 Home Stay USA '01Taking students home with you (and returning them) safely |
 In the summer I left Japan, I returned home with nine students who did a home stay with my family.
Why? I thought it would be a nice way to return some of the hospitality my friends had shown me. I also felt it would help me get over some of the “homesickness” for Japan if I weren’t leaving it all at once. It was also of use in putting my mind in Japanese-speaking mode in an “English” context. And, as I had spent three long years in Japan taking public baths with co-workers and eating living animals, it was a way to get revenge. I took nine students: one 6-nensei girl, five junior high boys, and two senior high girls. Of them, only one was able to converse in English. They stayed about 10 days in the States, sleeping at my parents’ summer cottage and an adjacent cottage we rented for the occasion. I highly recommend it to anyone, and below is some of the advice I’d offer. |
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Japanese language Having gone into Japan with a working vocabulary of about 20 words, I can say that it is quite possible for a person to go to function in another country without speaking the language. However, realize that unless your students are particularly mature, this is nonetheless a bigger step for them than it was for you.
I do speak Japanese – now. My proficiency is about that of an elementary 3-nensei, and I passed 3-kyu of the Japanese Proficiency Exam. As it is, I think I could have pulled off the American side of the trip with far less ability than I have. All students were required to take a small Japanese-English—English Japanese dictionary with them, however. |
 Initiating and planning What was ever so helpful was a “mover,” Moriyama-kachou, a very motivated person in the town who had served as my former boss. He was instrumental in getting the JET Program started in my town. He helped with communications, logistics, and every other multi-syllable word you can think of. What was important was having someone like Moriyama-kachou, not his actual position; at the time he was in the tax section of the town bureaucracy, but because of his connections and motivation, the trip succeeded.
It was important to make some decisions before we publicized the trip. This included when, how much, who could come, and where we would go. This is important in that if you look disorganized to an audience in Japan, I think your proposal can be easily dismissed. I tried to come across as organized as possible, but never covered anything up. If there was a potential problem, I addressed it. To add to the "image," I also made a color map of our destination. When the time came, Moriyama-kachou and I met with another interested principal and a newspaper reporter, who made it a story and spread the word. We also made flyers for every junior high and senior high student in town. Attached to the flyers was an application form. Before the trip, we had two organizational meetings with parents the students. It was difficult to get them all together at one time, but I felt this important because many of the students did not know each other. |
 Money We petitioned the town, board of education, Hokkaido government, and local Soroptimists club, but to no avail. As it was, anyone who could pay could go.
The most expensive aspect of the trip was the plane ticket, costing about Y175,000 (USD1400 at the time). Via the Internet, we found a broker in Tokyo who could give us this great deal. After that, the biggest cost was a rental van to hold nine students and myself. Finding one of this size was difficult, and ultimately what set the limit on the number of students we could take (eleven was the limit). Also, different states had laws for transporting students; Pennsylvania wouldn’t allow me to take more than size if I didn’t have a bus license, but New York did. Other allowances included food (which we mostly made ourselves), a day of lodging at a hotel, train tickets to the airport, insurance, and a “safety net” of about USD200 per student. I required every student to have travel insurance, but let parents choose the specifics from a travel insurance applications the ticket agency had sent us. We were also able to locate a service that would provide translation for medical emergencies in the States in case we needed it. After budgeting, I was able to tell the parents that their children could come on this trip with just the money they paid, and not need any extra. As it was, they each took a lot, but it’s important to assure the families financially that all costs will be assessed up front. The total cost for each student was Y240,000 (USD1920), and when they left I was able to return about USD150 to each student that wasn’t paid. There was only one shock – between the time we initially publicized the trip and we had our first organizational meeting, the exchange rate slipped, making it more expensive on the Japanese side. It’s important to build such a possibility into your initial budget, because you don’t want to keep asking parents for money. |
 Students Who went? The only strong desire I had was that the children would come by themselves, the only adult being me. The reason behind this was that in school in Japan, students would often ask the Japanese teachers questions they wanted to ask me. The teacher would relay the question to me, I’d answer her, and she’d tell the student.
When we initially advertised, it was in March before the school year ended. My thought was that the trip should be open to any student who was receiving formal English education at school, meaning any 6-nensei (who would be in junior high by the time we went in the summer), to any 3-nensei senior high student (who would have graduated by then). As it was, we received no monetary assistance, and so I felt it fair to open the trip to any student. There was some vexation about this at the Board of Education, but understanding Japanese selectively can be advantageous. If my town were larger than the 5,500 people it is, we may have had to have a secondary selection procedure. Some people suggested an English test, but it is difficult to disqualify a junior high student who hasn’t had as many years of instruction as a senior high student. The deciding criteria were anyone whose parents could pay for the trip, on a ‘first-come-first-serve’ basis. As it was, we had twelve seriously inquire, and nine eventually went. |
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Other logistics It’s important to think the whole trip through. I was returning from a 3-year stay in Japan, and had no desire to chaperon the students back home to Hokkaido. This was an important point because they made the return trip by themselves, and parents’ greatest worry was this. I managed to get a direct flight from New York to Narita, and informed the airlines that they may need assistance changing terminals to the flight to Hokkaido (they can sometimes arrange a designated employee to help minors, but it costs and is not always available). As it was, the students called when the returned and said they had no problems whatsoever.
One important point if you sponsor a home stay – limit the amount of luggage per person. We said one carry-on and one checked, or two carry-ons. International air flights can take more, but given their propensity to over-pack and the fact that we all had to fit into a van, this was one rule on which I did not bend. They also had to carry it all. |
 Activities The most fun part of the planning was thinking about what we would do. Originally, I had made a day-to-day calendar with activities, but changed it to an itinerary that would be more flexible with weather. My parents live near Washington, DC in the summer, and so that was a definite goal, as was America’s first capitol, Philadelphia. We also included Hershey Chocolate World, a family reunion, swimming, a hike in the Appalachians, and a visit to my grandmother’s historical mansion.
What did they actually like? I thought walking in the Mall in DC was wonderful, with the monolithic architecture and history. They liked shopping malls. It was also puzzling to think Seven-Eleven got more pictures than did Independence Hall in Philadelphia. As it was, they begged to eat at convenience stores and immerse their days in gift shops. (“You don’t have omiyage in America?”) Kids, sheez. But when they left, did I mention, they cried? Was it worth it? Mochiron! Of course. The only thing I would do differently would be to take fewer students, so as to lessen the wear on the sole Japanese-English speaker in the crowd, myself. I accomplished what I wanted to do: take a group of students home so they could see a foreign country, temper homesickness for Japan, speak Japanese in my home land, and get – of course – revenge. |