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Explore These Newsletter Highlights
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Welcome to the November Edition!
Whether this is your first time receiving the host family newsletter or not, here is the link to view previous editions.
Hello everyone!
My name is Marina Jenkins, an AFS-USA alumni from the United States. It’s been a few years since I’ve returned from my incredible exchange year in Malaysia. I’m honored to be given the opportunity to share how thankful I am for my host family, AFS volunteers, as well as every person who helped me along the way. Additionally, I’d like to share how my experience helped me get to where I am now as a first generation college student studying Aerospace Engineering.
As a recipient of the YES Abroad scholarship, I was placed in Malaysia - an unfamiliar country I was excited to discover. Being placed in Malaysia with its diversity in people, culture, and food was an incredibly enriching experience. Both the wonderful moments with my new community, as well as the challenging moments with culture shock, taught me extremely valuable lessons. I learned independence, open-mindedness, and courage. Through my exchange year I learned more about who I am, and the kind of person I want to be.
Even doing chores with my big host family is an experience I wish I could go back to.
After my exchange, my host sister actually visited me in Florida, where I shared my unique culture firsthand and we visited the NASA Kennedy Space Center. She was the first person in her family to visit America!
 To conclude, my experience helped shape me as a person and left me feeling confident about achieving my goals. I am now continuing Gthe cycle of intercultural exchange as an AFS volunteer!
With gratitude,
Marina Jenkins
Looking for fun things you can do together this fall as a family? Here are a few of our favorite ideas!
- Make a Thankful Turkey
- Bake an apple or pumpkin pie (bonus for adding homemade whipped cream!)
- Jump in a pile of leaves
- Create a fall-inspired scavenger hunt which can be completed around town
- Read a fall themed book and then have a mini book club discussion together
Or create your own ideas! The important thing is to have fun together and take advantage of all the fun things fall has to offer. Submit your video or a photo of yourself creating a memory to marketing@afsusa.org and you could be featured on AFS-USA’s social media!
Read more about host sibling opportunities to connect through this article on Help & Learning for Host Families!
Question: We need help on how to get our student to talk with us more.
Advice from other AFS-USA community members:
- “The first thing we did was go through the questionnaire, a page a night at dinner. It broke the ice and helped set ground rules and expectations.”
- “Get one of those card packs that have questions that everyone in the group can answer, or ask everyone to name "highs, lows, and weirdest" in the evenings.”
- “Ask the liaison for some advice, ask them to have a three-way convo with you and the kid.”
- “I bring it up at dinner. ‘Hey, Maria, I thought this would be a good time to take a look at how things are going. I know this is new for all of us but we kind of thought we would be spending more time getting to know you...maybe you have been feeling this way as well. What do you think we could do so that we all feel more comfortable getting to know each other?’ Some ideas for together time would be, have dinner together (no phones or TV), have a movie night and game night once every few weeks, have the student help make dinner. Get these things on the calendar so no one makes other plans.”
- “Sometimes it can be difficult to get the student speaking out loud if they are not comfortable in the language. Use writing as a way of connecting with students. Writing can be done at a slower pace and not on the spot so sometimes students feel more comfortable with this approach.”
Participant safety is a top priority for AFS-USA and some of the biggest dangers teens face today can be found online. The Participant Safety section of Help & Learning for Host Families has articles with important information about social media safety, a guide to combatting sextortion, and protecting against financial scams. Exchange students may be even more vulnerable to online scams as they navigate language differences and cultural norms, so picking up on red flags may be more difficult for them.
Please discuss online safety with your student(s) and review these helpful resources beforehand:
Share this resource with your student(s):
The U.S. Department of State requires that an AFS volunteer be in contact with each hosted student and each host family at least once a month. Monthly Contacts, however, are more than just a regulatory matter; they often provide valuable information for volunteers and AFS-USA staff. When any questions, concerns, or challenges arise, one of the first things staff or a volunteer might do is check the student and host family's Monthly Contacts to see what, if any, pertinent information they can gain. This can help our team have a better sense of the broader context of the situation, which can help us come to a resolution.
