Would you open your home for an exchange student from another country? If yes, any country or would there be countries that you would not accept an exchange student from? If no, why not?



I was an exchange student back in 2000/2001. And I am hoping to be able to pass the experience that gave me to another student some day.

Would you open your home for an exchange student from another country? If yes, any country or would there be countries that you would not accept an exchange student from? If no, why not?



I was an exchange student back in 2000/2001. And I am hoping to be able to pass the experience that gave me to another student some day.

Absolutely! I've had five foreign exchange students, and while each experience was different, they were all rewarding and educational in their own way. We've hosted full-year students from Mexico, Poland, Albania, Georgia, and Germany; four girls and one boy (German).

These kids were extremely bright, interesting, and fun additions to our family.

I always tried talking my parents into this but they didn't do it. I would open my home to any student from any country. I think that it would be a great learning experience for my whole family and the student.

:yes I can't wait to be able to do that some day, and to be an exchange student myself someday soon.

One of my uncle's wives LOVED to have exchange students... she's had quite a few over the years, because the HS my cousins and I went to was linked to a number of sister city and international programs. She still keeps in touch with a few of them, and they come and visit when they are in the US.

I wouldn't object to it but right now..no. When the kids get older, maybe. Just not something we talked about.

I'd love to someday! I think it would be a great experience.

I would love to take in an exchange student. Though I can't say I'd be comfortable sending my child to another country without me. But that's just my over protective nature. I think my whole family would benefit from an exchange student living in our home.
I don't care what country they come from. But due to my stupidity, I would hope they come from an English speaking country. I just don't see myself learning another language easily and I know I would have to learn it to make our lives easier.

I would love to do it someday. Although I remember a few of the exchange students at my HS causing some big problems for their "parents" Drinking, drugs, stuff alot of kids get into, but I think it would be different if it wasn't my kid. I'm sure these were the exception rather then the rule, but I would still worry about it.

yes i would provided that i would be able to communicate easily with them. meaning i don't think i could house a student from say russia or something because i have NO experience with those languages. DH and I could do someone from a spanish speaking country, a french speaking country or a italy

I would love to take in an exchange student. Though I can't say I'd be comfortable sending my child to another country without me. But that's just my over protective nature. I think my whole family would benefit from an exchange student living in our home.
I don't care what country they come from. But due to my stupidity, I would hope they come from an English speaking country. I just don't see myself learning another language easily and I know I would have to learn it to make our lives easier.

yes i would provided that i would be able to communicate easily with them. meaning i don't think i could house a student from say russia or something because i have NO experience with those languages. DH and I could do someone from a spanish speaking country, a french speaking country or a italy

Students that come to the US usually speak English already. And are here to learn the language, Not to teach you the language they speak. I'm sure that in some cases it would help to speak at least a few basic sentences in their language but aside from that it is not necessary to speak their language.

Absolutely... and with no country restrictions... I love all cultures!

We did open my home when I was in high school. It was for a summer program though. She was from Japan. Honestly, I hated the experience. I was at the age that I wanted to go out with my friends and she wasn't able to do anything without a parent ever and wasn't able to be out past 9 pm. So there were no baseball games and no friends for the summer. I am sure it would be better if the rules weren't so picky, but ours was through 4-H and not school, so I don't know.

Yes, I was one and we had many come to stay with my family growing up. I would love to do it again.:)

We did open my home when I was in high school. It was for a summer program though. She was from Japan. Honestly, I hated the experience. I was at the age that I wanted to go out with my friends and she wasn't able to do anything without a parent ever and wasn't able to be out past 9 pm. So there were no baseball games and no friends for the summer. I am sure it would be better if the rules weren't so picky, but ours was through 4-H and not school, so I don't know.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I think that the timing really needs to be right for it within the family that is taking the student in.

I always wanted to do it when I was in highschool, but we don't have any room for another person. I hope that when my kids are in school that I can invite an exchange student into our home. I would love to have someone from Ireland, or perhaps Europe/Middle East in general.

One day I would love to. My best friend was an exchange student and it did great things for her. I would be so fun and you would learn so much. Without a doubt yes!

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I think that the timing really needs to be right for it within the family that is taking the student in.

