Welcoming Students with ENCOUNTERS
Host families help students experience everyday life through real connection, participation, and cultural exchange.
Host families help students experience everyday life through real connection, participation, and cultural exchange.
Hosting isn't about entertaining a student or becoming their tour guide. It's about welcoming them into everyday family life -- sharing meals, routines, conversations, activities, and the ordinary moments that often become the most meaningful parts of an exchange.
The experience is built around inclusion, communication, and shared participation in normal daily life.
What hosting involves
Host families provide students with a welcoming and supportive home environment during their program.
This typically includes:
• including students in daily family life
• providing meals and a place to stay
• helping students adapt to routines and schedules
• encouraging communication and participation
• offering a supportive and respectful environment
Students participate as temporary members of the household while continuing their school and program experience.
Support and coordination
ENCOUNTERS provides structure and ongoing coordination throughout the program.
This includes:
• preparation and orientation before arrival
• communication throughout the program
• coordination with schools, students, and families
• local support when questions or concerns arise
• ongoing guidance during the experience
Host families are supported throughout the program and are never expected to manage situations independently.
Why families participate
Many host families value the opportunity to:
• experience cultural exchange firsthand
• build meaningful international connections
• introduce students to everyday life and traditions
• create new perspectives for their own families
• support student growth and confidence
Host-family relationships can become one of the most memorable parts of the entire program.
Students remember the family. Families remember the student.
Sometimes those relationships continue long after the program. For many students and families, the relationships formed through hosting become one of the most memorable parts of the entire
exchange.
For families with children, hosting can also bring international exchange directly into the home — giving young people an opportunity to communicate across cultures, share their own world, and see everyday life through someone else's eyes.