About 20 Japanese exchange students are coming to Centre Wellington District High School (CWDHS) for one day this fall.
Muskoka Language Institute Homestay has been running the exchange program with the Toyota East Japan Technical Skills Academy for a number of years.
For the last three, the Japanese students have been spending one of their exchange days at CWDHS, where they’re paired with a Canadian buddy.
“I believe they put on a cultural presentation for their buddies as well, but they do attend class with them and kind of spend the day with them,” said Guelph homestay coordinator Nikki Rider-Meredith.
One of the factors in making the trip a success is pairing the exchange students with host families in Centre Wellington and Guelph.
“Ideally it would be wonderful to have all the hosts from Fergus-Elora or even … people who live on the outskirts and on a farm,” Rider-Meredith said.
“But the reality is we don’t have the host base in that area yet so we still do rely on Guelph hosts …”
She said the program is still looking for host families for almost half the exchange students.
The host is responsible for providing a private bedroom, three meals a day and snacks. The host family will be compensated for these expenses.
“It’s not meant to bring in a lot of cash,” Rider-Meredith said.
“Our company is very much about … sharing your home and your family and your community and … it’s harder with these short-term students that come for five days or a week … but it’s still a great experience.”
The exchange students will be in Canada with their host family from Sept. 20 to 25.
On Sept. 21 they will tour the Toyota plant in Cambridge and go shopping at a mall.
On Sept. 22 they will spend the day at CWDHS. On Sept. 23 the students will travel to Niagara Falls for the day.
“It’s a big trip for them,” Rider-Meredith said. “Everybody always wants to see Niagara Falls.”
On Sept. 24 the students will spend the day with their host families.
“Some will have a big family dinner, others will take them to Toronto,” she said. “There’s no requirement for hosts to go and do anything big and fancy.
“A lot of them will just walk around … whether it’s downtown Guelph or downtown Elora or Fergus, kind of show them the community or … sometimes they like to drive around and show them the farms and whatever.”
The students will fly back to Japan on Sept. 25.
Rider-Meredith said hosting isn’t for everyone but for many it works out very well.
“Any of my hosts that have young kids, they just love it, they think it’s amazing having this person from the other side of the world come and stay in their house,” she said.
“It’s definitely for people who are interested in culture and … learning about other cultures.”
The process to become a host doesn’t happen overnight so Rider-Meredith asks anyone interested to contact her immediately at 519-994-2656 or at guelph@mlihomestay.com.