I agree. Oh well, it was a learning experience if nothing else.

yes i would provided that i would be able to communicate easily with them. meaning i don't think i could house a student from say russia or something because i have NO experience with those languages. DH and I could do someone from a spanish speaking country, a french speaking country or a italy

Our school district is VERY particular about making sure that the exchange students have extremely good English. They are not allowed to take ESL classes, and they must have attained a certain score on the TOEFL before they can be enrolled in our public schools. Our school district makes very clear that the foreign exchange student will not begetting any special educational services on the taxpayer dollar.

For the record, our last student was an extremely bright German boy, and he even took our state's required standardized tests, scoring in the Advanced level on all of them-- including American government.

yes I would...I've had an exchange student from France, and one from Brazil...DB had exchange students for France and Egypt as a kid too, I'm hoping it's something we'll be able to do when we have kids

Students that come to the US usually speak English already. And are here to learn the language, Not to teach you the language they speak. I'm sure that in some cases it would help to speak at least a few basic sentences in their language but aside from that it is not necessary to speak their language.

thanks i didn't know that

Yup, when our kids are older. Right now I think it'd be uncomfortable being so close to the students ages for them and us, and it might be harder to see us as authority figures since we're still in our 20's. Also, it'd make me uncomfortable having people we didn't know having access all hours of the night to our children while they're young and pretty defenseless (not everyone is good and it's one of the reasons we haven't left DD with a sitter yet).

But when our kids are older, I think it'd be a great experience for everyone. DH's family hosted a few when DH was a teen (in fact, they hosted 2 at once once one time when another family backed out, so they had a boy and a girl at the same time. DH shared his room with the boy and SIL shared her room with the girl). It was a lot of fun (we were already together then). They were good experiences for us all and we all had a lot of fun with it.

I would prefer a European exchange student as DH and I have been to those places and I think we'd be able to relate to the students more and have more to talk about (their home country). But I think we'd be up for students from anywhere, really.

We had a exchange student back in 2002. She was from France and spent 3 weeks with us. My dd's thought she was marvelous and the experience was a positive one.

I'd love to host more but we now live in a rural area and the HS here does not offer that program. :mumble

Yes I would love to do this when my kids are older no restrictions on which country either. I think it would be great if my kiddo's could get the chance to BE exchange students as well.

I would love to one day be able to open my home to exchange students from any country. It will probably have to wait until the kids are alot older and when i feel that i am more comfortable about taking care of a teenager. Right now i only have experience with small kids.

My parents did it when i was in high school and i thought it was great...I would love to do it when DD gets older...but i don't know how DH would feel...

we had 4...1 from france who stayed for a couple weeks...1 from brazil (he was just insane..:lol but in a good funny way..) he stayed for about 6 months....1 from colombia and he stayed 6 months...and 1 from Germany she stayed the whole year..it was fun...and a neat experience..

I was an exchange student for a year during high school myself, so when my son is older I would think about doing to. It was a GREAT experience for me, so I would like to help someone else have the opportunity, too.

My grandparents were professors and had exchange students from Korea and other places a few times, it was a very pleasant experience for me growing up. I would be honored to extend that hospitality to others at some point.

I would love to be a host family. We hosted an Australian student for a year when I was younger. I think it is a great way to expose my own children to the world outside of our little bubble. I really don't know that I have a specific preference as to what country I would want the student to be from - I'm open to anything.

I would, when i was growing up we had one from France, Germany and another one from a country I cant remember

Didn't read the thread, but to the original question....
Yes, every summer for the past 6 years we have had girls from 7 different countries staying at my mom's house. I was the riding director at a summer camp 30 minutes from my mom's house, so the international staff would stay at my mom's on the weekends, and on days off. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I made some of the BEST friends, and learned sooo much from them.

Absolutely. I don't think there would be a country I wouldn't allow. I was an exchange student in '89 in Erlangen, Germany and we also opened our home to three different German exchange students through our high school exchange program. I will encourage it when Rhi gets into high school.

Okay...... as someone who has hosted five foreign exchange students on year-long programs and three students on short-term "hnomestay" programs, I have to say that a three-week 'exchange' is definitely NOT the same as having someone else's child living in your house for an entire school year. Of the five year-long students we've hosted, four were terrific kids (three gitrls and one boy), but I would be remiss if I let anyone believe that it was all peaches and roses. it's not. This is someone else's teenager who is living in your house for an entire school year. This is a kid who is being thrown (yes, thrown) into an environment in which he or she may or may not be totally comfortable. Chances are, this is a child of privilege (really, how many poor kids do you know who can do a year in Vienna?), who may be accustomed to a certain standard of living. Good exchange programs (we used AIFS) try very hard to match up the child with the family setting, but it's not always perfect.

