Jak uspesne najit novou hostitelskou rodinu?

Nejlepsi navod asi neexistuje. Ja jsem to posledni cas zkousel a vim, jak je to slozite. Proto zde trochu rozvedu, co vsechno jsem pro nalezeni nove hostitelske rodiny udelal a jaky byl vysledek. Problem s rodinou jsem mel nekolikat. Neco malo popisuji v clanku “Nahle stehovani“. To vsak skoncilo bez vetsich nasledku. O poslednim budoucim premisteni lze nalezt vice informaci v textu “Zmena rodiny 2“. Tak to jen tak na okraj, aby kazdy vedel, jaka je moje situace.

Mym ukolem po telefonatu s koordinatorkou bylo najit si novou hostitelskou rodinu, jelikoz s moji nynejsi mam trochu problemy, predevsim s transportem. Volne rodiny jiz nejsou, problem byl na zacatku roku naopak alespon vpresovat nynejsi vymenne studenty do rodin ochotnych spolupracovat s organizaci CIEE. Preci jen ale nejde k nekomu prijit a navrhnout mu, ze bych se rad nastehoval na dalsi pulrok do jeho domu. No a tak jsem premyslel, jak na to.

Prvni cesta byla zeptani se ucitelu po hodine, jestli neznaji nejakou rodinu, ktera touzi po exchange studentovi. To se mi ale moc neosvedcilo. Kdyz jsem jel s ucitelem hudby autem, jen tak jsem prohodil muj problem a on rikal, ze se zepta. V patek mi dokonce oznamil, ze mi nasel dve nove rodny, ktere by si me vzali do sve pece. Jedna z nich je rodina spoluzacky z Marching Bandu, ktera bydli blizko skoly a ma dve dcery. Dalsi starsi par bydli hned vedle nich. Jejich deti jsou jiz dospele. Nyni tedy musim resit otazku “Jakou si vybrat?” a ne “Kde ji sehnat?“, coz je mi popravde mnohem prijemnejsi. Jakou rodinu byste mi poradili?

Aby toho jeste nebylo dost, taky jsem se nenapadne zminil rodine, v niz ucim na saxofon. A protoze mi i oni chteli pomoct, ve stejny okamzik mamka meho zaka obeslala vsechny rodiny z Marching Bandu. Jeji dopis si muzete precist ke konci prispevku. Jeste nevim uspesnost teto kampane, ale text je natolik dlouhy, aby informoval a zaroven neodradil. Je tak krasne videt dopis o sobe. 🙂

Myslim si tedy, ze sehnani rodiny nebude az zas tak velky problem. Rodina musi tedy jeste pred prijetim studenta projit nejakym papirovanim a pravidly ze strany CIEE, ale ty by nemely byt nijak prisne.

Netusil jsem, ze je v programu “Rok na High School” takova volnost pri vybirani nove rodiny. Opravdu to takhle funguje. S nekym se seznamite a muzete se k nemu za par dni nastehovat.

A ted jiz jenom ten dopis:

Dear Band Families:

Due to changes in his host family’s circumstances, Josef will be unable to continue staying with them after the winter holidays. We are trying to help him find a new host family and were hoping that one of our band families could make a spot in their home for him for the rest of the 2007/08 school year (through June). Being hosted by a band family would be an ideal situation because he already is acquainted with all the band kids, it would put him in the correct attendance area for our school, plus, being with a band family would alleviate some of the special transportation problems associated with being in band. Presumably, if Josef would need special transportation to jazz band, a concert, or a field trip, the family’s student would be going the same place anyway. Other band families, like mine, while we may not have a good permanent sleeping quarters to offer to Josef, could help by providing after school transportation/activities, covering field trip or other transportation issues, covering schedule conflicts (hosting Josef occasionally overnight if you have something planned for just your family), and inviting Josef over periodically for special occasions and events (spending holidays, etc).

Hosting an exchange student requires the following:

You will need to have your family participate in an interview with Josef’s coordinator, Brenda Pereira. She may be reached by phone at (telefonni cislo skryto) or by email at (emailova adresa skryta) to set up the interview.

Once the interview is completed, you will complete an online application with the exchange organization at http://www.ciee.org/hs/opportunities/host_family. The main website addresss is http://www.ciee.org (Council on International Education Exchange). Check out the website to find out more about the program and what the expectations are for host families and for the exchange student.

Once the online application is completed, the Council requires that the residence be inspected to confirm that you have adequate permanent arrangements to accommodate a long term guest.

The Council will run a criminal background check on immediate family members.

There are no fees associated with any of these background checks or with hosting the student.

Once assigned, exchange students are responsible for paying for their own lunch and for incidentals (buying souvenirs, movie tickets, etc) The host family is responsible for providing the student with a breakfast each day and dinner. The host family is not required to underwrite all of the student’s expenses (i.e if the family goes on an outing, they are not required to underwrite the costs of tickets, rides, etc for the student unless they genuinely want to do so. This would be an occasion where if the family did not wish the student to attend a pre-arranged outing, or wanted the student to attend but could not afford to underwrite the student’s costs, and/or the student did not want to attend or could not afford the costs on his own that another band family could host the student for the weekend)

Hosting an exchange student is a commitment that the host family must fully understand and embrace willingly. To be blunt, it is a very anxious situation for a student who has taken a huge leap of faith to leave their known world behind to embark on an adventure, only to have the host family decide that hosting them is “too much” to undertake after only a month or so. To the student, it feels like rejection and reflects poorly on us as a host nation. While I would strongly encourage anyone to consider opening their home to Josef, I also feel compelled, for his sake, to encourage you to make sure you can keep that commitment, with lots of help from his friends’ families to help you out.

Josef is a joy to know and an easy-going guest. He does like practicing his saxophone! Be prepared for lots of music. He has inspired and helped my younger son with his music immensely. Getting to know an exchange student like Josef can be a wonderful experience, with relationships built that last a lifetime.

Thank you for considering this.

Best,
Debra Vaca
(telefonni cislo skryto)