By on January 4th, 2016

3 Tips for Hosting Students Learning English

Most of the students who take advantage of our placement services for homestays are coming to the United States to learn English as a second language. That means that most of these students have already had some English education, but they may not be fluent, especially in the first few days and weeks.

Language immersion is an amazing thing, and you’ll be surprised at just how quickly your student starts to pick up more and more English. As a host family, you can make this process faster and easier if you use just a few tips for hosting students learning English.

Take Them with You to Run Errands

Your kids might be bored with running errands and might hate going to the grocery store, but your student is probably not going to feel the same way. Just by taking them with you when you go to the grocery store and run other errands, you’ll expose them to a lot more chances to read and hear English in action.

When grocery shopping, you can team up and find ingredients that your student uses at home a lot, and you can compare the words for them in English and their home language. Then you can pick up some familiar foods that will make your student feel more at home when you cook together that evening.

Speak to Them Normally

This might seem obvious, but as much as you can try to speak normally in English with them. Don’t just point at different things and recite the names for them, and don’t talk down to them. Let them know that they can ask you to explain anything, and that you would love to learn some of their language, too. Then, when they don’t understand something, you can help them out, and both of you can learn.

Introduce Them to Your Friends

Finally, introduce your student to your friends and/or your kids’ friend (if they’re closer in age). This will give them more exposure to different English speakers, so they’ll get more immersion and more practice, along with a chance to make more friends, too.

Basically, the more you speak with your student and give them opportunities to get out in the community, the more you’ll help them hone their English skills. By the time they leave, they could be speaking as well as anyone you know!

For more information on hosting international and ESL students, contact us today.