Orientation Planning
When planning Arrival Orientation, AFS-USA recognizes that with through ticketing changes to travel, students may now arrive on multiple dates, making one orientation event with all students present, more difficult. It is highly recommended that teams hold an in-person orientation for arrival, however as every student must receive their orientation within 7 days of arrival it may be necessary to have multiple orientations of varying sizes and formats.
In addition, given the recent changes related to participant travel, we expect more teams will choose to run the Host Family Pickup model of Arrival Orientation, where students are picked up at the airport by their host family (with volunteers present) and then the orientation is conducted the weekend immediately following the student’s arrival, instead of immediately upon arrival. In either case, the Arrival Orientation must be within 7 days of arrival in order to be compliant.
Arrival Orientation Leader Guide
- Download the above linked PDF leader guide to your computer so that you may add any local information needed. Please do not edit or change any of the content.
- Be sure to share Help & Learning for Hosted Participants with students, this represents their online, digital handbook for the year.
- Optional Supplement - Is This an Emergency? (These slides can be added to either a, hosted student, Arrival or Post Arrival Orientation to help with expectation setting in the host family home).
- Print the Hosted Student Handbook QR Handout and display it at your event so students can scan the handbooks at the orientation and refer to them throughout the year.
- Do you have students arriving after your main arrival orientation, and need to do an individual arrival orientation with them within the 7-day window? Use the following guided worksheets to guide the student through a condensed version of the material found in the Arrival Orientation presentation, it should take about 30 mins and can be completed with an orientation or support volunteer. Download and print both copies so they can be worked through together:
- Arrival Orientation Worksheet - Volunteer
- Arrival Orientation Worksheet - Student - we suggest this is printed and given to the student and also sent electronically so they can access any links.
Arrival Orientation Optional Materials
- Arrival Orientation Checklist
- Host Family Welcome Packet
- Questions for your Guidance Counselor
- AFS Chain of Communication
- Keys to a Successful Year
Additional Resources:
- The AFS Framework for Active Global Citizenship
- Orientation Volunteer Supplemental Guides
- Arrival Orientation Evaluation
- Suggestions for Local Area Arrival Orientation Content
- Additional Activities Booklet
- Student Learning Journey Quick Guide for YES/FLEX students
- Best Practices for Organizing In-Person Orientations and Events
- Volunteer Sign Up Sheet - download this template and use it as is, as a shared google doc or a sign up genius to recruit volunteers to do tasks a the orientation.
- As AFS continues to seek host families for the many AFS students around the world wanting to come to the U.S., we ask that you talk to your host families at Arrival about the possibility of nominating a friend or neighbor who would make a wonderful host family - please print and share this flyer with host families as they gather to greet their host student(s).
Travel Related Arrival Information
- Coordinating Arrivals
- Arrival Orientation and Host Family Pickup Overview
- Travel Documents, Health Form Addendum & ID Card Review
- FAQs About CORE/CBYX Arrivals
Important Note: If volunteers are planning to have a hosted student stay overnight with them for an orientation or other team event, or for any other reason, it is important that the volunteer be screened as an Event Family or Host Family. Such an overnight stay cannot be considered a prudent parent stay. If a team will be using Event Families for a particular event, please start the process of completing Event Family screening well in advance of the event so AFS has time to complete the screening process before the event. Please refer to the Event Family Stays page in Help & Learning for more information.