Garfield Preparatory Language and Cultural Academy (Garfield Prep) recently announced its next search and selection process for host families who are willing and able to get involved in the learning experiences of students from Beijing, China enrolled in local community public and/or private high schools.
A host family is as vital as their natural family. Host families represent the diversity of American culture and tradition – they come from varied social economic, religious and racial backgrounds. Among people who truly take advantage of the hosting experience are parents planning to give their own families a glimpse of the world while being introduced to Chinese culture, experience and traditions without requiring you to travel aboard.
Host families do not have to have children, although some have grown up children who no longer live in the home. The Beijing students staying with host families have experiences that enable them to enrich their lives in very unique ways and better interact with their new community successfully. All of our host families go through an extensive selection process and our host parents must at least 25 years of age.
Studies that show the benefits of parental involvement are applicable to host family involvement in an international student’s education. Involvement is one of the most important factors in building student self-esteem and academic achievement. Moreover, most experts agree that parental involvement should go beyond attendance at teacher conferences and open house. We realize, however, that each family is unique – with its own priorities, needs, talents, and time constraints – so we try to provide as many different kinds of opportunities for involvement as possible.
Along with providing room and board, it is our hope that each host family considers the host student as a part of their immediate family. Through sharing each day and experiences as well as events, like birthdays, holidays, ways of life, evening dinners, sporting events, movies and in some cases household work, host families can easily give a Beijing student a genuine American experience.
We look forward to meeting you and having you participation in our selection process as we convene the next cohort for host families to house our Beijing students. For more information, please contact Garfield Prep at (805) 439-2598 or www.educatedabroad.com.