The 7 Most Important Things to know when you stay with a Homestay Host!!

Welcome,

I've decided to come up with the 7 most important details you need to know when you are staying with a Canadian family. They will be your homestay hosts. But, more importantly, they will think of you as part of their own family. I'm writing this post for both elementary & adult students who want to stay with a homestay host. So bare with me if some of these things appear very basic, such as table manners. Cultures are very different & what is considered polite may even be considered rude in another country. Your homestay host will generally be prepared for most of these situations but there are always new situations that you cannot always plan.

So, read on to find out The 7 most important things to know when you stay with a homestay host: I will first outline the important things that are aimed at elementary students:

1. Quiet Environment: Most Canadian families live in a house. A house usually includes a front or back yard. These areas are considered part of the house. There is always a time & place for running & yelling. The time is outside. Children need to have fun. Having fun means running, yelling & playing tag with their friends. Almost all homestay hosts will appreciate it if you play outside if you want to run, yell & have fun! Almost all homestay hosts like their house to be a quiet area. (Now, I'm not talking like library quiet.) What most homestay hosts respect is normal volumes in their house. Keep the yelling outside.
2. Preparing Meals: Generally, when you stay with a homestay host your breakfast & dinner is prepared for you. However, if Saturday & Sunday are non working days for your homestay host, then usually the host wakes up a little later in the morning such as 9am or 9:30am or even 10am. If you are hungry then your homestay host will not mind if you go to the kitchen & prepare some toast with jam, cereal or even oatmeal. You can open the fridge & pour yourself some juice. For the adults, you can start the coffee machine if you want to & make yourself a pot of coffee. No homestay host will ever mind if you prepare your own breakfast or even dinner. In fact, there are alot of people (men & women) who enjoy to cook. I enjoy cooking!
3. Table Manners: In Canada, families usually try to eat together every night. Most work days end by 5pm & the parents are able to be home by 6pm to eat with the family. Now this is not every family but if a family chooses to be a host family then generally they are making time for the student. Families eat together & have their own plate. They use a knife, spoon & fork to cut their meat & fork to eat their food. Table manners are very important & this is something Do Education takes the time to educate our students to ensure they have a great learning experience. Don' forget to say "please" & "thank you", you can never say it too many times. After every time someone gives you something or does something for you then you can say "thank you". If you need to have the milk passed on the table then you can say "May I have the milk please?".
4. Be Independent: When you are with your homestay host family, try to do many things for yourself. Don't wait for your homestay host to ask you to do something. Offer to help in the kitchen, this will be a great place for you to learn how to cook. (maybe you will like cooking). Try doing everything that you can for yourself, such as making your own lunch, cleaning your room or vacuuming the house. If you don't know how to do something then just ask!
5. Ask Questions: If you don't like something about your homestay, please ask the homestay host. They will not mind that you ask them anything. They want you to be comfortable. For example, if you are cold, ask them to turn up the heat! Or if you want more food, then ask them. Trust me, homestay hosts can't read your mind & need you to tell them what you want.
6. Offer to Help: While you are staying at your homestays house, why not try helping as much as you can. Remember to ask when you first arrive at your homestay this question: What am I expected to do? After you know what you are expected to do then you will know what you should do to fit in properly with the house. Remember, a homestay is not a hotel, motel or free ride. The money that you are paying them doesn't usually provide more money then what is needed to host students. Homestay hosts do this because they are interested in other cultures such as yours & they want to interact with you everyday.
7. Join in With Activites: Try attending as many family activities that you can to become closer with your host family. It will create an excellent memory for you to remember about Canada. If your host family goes on a family outing then ask if you can come along. Most times you probably don't have to ask, they will just include you into the outing. However, remember to be polite when you are refusing. If you can not go together with your family, it's okay to be busy. Just try to join in with as many activities as your busy schedule will allow.

Well, there you have it, the 7 most important things to know when you are staying with a host family. If you have any questions about a homestay experience then contact Do Education

Until next time,

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Sincerely,
The Do Education Team
www.doeducation.net