I%26#39;m hoping to bring a few nieces (in their teens) to Paris in June, but I%26#39;d like them to have a homestay - rather than hotel - experience. Any suggestions?
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I%26#39;m curious about your plans - do you plan to stay with the teens in the homestay situation? And how old are they? Do you know if they smoke or drink? Did you know that they can drink wine and beer legally at 16 in France? How long would the stay be?
My suggestion would be to google %26#39;homestay%26#39; and %26#39;France%26#39; and see what you come up with.
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No, I don%26#39;t intend to stay with them; I%26#39;ll be in a hotel. They are all under 16; in fact, they%26#39;re 14 and 15. I%26#39;ve not heard of any homestay possiblities that are not connected to a Language School, so the girls might end up taking a course in order to %26quot;qualify%26quot; for one of the homestays. But, I wonder how those families are chosen.
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I asked about the smoking and drinking because it is a big change from the States... I also don%26#39;t know what you would expect of homestay parents.
We hosted Japanese students for several summers (they were in language school) and the school took care of them during the day and we had a lot of activities at night. Japanese kids are extremely well-mannered! On the other hand, a friend of mine hosted an exchange student from Barcelona (high school age) who took off as soon as she got out of school and did not come home until midnight or one most nights. My friend just let her - the girl went off with friends.
Now I have two teenagers and one is in Rennes, France. Her host parent is very nice but very relaxed about everything. The host siblings are college age and have boyfriend and girlfriend constantly staying at the house and needless to say, my daughter drinks wine and beer. She turns 17 this month and still has another year of high school.
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If you are bringing your nieces why aren%26#39;t you staying with them, that seems a bit odd. If you want to arrange a homestay then I would do alot of research, I can attest that my friend does homestays and she lets her exchange students do things she doesn%26#39;t let her own kids do, like staying out late etc. , your nieces sound a bit young yet. would your nieces parents be comfortable with this arrangement. ?
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If their parents weren%26#39;t fine with the idea, then, obviously, I wouldn%26#39;t be asking about a homestay. The girls want to improve their French and live in an %26quot;authentic%26quot; situation. It is their wish to stay with a family in order to experience French life... albeit, on a rather limited basis. They would eat breakfast with the families and then be with me during the day and for dinners - unless a dinner or two en famille were possible. They would then return at night - and stay in - to sleep. They have already been to Paris with me and have stayed in hotels; this will be, hopefully, a new experience for them. By the way, their French is good, not great, but fine for conversational purposes.
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If you haven%26#39;t already, you might want to check out www.isemn.net. This organization offers numerous types of student exchange programs, including 10-21 day summer programs (Paris, Madrid, etc). Once again, however, the focus is learning the language and living with the family for a few of the days (BUT not all of the days) to get a true cultural experience. This probably isn%26#39;t what you%26#39;re looking for, but perhaps they can give you some other suggestions. I%26#39;ve had positive experiences with them.
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Youth For Understanding (www.yfu.org) is one of the oldest foreign student exhange programs around. The may be able to help you, or at least point you in the right direction.
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Another suggestion might be to sign the girls up for French classes in Paris, something intensive. 5 or 6 hours a day of working on language will do wonders. Sounds like what they are going for is language improvement.
Eating breakfast with a family and then sleeping at the family%26#39;s house is not going to bring about the biggest improvement in their language skills. Not even adding in some meals.
As I said, my daughter is with a family in Rennes, and takes classes most of the day in French. And has been there for 8 months already. And had 6 years of French previous to that. The director of the school said that it would be Christmas before the French language %26#39;took over%26#39; even with all that intensity. That is just what happened! It was Christmas before French superceded English as the language in dreams and thoughts.
If the girls%26#39; parents are all right with this plan, do they know also that homestay families do give a lot more freedom to kids (not in all cases, I%26#39;m sure, but this has been the feedback I%26#39;ve gotten about other students) and they will not %26#39;act as parents%26#39;? If the girls%26#39; parents know this, would they still be all right with it?
We get regular newletters from the director of my daughter%26#39;s program. I know of a boy from the Boston area who is going to high school this year in France not too far from my daughter. He is extremely motivated to become fluent and was just %26#39;dropped%26#39; into the regular French high school population. Lives with a family, too. But has to figure it all out - sink or swim - with minimal help during the day. That means catching up with the French kids academically and adjusting to the style of education. He has to interact with other French kids and fit in. His parents were really courageous or he had to be extremely mature for his years to take that on!
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Thank you all for your suggestions. I%26#39;ll now check out the websites suggested and make a few calls, too. I am very familiar with Rennes (you%26#39;re probably refering to the SYA program?) b/c I know several students who have studied there... and I also know about the %26quot;uneven%26quot; family situations - some are fantastic, some are less so. And, since I, too, have lived and studied in Paris (many years ago now, or I%26#39;d check with those parents!), I realize that there are varying degrees of %26quot;hands on%26quot; attention given by homestay families. Frankly, the best homestay situations I%26#39;ve found are in the small towns, outside of cities. But, the girls and I will be in Paris, so it%26#39;s a Paris homestay they%26#39;re seeking. If a family seems to be willing to act in loco parentis, then I would certainly call them to see if they would agree with %26quot;limits%26quot;. If not, the girls will spend the time in a hotel with me. And, yes, I think a few language classes would be a good idea. I%26#39;ll check out ACCORD and Eurocentres to see what they have. Thanks again for your suggestions and concerns. I%26#39;ll take your suggestions and go from here. Merci bien et a la prochaine!
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