Boundaries and Rules During Homestay Experiences
The Homestay Kitchen: Cultural Connections with International Students who Study Abroad
Release Date: 12/02/2019
The Homestay Kitchen: Cultural Connections with International Students who Study Abroad
We were scheduled to come back in early March and then the pandemic struck. We are physically distancing and staying home, so the Homestay Kitchen had to re-work the podcasting schedule to fit a new routine. In the meantime, let's check-in with you. How are you doing? Erin is the multi-tasker extraordinaire working from home while maneuvering all five of her kids which includes two students. Mary is also navigating working from home while everyone is also home, so finding a new routine is challenging.
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It's coming to the end of the year and some students may be leaving or some students may be heading home just for the winter break. Either way, when it's time to drag the luggage out and dust off that passport, we need to start thinking about our pre-departure rituals. What is it like when your student finally leaves? What strategies are you going to put into place when it comes to saying goodbye?
info_outline Boundaries and Rules During Homestay ExperiencesThe Homestay Kitchen: Cultural Connections with International Students who Study Abroad
Boundaries. We've all got them or we should all have some in place. There are limits and rules to all sorts of things during a homestay experience. Boundaries around the house, food, laundry, safety issues, and even personal boundaries. What are they and how can we enforce them?
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At one point or another, whether you as the host knows it or not, your student will get homesick. Sometimes it'll show through their emotions or difference in actions. Or sometimes, it only happens when they are hidden away in their rooms, when the lights are out trying to fall asleep. When do you intervene and what do you do to alleviate homesickness?
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So what defines a short term student and a long term student? Mary defined a short term student as being anywhere less than 6 months, but after she said that (and even after we finished recording this episode), we were still debating what differentiated a long term student from a short term student. Any way you look at it, hosting short term students and long term students can be very different experiences. In this episode, Mary and Erin go toe to toe on the pros and cons of hosting long term students versu
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In today's episode, Erin had work to do, so Mary got to chat with Jennifer Longworth from Lexington, Kentucky. A new host parent who's only hosted a total of 3 times for very short periods and all from Japan. We talk through what it's like to be a very new host and what were some of the most surprising aspects of hosting. And it wouldn't be right to talk to our fellow neighbours to the south without pointing out a couple of differences from our countries, like hockey for us and southern food for her.
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How do you meal prep for your students? What do you incorporate into your meal plans for them? Food is a big factor when it comes to homestay experiences. Not only the culture of different foods to eat and explore, but also how we eat and when.
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One of the major challenges of hosting international students is to navigate the language barrier. Communication is key to any relationship, so how do you have the confidence to speak your mind when your student doesn't speak your language? At times you need to be fearless and in today's episode we chat with Heather Thompson who shares this grit with a side of humour.
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Culture shock can come in many different forms, not just language for international students. From food, to hygiene, and even the way people dress. It's not about what each culture is doing right or wrong, but about how things are done and are acceptable in different countries. Culture shock can be entertaining and fascinating to new students at first, but then it could also lead to confusion, feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and disoriented, which could induce homesickness. So what is this cycle and what sign
info_outline Cultural Expectations with Master Homestay Host Tatiana RobertsonThe Homestay Kitchen: Cultural Connections with International Students who Study Abroad
When you decide to host international students in your home, it's not an easy decision, especially if this is your first time. And even if you have hosted before, sometimes you've got to weigh the pros and cons. There are so many details that could be overlooked and really, you don't know what you don't know. So we tapped into the knowledge of Tatiana Robertson, who has hosted short and long term students from all over the globe for over seven years.
info_outlineBoundaries. We've all got them or we should all have some in place. There are limits and rules to all sorts of things during a homestay experience. Boundaries around the house, food, laundry, safety issues, and even personal boundaries. What are they and how can we enforce them?
In this episode, we share our own set of boundaries and how we communicate these rules to our students. What are your boundaries around the house? What challenges do you face when applying these rules? Let us know by emailing us at [email protected]. We'd love to share your feedback on an upcoming episode and answer your questions! In the meantime, listen in to hear what boundaries we've set up for our households.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Mary and her bubble and how it relates to personal boundaries.
- Confessions from Mary: we chat about the student info sheet/welcome letters
- Bathroom boundaries. Mary shares a story about a miscommunication she had with a student around bathroom usage.
- We talk about food and curfews.
- Erin’s rules around communication when her students are out socializing.
#peaceofmind - We discuss our process of setting out boundaries, rules and expectations.
- Mel’s experience with a student who invaded her personal boundaries.
- When you need to set up boundaries around food.
- We dive into the boundaries we’ve set up around hosting with our kids.
- What caused drama in Erin’s house?
- Which household rule does Erin’s husband refuse to follow?
- How we show that we need personal boundaries.
- We check in about internet usage.
- Talking about boundaries… do you peek in your student’s room when they’re not home?
- The secret relationship of sisters. What goes on in Erin’s house?
- Mary relates one story about a student who felt her boundaries were invaded.
- The competition between Mary and Erin continues as we compare student lock box scenarios.
#whowouldwin
Links:
Line App
Episode 38: Masterhost Tatiana Robertson
Episode 17: Your Student Arrival Guide with a Homework Assignment
Episode 8: Building Your Network of People in the World with Veteran Host Parent Mel Kilpatrick
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