Customer Reviews

Host Family Survival Kit

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book "Host Family Survival Kit: A Guide for American Families" was an informative book, but a little hard to read. It also seemed to discuss a lot of negative things that many happen to a host family. The book was not uplifting, and read a lot like a high-school textbook. The book is also very out-of-date, even though it was only published 15 years ago. This book provides adequate information for a prospective host family, but not a must have.

I read this book a month or so before our exchange student arrived and, although I didn't believe at the time that it had all the answers, I was not prepared for how utterly useless it was for our family. In contrast to the timeline given in the book, our student seemed to adjust quickly and well, then things got progressively worse as he became more and more comfortable in our home. He started out on his best behavior and ended up completely ignoring our house rules and the cultural norms of the school and community. I'm seriously considering writing my own book and calling it "The Alternative Host Family Survival Guide".

When I purchased this book, it was with the intention of giving it to my Host Families prior to their student's arrival. I expected it to have the students' 9 stages with suggestions on how to help them through each one. Well, the author does do that, but also prepares host parents for the probability that they will begin to rationalize their own culture!

High school exchange students arrive loaded with questions about the American lifestyle, and it is their innocent yet intense questions that provoke us to recognize that almost every thing we do is based on our learned culture. The author prepares us to recognize our students' and our own strange reactions as ignorance of each others' cultures, not rudeness or even anger over simple things like refusing a special dessert.

I have put this book on my "Must Read" list for prospective host families. Reading it can definitely prevent huge misunderstandings and enhance the experience for everyone involved in the adventure of a lifetime.

Not only is it a "Must Read", I will also refer to it frequently during my Orientation Meetings with both Host Families and Exchange Students.

I am an exchange student coordinator for students that come from very different cultures from the United States. This book was somewhat helpful to me in discovering different ways to explain to families concepts such as "unspoken rules" or how to treat an exchange student within your household, as well as cultural differences.

This book does help families understand their undetected cultural biases in a way that I haven't seen in other publications.

Not all host families work out and I intend to use this book as a resource for families that are having challenges arranging to life with an exchange student.

I have directly supervised 9 students over 1.5 years and indirectly with hundreds more.

Although some of the information is a little out of date, I found plenty of useful tips in this book. We had a foreign exchange daughter who ended up leaving because of "culture shock". My copy ended up underlined and highlighted in several places. I feel like we could have helped her more with some of the information I learned. Definately helpful for someone contemplating hosting.