As a host family, during a monthly contact meeting it’s important to share all information or concerns with your local AFS-USA student-family liaison as it pertains to student adjustment, behavior, or safety. While your reports to your liaison do not need to go on for hours, try to give as complete a picture as possible, even small things. This will enable AFS-USA volunteers and staff to better support you if issues or concerns do arise!
To read more about Monthly Contacts, please visit this page on Help & Learning.
With national midterm elections this week, we ask that all of our host families review our guidance on speaking with your student about current events or politics. It's important to treat any conversation about politics as a cross-cultural learning opportunity and be prepared to perhaps have differing opinions on topics – it's ok to agree to disagree. Like with any major political or global event, there is the possibility of protests. AFS-USA strongly recommends that students avoid large gatherings such as demonstrations and rallies that are political in nature. There is no way of ensuring that individuals who choose to participate in any large group gathering will be safe. There is also no way to be assured that every event will be properly policed, which causes a degree of uncertainty where anything might happen. Please talk to students about staying away from any such events.
Underlying cultural factors often influence a student’s approach to both school and learning. Is your student(s) having trouble reaching out for help or connecting with other students? Do they want to learn how they can participate in class or group work more effectively? Take a look at these handouts, which offer specific questions and strategies to help your student(s) build stronger relationships and mutual understanding in the classroom environment.
November is a good time to talk to your student(s) about the end of a semester and what it might entail, such as final exams and a schedule change. This is also when the sports season changes, so now’s the time to help your student(s) explore their winter sport or activity options.
Starting October 28, staff began emailing all core (aka non-sponsored programs) hosted participants with an e-signed copy of their DS-2019 form (Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor Status J-1). This version of the form includes the arrival date as the program start date and the school address in the Site of Activity box. Please advise your student(s) to keep this document stored somewhere safe, along with all original DS-2019 forms issued to date.
Students with travel endorsed (double signed) DS-2019 forms may continue to use their endorsed forms for travel after securing the appropriate travel permission from the local team and AFS Travel.
AFS-USA is excited to again partner with Belo Tours USA, a Chicago-based travel operator with over 20 years of experience offering cultural and educational trips for international exchange students! Hosted participants will soon receive information about exciting opportunities to explore destinations like California, New York, Hawaii, and more. These trips are designed specifically for AFS-USA students and chaperoned by Belo Tours staff, with AFS-USA volunteer/staff support based on availability.
Interested in learning more? Visit the Belo Tours article on Help & Learning.
November is National Gratitude Month! It’s easy to get caught up in the negative, but practicing gratitude can help us shift our perspective and focus on the positive. A grateful mindset can also reduce stress, support better health, and enhance overall well-being. Check out this article for simple, meaningful ways to incorporate gratitude into your daily life!
Now that you’ve welcomed an AFS student into your home, perhaps you’ve become interested in study abroad experiences for your family, friends, or community members – if so, you’re in luck! Thanks to the generosity of numerous donors who believe in our mission, U.S. teens can now apply for AFS Global Citizen Scholarships & Aid. Applications are assessed based on financial need and the quality of the study abroad application. AFS students have an openness to learn and be challenged, are flexible, resilient, compassionate, and curious, and are willing to contribute to ongoing dialogues and become lifelong active global citizens. Applicants must demonstrate these qualities in their study abroad application and interview.
In case you missed it, here is the November FLEX Newsletter that was sent out on 11/2 to FLEX students and host families!
Students are invited to celebrate international exchange and year-round cross-cultural connections with us this November (Participation is required for FLEX students). Resources and materials on this page have been put together to prepare students to share information about their country and culture in their classrooms and community, whether that is through an in-person or virtual presentation. They can also enter contests to win a variety of prizes!
Here's what Rey, a former exchange student from Indonesia, had to say about Global Learning Week: "Global Learning Week (GLW) is a very important moment which can be used to reflect and embrace where we came from. Being someone who could represent their own country (Indonesia) in a truly different country is such an honor. On the other side, it's also important to acknowledge others' backgrounds and celebrate those differences as something that's incredibly beautiful.”
Follow AFS-USA on Instagram for Global Learning Week highlights!
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