Students who come to the U.S. on our flagship year and semester programs and are not recipients of a Department of State scholarship are considered “core” program students. These participants make up the majority of the students who arrive in the U.S. each year on an AFS program. These students come from around the world and have a wide variety of backgrounds, interests, hobbies, future goals, and reasons for choosing to come to the U.S. on an AFS program.
Our students are ambitious, curious, passionate, and eager to share their culture with their host communities! Find resources for promoting flagship/core students in the Champions: Host Family Recruitment Resources and Promote Hosting Articles.
Here are 7 primary talking points to use when recruiting host families for core program students:
1. Experience a new culture in your own home!
When you host an exchange student, you’re immersing yourself in a new cultural experience that fits into every day life. You and your family will learn all about your host teen’s country through trying their favorite foods from home, celebrating their holidays, and getting to know them and their culture firsthand. Families often travel to their host student’s country to visit after they’ve returned home!
2. You’re providing an opportunity for a young person to make a difference in your community – and their own!
Students hosted through AFS-USA are often very ambitious and ready to make a positive impact on the world. While living in your home, your exchange student will have opportunities to volunteer in your community, educate their peers about their own culture and customs, and meet other people in the AFS community who will shape their educational and professional future. AFS participants are encouraged to take their experiences in the U.S. and use them to enact change in their community back home. Many AFS alumni go on to become global leaders, educators, and innovators who are paving the way for the next generation – and that starts in your home!
3. You will gain new family members for life.
Over the course of their exchange program, your host student will connect with you and your family in many ways. Whether it’s sharing meals, watching movies, playing games, or exploring the outdoors together, your host student will become an important part of your lives before you know it. Your children and their host sibling will develop a relationship that is sure to last, and that doesn’t stop after their program ends. Hosting will not only have a profound and positive impact on your host student, but you and your family as well.
4. Hosting a student will have a tremendous impact on the course of their life.
Exchange students hosted through AFS-USA come from all over the world and are very different from one another, but they do have one thing in common: they describe their exchange program as life-changing. Living abroad will increase your host student’s confidence, provide essential intercultural experiences, and yield lifelong connections that will impact their character and their values as they enter adulthood. They will overcome exciting new obstacles and learn invaluable lessons from you, your family, and your community. You’ll play an important role in this journey because your home will be theirs as they experience, for the first time, life in the U.S.
5. Your exchange student will spark curiosity and cultural awareness in your own children.
Many children and teens in families with a hosted student find that it truly changes the way they perceive and interact with the world for years to come. Connecting with a young person from another culture will teach your children patience, compassion, and curiosity. Host siblings can inspire your children to grow up with an open mind and learn lessons that are not often found in a classroom. Children with host siblings are likely to study abroad themselves and develop a passion for understanding the world beyond their own borders.
6. Living with someone from another country will challenge you and your community’s perspective.
When you build a connection with your exchange student within your community, obstacles that they may face both in their own country and in the U.S. suddenly affect you, too. Hosting a student from another country will open eyes to the complexities of diversity; living with somebody different from you will challenge biases and provide a foundation to examine your own identity. You will find ways to connect with your exchange student by uncovering common ground and identifying how you may be alike. Your community will learn to empathize with somebody else’s lived experiences and gain a new appreciation and understanding of those from different cultures and backgrounds.
7. You’ll join a worldwide network of host families, educators, and community leaders.
Joining the AFS community is more than just opening your home for the short-term. Your participation in an AFS exchange program will provide a foundation to meet like-minded people from all over the world. Our community is one that’s filled with passion, drive, and the sincerest of friendships. Whether it’s connecting with other host families and students, volunteering with your local AFS-USA community, discovering professional development opportunities, or exploring new intercultural activities, you’ll find that being a part of AFS-USA is beneficial for years to come.
When speaking to potential host families, emphasize the AFS Difference - what makes AFS stand out from other organizations? 24/7 support for students and families, our 75+ years of experience and 100 years of history, an incredible global network - these are just some of the many reasons a family should choose AFS as their exchange program provider.
Host Country Profiles:
Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium-Flanders, Belgium-French, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, United Kingdom
These one-pagers can be used as Intercultural Learning Resources or promotional flyers.