Hosting an international student can be one of life’s most rewarding and life-changing experiences and is beneficial in countless ways. Not only will the student benefit from sharing your family home, but you will also be part of the global educational revolution which is helping to smooth cultural differences through shared personal experiences.

International students are drawn to Australia from multiple destinations, particularly Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Germany. Welcoming a young student from one of these countries into your home is likely to be a rich and rewarding experience which can be genuinely exciting. Casual family BBQ’s and chats can become opportunities for animated explorations of new perspectives and glimpses into foreign cultures far removed from the laid back Adelaide lifestyle. An international student can even provide your own children a glimpse into another culture and broaden their perspectives on life. Welcoming international students to your family home can sometimes be the first time children may be exposed to someone whose first language is not English and who have different cultural etiquettes which they can learn from. Hosting an international student can promote an interest in learning a foreign language amongst your children.

Hosting families have different motives for welcoming international students to their homes. Many simply enjoy sharing their lives with teenagers and young adults from overseas while others feel their family gains from intimate exposure to a foreign culture. Some couples feel a void when their own children leave home so enjoy a ‘replacement’ youth from overseas filling the family vacuum. Even mature families whose children have flown the coup, can host an international student, benefiting from the company and making sensible use of vacant bedrooms.

No two homestay families are the same just as no two students are identical. Becoming a homestay host is a rewarding experience that allows families and individuals to make new friends, share interests and hobbies and to develop lifelong relationships, not to mention earning potential holiday destinations when your student returns home.