Has anyone experience of school exchange trips?

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Loopyloulou
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Post by Loopyloulou »

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Last edited by Loopyloulou on Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Freya
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Post by Freya »

First exchange trip for DD when she was about 14 was with a French girl. DD went to France first, phoned me at the first opportunity to say . . .
"Mum, they speak French here all the time!" I kid you not!

Return visit saw the French girl (no english at all) desperately homesick and constantly in tears, despite the fact that I am fluent in French and basically spoke to her in French the whole time.

Next exchange was with two lovely German kids (brother and sister). Had to step in and host the brother as well because someone had pulled out at the very last minute (how bad is that?). They spoke english better than DD and earned their keep by assembling a bed and a proper table tennis table - they offered and did it very very efficiently!

Finally when DD was 16 she came home one day and announced that she had volunteered us to host a Canadian rugby player as the P.E department were really struggling. "OMG" says me. "Well I'll have to see, er I'll need some details. when are they coming?" "Oh they are waiting at the leisure centre" says DD. :shock: :shock:

So we host the 17 year old (male :shock: ) rugby player and agree to DD accompanying him (and lots ofher friends) to the end of tour party at the rugby club and around town. DD had a great time, probably drank more than she should and came home without the rugby player :shock: Did she just forget about him? Who knows? Poor lad had to phone up at 4:00am because he was in a cab and couldn't remember where our house was. :shock:

Enriching experiences! :lol:
KES Parent

Post by KES Parent »

overpeck wrote:What is happening about new rules for criminal record checks/exchanges??
I'm sure I heard MR Balls saying on TV that parents hosting foreign students were going to have to be CRB checked, and that this would make all our children much safer. It then transpired that only British parents were going to be CRB checked as even Balls can't make people in other countries do what he says. So how does that make our children safer?

I am ashamed to say I told KESboy that he couldn't do French A level (his favourite GCSE subject) because of the prospect of an exchange which normally took place in Lower 6th. Then the year he would have done it the school abandoned the exchange, but too late for him to swap back to French. :cry: I would imagine if all parents are now having to be CRB checked all exchanges will simply die a natural death and groups of pupils will go and stay in youth hostels or residential centres, which of course will be a whole lot safer. :wink:

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Bad Dad
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Post by Bad Dad »

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I would be nervous about hosting a foreign exchange as well, but I think I would put that to one side and have a go. Back in my school days, I had 2 great French exchange trips in consecutive years with the same French kid, and it was a really positive experience. Things did come to a head at one point when I stole his girlfriend, but he got over it. ...
hermanmunster
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Post by hermanmunster »

Children, children!!! please can we stick to the topic ......
mystery
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Post by mystery »

Carry on, it's getting interesting now
sallyj
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Post by sallyj »

Oooooh,you lot make hosting seem positively scary :?
I went on fab exchanges to both France & Germany as a young teen & loved almost every minute-too much meat for my veggie liking :lol:
The families were lovely & the girls who came back on the return visits seemed to enjoy themselves too. My Dad did take to locking the pantry at one point when my younger sisters rather large French exchange student attempted to eat us out of house & home :lol:
We are now preparing to host a child from Chernobyl.Obviously we won't be sending a child back there,& the fundraising to enable the exchange to happen in the first place is staggering,but we're hoping it will all go well.
CRB checks are compulsory. Despite the fact that hubby has dozens because of the nature of his work & we both have them for Scouts.
My biggest worries are the length of time we will be hosting-a whole month :shock: & the fact that we don't speak a word of Russian.
We're assured there will be lots of support,& a lot of the childrens time is taken up with health checks & organised trips,so it's fingers crossed & roll on June ! Anyone out there tried anything similar ???????
KB
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Post by KB »

Wishing you all the very best for June.
Not sure exchanges with Western Europe give much insight to different cultures any more but what you are doing sounds like it could be beneficial for your family as well as the Russian student.
We had all sorts of foriegn students staying when I was a teenager & it taught us a great deal about different cultures and international politics.
Hopefully the school will do some work with the English students so they get to understand about where their visitors are 'coming from' in all senses!
sallyj
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Location: Lincolnshire

Post by sallyj »

Thanks for the good wishes :)
We've known about these visits for a few years now,but I always had reservation about being a host. I always worried that we would be showing these children from very different & in many cases extremely poor backgrounds a glimpse of a life they will only know for a few short weeks. It seemed so mean. These children are only ever allowed one visit-there is a huge waiting list. Many arrive with only the clothes they stand up in. We in comparison live the life of riley !
The organisers are genuinely lovely people who have been hosting for years,& assured us that a month spent in British fresh air,with healthy uncontaminated food is proven to boost the childrens immune systems.
I also worried about home sickness. a month is a very long time away from family & loved ones. Ah well,time will tell............
Ed's mum
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Post by Ed's mum »

I saw this particular 'exchange' mentioned recently on television. I cannot remember the statistic now but it really does improve their health doesn't it? The statistic they mentioned was really thought-provoking. How does one go about hosting a child from Chernobyl?
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