I’d like to say thanks to the nation of Australia for taking good care of my daughter. She spent two weeks in Adelaide doing a homestay with some of the girls from her school, and had a great time, making lots of friends, eating kangaroo meat and practicing her English. I was pretty sure she’d enjoy herself, since back during my ESL teaching days I’d sent many groups of students off to Australia (and also New Zealand) and had them come back with glowing reports of how much they enjoyed their time there. Sadly, I’ve sometimes had the opposite experience sending students to do homestay in the U.S. (and to a lesser extent Canada), where all too often people view taking ESL students as a source of income, accepting several students at the same time, which makes the homestay experience for each student less authentic.If you’d like to connect with Japan in fun and new ways, maybe you should consider opening your home to a homestay student. Before I came to Japan my family did this several times, and we had a blast as we worked to overcome the (inevitable) communication issues that come up. If you do decide that taking a homestay student sounds like fun, see about finding a reputable program, perhaps by googling “[your city] ESL homestay” or contacting the ESL school attached to a university near you. Be sure and do your homework about the program, preferably talking with families that have participated in it, and ask lots of questions. A program that will help you prepare for potential problems ahead of time, like what to do if your Japanese student tries to wash their body outside of the bathtub like they do in Japan, would be best. You might just find yourself with a new friend from Japan (other than me, that is).
My daughter had fun doing homestay in Australia.
