What IFI shares with the students

You may be wondering what your student will be expecting about staying in your home. If so, good! It’s almost certain that students will have a lot on their minds as they stay with you in your home. IFI tries to anticipate some of the things that will be different and challenging for the students. It would be a good idea to read over the information we send them so that you have an idea of some of the things that may be very strange for your student when staying with you and your family. A pdf is available here.

What you should share about your home

As you review the information that IFI shares with students about staying with an American family, you may have some ideas of things you will want to share with your student that will make them more at home during their stay. Terrific! We strongly recommend that you make no assumptions about what your student may or may not already know or expect.

For example, while it is good to point your student to the washing machine if they need to do laundry; it would be better to show them how to load the soap and start the wash cycle. Another example is showing a student how to engage the shower head and drain in the bath tub, or showing them to put the shower liner inside the tub while showering to avoid water on the bathroom floor. There are probably numerous tips or home etiquettes that would be helpful for your student to know about your home specifically.

Here is an example of what one volunteer shares with all students who stay in her home: Sample Home Tips (.doc). This is just an example to give you ideas. Please feel free to download and modify this to the specifics of your home and student needs.