Preparing For Your Homestay Student’s Arrival: A Guide For Host Families
Hosting a homestay student with Australian Homestay Network (AHN) will be a rewarding and enriching experience for both you as a host family and the student arriving. Homestay hosting offers an opportunity to learn about different cultures and create meaningful connections and lasting memories. To ensure a smooth and successful homestay, it’s essential to adequately prepare for your student’s arrival. We will provide a guide below to help host families make the necessary preparations.
Familiarise Yourself with the Student’s Background and Preferences:
Before your student arrives, it’s crucial to gather information about their background, cultural customs, and personal preferences. Communicate with your local office to gather as much information as possible, including your placement report. You will receive the student’s contact details before arrival. Contact the student directly to learn about any specific dietary requirements, allergies, or health considerations, as well as any hobbies they have. This knowledge will help you accommodate your student’s needs and make them feel welcome.
Create a Welcoming Living Space:
Ensure that your home is clean, tidy, and ready to welcome your homestay student. Provide a comfortable bed, fresh linen, and a designated space for them to store their belongings. Consider decorating their room with a few welcoming touches such as a photo frame(s) where they can store their first picture of you together, or their family members. You could add something from their own country, that gives them a little taste of home.
Prepare a Welcome Package:
Greet your homestay student with a thoughtful welcome package. Include items that will make their transition easier, such as a local map, public transportation guide, a list of emergency contacts, and a welcome letter introducing your family. Small tokens like snacks, something Aussie (look at our Aussie gift guides!), or guidebooks can also help them feel more at home.
Familiarise Your Student with the Local Community:
Help your student feel comfortable and connected to their new surroundings by introducing them to the local community. Plan a tour of the neighbourhood, nearby amenities, and important landmarks. Inform them about public transportation options to their school or university, and recreational activities available in the area.
Establish Communication Channels:
Effective communication is key to a successful homestay experience. Ensure that your student has a reliable means of communication, we ask you to help the student to organise a local SIM card when they arrive (if they haven’t already organised one, you should check this in your prearrival communication). Exchange contact information with your student’s emergency contacts and provide them with your contact details. Encourage open and regular communication to address any concerns or questions that may arise.
Plan for Cultural Exchange:
Homestays provide a unique opportunity for cultural exchange. Plan activities that allow your student to experience your local customs and traditions. Involve them in family meals, celebrations, or outings to local attractions. Likewise, encourage your student to share their own culture, traditions, and language with your family, creating a mutual exchange of knowledge and understanding. The best and easiest way to do this is to include them in your cooking/meal prep. You can practise English with them via recipe reading. You will learn what they like to eat, and they can prepare meals for you from their own country – it’s a win-win!
“Expanding our family and trying new foods has been fun!”
Establish House Rules and Expectations:
Communicate your house rules, expectations, and routines to your homestay student the first day they arrive. Sit down and discuss matters such as curfew, mealtimes, chores, and any other specific guidelines. Be open to compromising and adapting your routines to accommodate cultural differences while maintaining a respectful and harmonious living environment. You will need to remind the student of these rules along the way. Print them out, leave a copy on the fridge and in their welcome pack.
In Summary:
Preparing for your homestay student’s arrival is crucial to ensuring a positive and rewarding experience for both the host family and the student. By familiarising yourself with your student’s backgrounds, creating a welcoming living space, and establishing effective communication channels, you set the stage for a successful homestay. Embrace the opportunity to learn from each other, celebrate cultural diversity, and forge lasting connections that can extend far beyond the homestay period.
Not a host with us? Join us now!
I have found the welcome gift basket has been a favourite..
Include a bottle of water.
It’s a good way for students to get a sample of treats, but also a good icebreaker if they are hungry immediately after they arrrive, while adjusting to a new time zone and routine or just throughout their stay, if they feel like the need something, particularly if it’s late at night, etc.
Also don’t forget to consider that your student may arrive very tired… a long flight, having to attend school or work and organise a multitude of things the day they flew out etc. Ask them if they would like to shower or rest shortly after they arrive.. particularly after a red-eye or long haul flight. Even have towels and tiny shower gel ready.
By all means do a quick tour of the house and members (or perhaps just their room, the bathroom, a cuppa (ask if they are hungry) particularly if it is 3am.!
Try to take the day off work the day of/after your student arrives.. the early arrival will be less stressful for you, and easier to ask questions if you are available.
Having travelled internationally and been a homestay student myself, I hope I can make the experience a good one in my home.
Great advice Julie, thank you for sharing!
Hello, the above is a really good guide for hosts. I’ve been hosting for 6 years and below are some extra tips that I have made for new hosts (long post!)
.
ON ARRIVAL:
Hand-write a welcome sign in their bedroom, include their name.
Print out the wifi name and password.
Place welcome snacks, chocolates and a city map in their room (ALDI instant noodle cups have been the most popular!) Include at least 1 bottle of water.
Give them a welcome meal or snack, especially if they arrive late at night. Allow them to eat it alone privately to remove any pressure from having to socialise when they are very tired and nervous.
Introduce all members of the household. Write first names on sticky notes on bedroom doors.
Before going to school on the first day, sit with the student to add Google Maps locations on their phone of your home, their school and your closest bus/train stop. Ask the student to take screenshots as they may not have internet access while travelling to/from school on day 1.
DURING WEEK 1:
Print a list of bus/train departure times from the stop closest to your home. My students use this print-out daily!
For Asian students, understand that breakfast cereals with milk will most often be ignored. I keep dinner left-overs in a small box so they can reheat in the microwave with pre-cooked rice.
Print a list of the house rules/notes. I include a QR code to an online version so the student can open it on their phone and use a Translator. I include meal times, cleaning days, quiet hours, links to public transport timetables and maps. Include your expectation that they shower at least once per day.
Create an Insta/WhatsApp group chat and include them with other students/members of the household. Take lots of photos and share them in the group chat. Don’t forget to tag AHN if you share to Facebook/Insta!
Take the students to meet other members of your family, or friends. This really helps the student put you into context with the other people in your life.
Understand that young students may often be very active on their phones chatting to friends between 10pm – 2am. Give them this space but explain your quietness policy, for example, voices must be quiet and they must open and close the bathroom door quietly at night.
If possible, take them somewhere to see Kangaroos. Their face will come alive when they see their first Kangaroo!
Show them pictures of Coles, Woolworths, ALDI, IGA logos and explain the shop closing times for different days, especially in WA where the shops close between 5pm-9pm.
Take the student for drives in your car. You may be surprised that their happiest memories and bonding moments come from times spent with you on short drives.
ONGOING:
Do a one-on-one welfare check with them every few weeks. Ask them how they are going and what problems they are having. Even if you don’t have a solution to a problem, listening to them can be just as important and crucially appreciated.
Ask if their bedroom and mattress are adequate. Ask if the bedroom temperature at night is ok and offer suggestions on how to keep warmer/cooler.
Occasionally ask the student to offer meal suggestions for the household. Perhaps they would like to cook for you. Even the most shy and introverted students have appreciated this opportunity to try to make the host family happy by sharing their favourite food.
If the student is continually sleeping too much on weekends, prepare a mid-morning activity so that they get up and become active. For example, going shopping together or going for a walk.
If you have a family gathering to attend, take the student with you!
Good luck and enjoy the new dynamic in your home. I trust that you will find the experience very rewarding.
Wonderful advice! Thank you Joe!