If you choose to get involved in the Education First (EF) Homestay Program, it will be an unforgettable experience for your whole family. This non-profit organization is dedicated to promoting international student exchange and good will between countries, one relationship at a time. Once you host an international student in your home, cultural and language barriers disappear as you get to know each other over a period of 2-8 weeks, depending on the course.
- The English Language and North American Culture Course offers the students structured English classes five mornings per week, exciting field trips and excursions in the afternoons, and some weekend trips as well.
- The Immersion Course is exactly what it sounds like. A student lives with your family and will speak English in every situation. No formal classes are offered as these students have studied the English language in their home countries. This is their chance to put into action all the years of hard work.
- The International Course places students from several different nations together to learn English in classes and on field trips. When English is the only common language between the students, their language skills grow at an exponential rate.
EF Educational Homestay Program
This exciting exchange program has seen over 120,000 students from thirty countries come to North America. They come to beautiful areas such as New England, California, Georgia and Florida in the United States. They also visit Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver in Canada. The students come for different reasons, but what they come away with is a stronger cultural awareness, strengthened language skills, travel experience, and most certainly, friendships and ties with people that can last a lifetime.
Benefits for the Host Family
Hosting a student from another country is an experience that offers multiple benefits. It gives you a chance to develop a meaningful relationship while sharing cultural experiences. Your family members learn how to show a stranger kindness and generosity while building a lifelong friendship. Here are a few more of the many benefits of hosting a student:
- Host families earn points toward travel through EF (Education First) with EHP's Passport Rewards Program.
- 10% discount on any Go Ahead Vacations Program
- $250 discount on EF Au Pair Program
- $50 bonus for referring three families to take part in the program
- Host families can join students in the program for special activities and excursions
- 10% discount on program fees for EF Foundation semester or year of study abroad
Host Families are Carefully Chosen
Host families are interviewed by the local Program Coordinator before a student can be placed. As a host parent, you will be required to provide the student, aged 12-18, daily transportation to a bus stop or to the school where classes are held (unless your student is in the Immersion Course and does not attend formal classes). After a sack lunch, which you provide, the students are usually taken by bus to various local activities. These depend on the area you live in, of course, but here is a sample of what the students do while in S.W. Florida on their afternoon trips:
- tour the Thomas Edison Winter Home and Laboratory
- go ice skating
- beach trips, pool parties
- biking on Sanibel Island
- airboat rides in the Everglades
- local shopping trips to area malls
- local theater or movie night
- weekend excursions to Disney or Sea World
The students are back in your home for dinner each evening and are anxious to participate in your family life, whether it's bowling or movie night, tennis lessons, crafts at the kitchen table, or just taking a swim at the local pool.
Host an Exchange Student this Summer
If you are interested in hosting a student or if you like the idea of earning points toward international travel through the EF Passport Rewards Program, visit the website to see if they will be in your area this summer. You will be paired with a student whose interests and general outlook on life match well with your unique family. Your chance to be an ambassador is at hand; don't delay.
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