Orientation Planning
When planning Arrival Orientation, AFS recognizes that with through ticketing changes to travel, students may now arrive 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 include some students in a virtual format via zoom, for example.
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, virtually and/or in-person the weekend immediately following the student’s arrival, instead of the conducting the Arrival Orientation immediately upon arrival. In either case, the Arrival Orientation must be within 7 days of arrival.
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.
Orientation Materials
Please review the below pages which contain important information regarding content for hosted student arrivals and Arrival Orientation.
- NH23 Arrival Orientation Slides (download and save to your computer to be able to edit the slides and add team specific information)
- 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.
Additional Resources:
- Orientation Volunteer Guides
- Arrival Orientation Evaluation
- Suggestions for Local Area Arrival Orientation Content
- Additional Activities Booklet
- Coordinating Arrivals
- Arrival Orientation and Host Family Pickup Overview
- Travel Documents, Health Form Addendum & ID Card Review
- FAQs About CORE/CBYX Arrivals
- Best Practices for Organizing In-Person Orientations and Events
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
Past Arrival Orientation Materials
- NH21 In-Person Arrival Orientation Slides
- NH21 Virtual Arrival Orientation Slides
- 2018 Arrival Orientation Leader Guide (for reference)
- 2018 Arrival Orientation Slides (for reference)