For example- we always stated, right from the get-go, that any student placed with us would need to be self-reliant to a certain extent, that they would have to be able to do their own laundry, find their own friends, and occasionally make their own meals in the cas ethat we'd be late returning from work or other obligations.

Sometimes, people with good intentions 'help' the student fill out the paperwork and answer questions with what they believe we want to hear, which may or may not be the actual full, comp[lete, brutally honest truth. We had one exchange student who didn't do anything to make friends of her own, who looked down on my daughter's friends (who were her own age), who held a certain resentment that she was expected to do her own laundry, and who didn't have quite as good a handle on colloquial English as her papers indicated. We worked very hard to make this child comfortable, but she chose to barricade herself in her room (which we provided) and didn't make any real effort to be friends with the people our daughter introduced her to, or to make friends of her own. She seemed to think that we were obligate dto provide transportation for her at her request/demand, to wherever.whatever she felt she wanted to do.

i felt that we described our position truthfully; that any child living with us would be expected to be self-reliant to a large extent, and our four other exchange stuednts were fine with that. When you have a student for a long-term sitiuation, there are things like homesickness, disapproval of ther American lifestyle, religious conflicts, misinterperted expectations, and all sorts of things that come up.

I agree that a three-week exchange is a great way to get a feel for a program, but pleas, don't think that a three-week excchange is comparable to a full-year exchange. Heck- in three weeks, you may not even experience a cycle (yours, your daughter;s, the student's, whatever), and that brings a whole different paradign into the mix.

I would not change the things we've experienced- on the whole,, I LOVE the idea of foreign exchange. European and Japanese kids have been doing 'homestays' since they were about ten or eleven years old, so remember they probably knwo and understand more about it than you do.

All in all, I think the exchange experience was a good one for my kids, for the exchange kids, and for the schools. I plan to do it again. just remember, what looks like the perfect match may turn out not to be as good as you thought, and don't fgive up the whole idea of exchange based on one su-optimal experience.

I don't think I would be able to but i would like to once. My aunt and her sister have foreign exchange students ALL THE TIME! They take family pictures with them and do all kinds of stuff with them. My aunt did say (and no offense be/c i dont agree with her) that her German girl was difficult to deal with and wouldn't follow her house rules. but her house rules are ridiculous anyway.

I don't think I would be able to but i would like to once. My aunt and her sister have foreign exchange students ALL THE TIME! They take family pictures with them and do all kinds of stuff with them. My aunt did say (and no offense be/c i dont agree with her) that her German girl was difficult to deal with and wouldn't follow her house rules. but her house rules are ridiculous anyway.

Just curious, what does that have anything to do with her being German?

Just curious, what does that have anything to do with her being German?

That's what I asked them! They said germans were known for being stubborn and set in their ways...I told you i don't agree with their crack-headed conclusions. I personally found the girl to be pleasant, fun loving, and harlious! But again, they are very strict! They don't even allow their 18 yr old daughter to go anywhere without her 16 yo brother.

Just curious, what does that have anything to do with her being German?

Probably nothing; I don't think it was intended that way. Of all the students we took, the German boy was probably the best.... but I'm not sure if that's a reflection on him or on us (and how we've gotten better at this exchange thing). ;-)

I loved all our exchange kids, but our German boy was my favorite. ;-)

All of ours were German, same sister school exchange program. We never had problems. I don't think that's how she meant it, I believe she was referring to her being German to distinguish her from the others that weren't:dunno

i would love to host a foreign exchanged student some day. we had one my sophmore year and she was german. it was an awesome experience having her in my classes. and this year we have a student from another country (i can't remember where she is from) and she gets along great with everyone. i would definitely open my home to a foreign exchanged student and i don't care what country they are from.

All of ours were German, same sister school exchange program. We never had problems. I don't think that's how she meant it, I believe she was referring to her being German to distinguish her from the others that weren't:dunno

those relatives are just use to complete submission and I think that the German girl, Beri, was the only one who ever questioned them. They are kinda set in the mindset of boys do outside stuff and girls clean house. I think that was what the problem was, that Beri didn't see why the boys didn't clean. But again, this was not my belief or anything!