Month 1 Guide - NH (Aug) SH (Jan)

Host Family Topics

Looking into extracurricular activities and sports (CL, CA, G&E)

• Has the participant joined any extracurricular activities yet? (CL)
  • Participants may not be familiar with rigorous sports practice.
  • Explain process and encourage them to try out.
  • Speak to coach or club leader if necessary.
  • It may not be obvious to them that your participant is an exchange student.

Making friends (CL, CA, G&E)

• Has the participant met many people yet? (G&E)
  • Explain nature of friendships in U.S. vs. home country.
  • In U.S. we are very friendly but don’t often follow through on casual invitations. We have “situational” friends – or friends based on our hobbies and interests.
  • Encourage them to facilitate opportunities for the student to make friends.
  • A little extra effort up front will pay off down the line. Otherwise the family will begin to feel the burden of it being the only social outlet and source of transportation for the participant.

Participant/ Host family questionnaire (PSW, CL, CA, G&E)

• Have you completed the Participant and Host Family Questionnaire? (CA)
  • If not, encourage them to do so.
  • If so, did anything surprise them about it or was there anything that they didn’t understand?
• Tell them to review it again in a few weeks because the participant will not have absorbed/understood all of the information the first time around.

Treat participant as a member of the family early on, not a guest, transportation and logistics (CA, G&E)

• Do you feel as if your student is behaving as a family member or a guest?
• How do you think your student feels? How can you tell?
• In what way(s) are they included like a family member would be as far as chores, transportation, and logistics? (G&E)

Familiarity with school, neighborhood, school, transportation (PSW, CL)

• Have you shown the participant around the school/neighborhood?
• Have you told the participant how they will get to school?
  • If not, encourage them to discuss with participant. (PSW)

Please and thank you as a cultural trait (CL, CA)

• Is your participant using “Please” and “Thank you” very often? (CA)
  • We do so a lot in the U.S. as this is a cultural trait due to the fact that we highly value equality and we feel it is polite to use these terms of respect with everyone regardless of their relationship to us
• Participants from more of a hierarchical society will not be accustomed to using please and thank you so much. Neither will people from more egalitarian societies.
  • Don’t take it personally, just remind them when it is appropriate to use these phrases here.

Process of monthly contact, who to contact for help (A&U)

• Explain the process of monthly contact, who to contact for help, and the fact that they can contact you at any time. (A&U)
  • Arrange monthly contact times/places as appropriate
  • Ensure access to $/Set up a budget (CA, G&W)
• How is the participant’s money situation?
• Have they made a budget yet?
• If not, encourage them to discuss with their participant. (G&E)

Encourage family to meet other host families (A&U, CA)

• Have you thought about using other host families in the area as resources and bouncing ideas off as part of learning through hosting? (CL)

Establish rules about computer, and phone use asap (CA, G&E)

• Have you established rules about computer and phone use?
  • If not, encourage them to do so ASAP.
• Set limits now although it will be hard.
• For more information and advice on the topic, refer to the Host Family Handbook. (G&E)

Checking In about Expectations (CL)

• What has surprised you about your participant so far? (CL)
• What has surprised you most about the experience so far?
• So far, how does the experience compare with what you expected?
• Can you tell me one thing you would like to achieve relative to the AFS experience between now and the next monthly check-in?
• What are some things that you can do to help achieve this?
  • Give them some ideas if they are having trouble thinking of ways that they can accomplish their goal. (CL)
    
    

Participant Topics

Looking into extracurricular activities (CL, CA, G&E)

• Have you joined any sports teams or clubs yet?
  • Participants may not be familiar with rigorous sports practice.
  • Explain process and encourage them to try out. (CA)

Making friends (CL, CA, G&E)

• Have you met many people yet?
  • Explain nature of friendships in U.S. vs. home country.
  • In U.S. we are very friendly but don’t often follow through on casual invitations.
  • We have “situational” friends – or friends based on our hobbies and interests. (CL)

Participant/ Host family questionnaire (PSW, CL, CA, G&E)

• Have you completed the Participant and Host Family Questionnaire?
  • If not encourage them to do so.
• If so, did anything surprise them about it or was there anything that they didn’t understand? (G&E)

Familiarity with school, neighborhood, school, transportation (PSW, CL)

• Do you feel safe on your commute to and from school?
  • If not, question as to why not, discuss with host family and follow up with staff as appropriate.
• Do you feel safe in your host home?
  
  • If not, question as to why not and follow up with staff as appropriate. (PSW)

Please and thank you as a cultural trait (CL, CA)

• Have you noticed how much we say “Please” and “Thank you” here?
  • This is a cultural trait due to the fact that in the U.S. we highly value equality and we feel it is polite to use these terms of respect with everyone regardless of their relationship to us. (CA)

Process of monthly contact, who to contact for help (A&U)

• Explain the process of Monthly contacts, who to contact for help, fact that they can contact you at any time. (A&U)

Ensure access to $/Set up a budget (CA, G&W)

• How is your money situation?
• Have you made a budget yet?
  • If not, encourage them to discuss with their host family. (G&E)

AFS participants as ambassadors (A&U, CL)

• What do we mean when we say that AFS participants are perceived as ambassadors for their country?
  • Their behavior has an impact on the host family and the AFS Program.
  • They are also representing their country. (CL)

How to make a good first impression (CL, CA)

• Would you like some tips on how to make a good first impression in the U.S.? 
  • Look people in the eye when you are speaking to them, have a firm handshake; always use “please” and “thank you” upon requesting or receiving something (CL)

Checking In on Expectations (CL)

• What has surprised you about the host culture or family life so far? (CL)
  • How is this different than or similar to your life at home?
• What is one thing that is a challenge, or hard for you to do here?
  
  • Let’s try to think of some ways to achieve this.
• What would you normally do at home?
• What might work here?
  
  • Give the participant ideas of how this might be done here and help him/her come up with his/her own strategies. (CL)

Key
A&U = AFS and You
PSW = Personal Safety and Well-being
CL = Culture Learning
CA = Cultural Adjustment
G&E = Goals and Expectations
RL = Required Logistics