for example, you say you love sports and the outdoors but then when you are in their home, you admit or show that you honestly do not like playing or watching sports, being outside doing outdoor activities. This happened to us and our student blamed us for not working with her to do what she liked to do, which was going to the city to go shopping. There is much more to our experience but this was a big huge factor to how frustrating our experience was with our student.
Definitely a great idea! I am sorry you had this experience
Thank you for all your videos. It definitely will help others wanting to do an exchange year. I've been a host family for many years. I'm glad to hear how I've checked the boxes with things I've had done and how I can improve.
Great to hear! I am so glad you have repeatedly decided to be a host family. It's people like you who make all of this possible. Thank you for that! Also if you find that I missed an important topic that should definitely be talked about, please let me know!
I am sure it was an exciting visit for you. I visit Germany frequently, I would love the opportunity to live there for a time.
Yea, even though our country is very small it has lots of beautiful parts. Even I need to explore it more. If you are serious about waning to spend some time here, I am sure there are ways
i hope my future host family is watching this lol
Hey, feel free to send them the link once you know who they are ;D
You are such a dear for making this video! So very helpful for me. We have bought a very rural, and large house with 8 acres and will be moving around the 1st of October, so this year is not really doable for exchange hosting. Next August will be good though. (My 1st grade daughter's private Christian school has an exchange program they work with, and a donor who pays their school tuition!)
A couple other questions if I may...
What did you learn about American culture, and how did that reality differ from your expectations or movie stereotypes?
Regrets are something everyone lives with, and generally take two forms: something you didn't do that you wish you had, or, something you did that you wish you hadn't. Any regrets from your time in Texas?
Frankly, I find it amazing that many young people hang themselves out like this (doing an exchange year); it takes courage to do so. This all reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt's speech "Citizen of the Republic" speech and his very famous "Man in the Arena" quote. (I'll leave you to look that quote up, it is worth reading) Kids who desire to undertake this adventure are deserving of some support; this seems a worthwhile arena to step into...
Thank you so much! Again, very interesting questions that I will definitely be talking about in an upcoming video! It is funny because I honestly feel like the High School Musical trilogy played a huge part in me choosing the USA as the country I wanted to live in for a while.
And it's totally understandable that you don#t want to take in an exchange student at the moment. The house stuff is probably more than enough to deal with right now. But when the time comes, I am sure both parties are gonna have a great experience!
@@honey27003 Thanks, things are very busy right now, with house showings happening at random. Since we still live in our current house, it's always a stressful rush to get things straightened up for a showing. Two adults, one child and one dog, always tons to do. We should close in about two weeks on the new house, then we get Occupancy in 30 days. So we can't move until beginning of October. And we have to complete the sale of this house and go thru all of that too. I could not put an exchange student through the stress and craziness of moving. And so an exchange student is deferred until next year.
Well, the lower level of the new house has 9' ceilings (2.74meters), a fireplace, two LARGE bedrooms, a full bath, seperate laundry room and central family room. Our daughter will have one room and the other bedroom I once thought might be an office for me, since the actual upstairs office will be my wife's music room. Well, I think that 2nd lower bedroom will be better used by some German girl on an exchange year. Life is all about choices and opportunity costs; I'd rather give an exchange student a chance in America than to have a seperate office for myself.
@@Elizabeth-fy3ud That's some serious allegations. Do you have actual first hand knowledge, or just hearsay? Any actual specifics, like which program and which areas? Actual experience and first hand knowledge lends credibility; your comment was bereft of first-person details.
Hi Laura, remember when making videos aimed at future exchange students : their listening isn't ready for 100% speed Laura. You have to slow down so they don't have to watch you at 50/75%
That's a very good point. I will try and remember that. Although I must say I hated it when people spoke slowly to me. It always made me feel like they didn't believe I was capable of understanding them at a normal speed
Maybe they are listening in theor own language? Just saying.
I hope you have a great life
We have our very first exchange student this year. She is from Spain 🇪🇸 she is such a sweet girl. Did you have a hard time adjusting to the American food? What did you do then?
That's amazing! I met a lot of lovely exchange students from Spain. Which state do you live in? I think I might talk about your questions in a part two of this video or a general Q&A video soon if it's alright with you. It's such a good one!
@@honey27003 We live in Georgia. That would be great if you can talk about it on your next video. Looking forward to watch your next video.😊
@@Lovelymargs It's probably not going to be in my very next video as I have some videos pre-filmed but I will talk about it as soon as I can. Georgia sounds great, I bet you have some lovely food options for your exchange student there
@@honey27003 Well, we have introduced her to the American food or what you call it the southern food. We have taken her to different restaurants but it seems like she didn’t like it. She told us that she did like it but I can tell that she doesn’t really like it. I have told her to tell us upfront if she doesn’t like it, it won't hurt our feelings.
@@Lovelymargs hmmm maybe she shows her love of food differently. Sometimes there could be cultural differences. I know most countries aren't as obvious about showing that they like something as the U.S. is. Also, portions in the U.S. are a lot bigger than in most European countries so don't worry if she doesn't eat up. Or maybe she is just a bit shy in general and it will take some more warming up. In case she actually doesn't like it, I think it will just take some time for you guys to figure out what works best for her and for her to warm up enough to tell you when she doesn't like something. Unless it's actually health or allergy related I don't think it's something to worry about. You will figure it out as the time passes.
2:51 it’s so great that your host family let you to close your door!! I know it seems to be something little but I used to stay in a host family that they would never let me to close my door unless I’m changing. It was a not too good experience I could say but I’m still grateful that they provided me a room with my little area🤍
Every family has different rules but personally, I would have felt very uncomfortable if I had to keep my door open at all times. I wonder what they think you are doing just because the door is closed? If anything makes you feel uncomfortable I think it's best to just have an open conversation about it with your host family
@@honey27003 yea! I’ve talked to them before but they thought I would do something bad or something I shouldn’t be doing as a teenager. I guess it’s just their rules and their way of parenting. I felt very uncomfortable as they looked into my room and checked what I’m doing however I really need some privacy. Anyways I found out things couldn’t work so I decided to change my host family after living with them for a year. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in this journal in America. I have to say that the relationship between host families and exchange students are very special and things might not worked out sometimes. I can say things work way better now after getting a new host family and it doesn’t hurt to give it a try (on getting a new host family!
The AC is a challenge sometimes when all doors are closed as there is no return circulation. The counter point our family dogs find a room full of strange smells very enticing. We respect our students and trust that they are of good character. So, closed doors are okay, but if they want the room to be as cool as it could be they may want to leave the door ajar.
How do you find a host?? Did you find a website or how because I am trying to find a host family but I don’t know how or where???? ❤️❤️❤️
Question did you go to any proms or school dance? If you did what did you think of it..!!
Will definitely include it in a Q&A :)
I’m hosting a girl from France in 2 months! I’m kinda nervous. If anyone has any more advice, pls let me know!!! 😊
you said you were 15 in a different video tho?
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you for the support!!
Nice
How old were you?