7/6/2007 - Planting seeds of understanding worldwide
Hundreds of foreign-exchange students from all around the world are leaving the Valley right now after a year of living with host families here, attending our high schools and colleges, watching our Grizzlies, going to prom, cheering on our Fresno State Bulldogs and seeing our exciting state from top to bottom.
On the eve of their leaving the United States, a group of students gathered at the home of host parents Janet and Rob Morello of Clovis. Joe Hollak of The Bee’s interactive media department talked with them for a few minutes, and “gathered some parting thoughts on video”http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/76074.html.
My husband, Rich, and I have hosted and counseled many of these kids over the last dozen years or so and we’ve done a lot of traveling to see them in their home countries. Not every kid has been a perfect match for our family, so we’ve swapped them with folks with more common interests, but that’s all part of the fun. We were far too quiet a family for a sports-minded Dane we hosted for a few weeks this year, but Bob and Natalie Teague, a go-go-go nonstop sports family with three boys was a much better fit for him. They had a blast together, running every night after dinner, going water-skiing, mountain climbing, scuba diving in Hawaii.
The exchange idea has been going on for about 60 years—since some ambulance drivers on the battlefields decided there had to be a better way for people in the world to get along. They envisioned teens from around the world coming to the U.S. to get to know us. And perhaps, there would be a more peaceful world. That’s been happening ever since.
Many times, the students are crying when they first get here every August, frightened and homesick, not sure if they did the right thing packing up and coming to this hot place with all the strange food and the language they just barely understand. And at the end of the year, they are crying again, heartbroken to leave their new friends and host families, full of memories of their first hunting trip, first limo ride, first time to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. They are normal American teens while they are here: they fall in love, get grounded for breaking the rules, fall in love, become cheerleaders and band members, feed the homeless, serve detention, sing in the choir, babysit their host siblings and take their turn with the yard work and the dishes.
When they arrive, they are wondering about our strange dependence on fast food, yet at the end they are begging for one last visit to Taco Bell, one last In ‘n’ Out Burger. They wonder why we are so strict about drinking alcohol yet so lenient about driving. Though they often arrive with seven or eight years of English, it’s rarely easy at the beginning to understand the slang and the complete immersion process feels like drowning. At the end, they understand everything, have the slang mastered and know words their host families would prefer that they didn’t know!
I think it would be great if more American teenagers studied in another country for even a few months. They can become conversationally fluent in another language, broaden their understanding of the world, learn compassion for those who come here not knowing anyone and, at the same time, they will be living examples to the world of how interested in the world American teenagers are. That can only help! I think Americans have a reputation for being self-centered. The truth is a lot of us just don’t have the opportunity to travel.
Another bonus of foreign travel is that young people, wired for rebellion at that age, suddenly see their lives and their parents through new eyes. They become very appreciative of their own families and admire their home town in a whole new way. In the end, most agree they are changed forever, but there is no place like home!
Here is some information about foreign study programs through Fresno State.
There are lots of exchange organizations on the internet with different purposes. Here’s a list of approved programs. These particular kids on video are from AFS USA. Enjoy… Hey, and start up that travel fund right now. Or think about hosting a foreign kid so he or she gets to see an American family up close and personal—families are always needed from one week to year-long stays. Watch The Bee, they often put their requests in the newspaper.
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