Host Families
Host Family Responsibilities
As a host family, you have certain responsibilities to fulfill:
As a Rotary Youth Exchange host family, it is your responsibility to:
- provide room and board for your exchange student.
- exercise general parental supervision over the student just as you would your own children,
- and involve him or her in daily household chores and activities.
However, most host families’ involvement with their student does not stop at room and board. The families often share their native background while also learning about their visitor’s culture. This does not mean that you have to arrange elaborate entertainment, but simply make the student a part of your family. Give him or her the opportunity to share in the same aspects of your family life that most teenage students experience in your culture.
Other suggested host family responsibilities include:
- meeting your exchange student on arrival in your country and making the student feel at home as part of the family
- helping the student achieve language mastery
- involving the student in obligations similar to those established for your own family members
- helping the student meet Rotary obligations, such as attending Rotary functions, including club and/or district meetings
- seeing that the student meets other young people
- providing a safe environment for the student and ensuring the student’s safety
- being tolerant of differences and willing to change your own ideas
