Home Stay
Program

Live in the safest city in the country!
Irvine is ranked again for being the safest city in the U.S. FOA host families live in the Orange County area follow the same direction when it comes to safety.
The city of Irvine is our main city where our Study Center is located along with most Host families we work with.
Homestay families provide the comfort and safety of a family while providing room and board for the student. All families will incorporate them within their family life, and take them to family or friend gatherings
Students will have the chance to learn English through genuine interactions and conversations by staying with families who live in the Orange County and Los Angeles Country area.
Each family is visited and interviewed before approval.
Host families provide two meals a day, a comfortable clean bed, transportation to our facility for ESL, warm family interaction, and much, much more.

NEW: Referral Program $50

Refer a friend or family member, and earn $50 per approved family!

International students will live with an American family during their adventure.

Each host family provides the student an immersive, diverse, and rich experience of living with an American family. FOA students will share their own culture to the host family. Both student and family will have many opportunities to learn and express their stories and experiences about their respective families, friends, interests, and culture.

Many of our host families have continued long term relationships with our students over the years, and have even visited our FOA students in their home country.

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Fnd a Host Family

Students

Students will have the chance to learn English through genuine interactions and conversations by staying with families who live in the Orange County and Los Angeles Country area.

Each host family provides the comfort and safety of a family while providing room and board for the student. All families will incorporate them within their family life, and take them to family or friend gatherings.

Students will have the chance to learn English through genuine interactions and conversations by staying with families who live in the Orange County and Los Angeles Country area.

Each family is visited before approval. Host families provide two or three meals a day, a comfortable clean bed, help with transportation, family interaction, and much more.

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Host Families

Let your family enjoy the opportunity of hosting an international student for a short term. Experience a new culture without getting on a plane, and let international culture visit your own home. If your family has interested in learning about becoming a host family for FOA this is a wonderful opportunity to expand/enhance your cultural awareness.

Homestay families provide the comfort and safety of a family while providing room and board for the student. All families will incorporate them within their family lifestyle, and take them to family or friend gatherings when opportunities are available.

Students will have the chance to learn English through genuine interactions and conversations by staying with host families who live in Orange County

Each family is visited before approval by one of FOA staff Homestay Coordinators. Host families provide two meals a day, a comfortable clean bed, transportation to our facility for ESL, warm family interaction, and much, much more. FOA will provide a Homestay stipend to provide for some of the cost of your student(s) accommodations and food. The Homestay stipend is based on the student's duration of the visit with the host family.

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To find out which groups are available for hosting please click below: Group 1: 12/22-12/29 (7 Nights) Ages from 14-17 $280 each student/$560 total double placement (2 students total) $15 X-Mas Gift for each student Group 2: 12/23-12/28 (5 Nights) Ages from 14-17 $200 each student/$400 total double placement (2 students total) $15 X-Mas Gift for each student Group 3: 12/27-1/4 (8 Nights) Ages from 14-17 $320 each student/$640 total double placement (2 students total) Group 4: 12/27-1/4 (8 Nights) Ages from 14-17 $320 each student/$640 total double placement (2 students total

Testimonials

I wanted to take this moment to share how much our family enjoyed hosting Daisuke & Yuto during the week of July 25-Aug 2, 2012. Being relatively new to the homestay programs and only hosting for FOA a 2nd time, we were still a little anxious when you first told us that another group was coming in July. In the back of our minds, we wondered...will they get along with us and enjoy their stay? Since everything worked out so well with hosting our last 2 FOA friends (Rui & Yoshiki), we felt certain that things would work out and they would have an enjoyable time. It was nice to see it happen again.

Similar to our first experience, it helps tremendously that FOA sends out newsletters with updates on the schedule (times, dates, activities and pick-up/drop-off locations) so we can coordinate our driving times since we have 2 children of our own and sometimes have to work around their activities too. There are 2 other key components that we appreciate about the FOA program. The first being the "ISA Homestay Application Form" that is sent through the Post Office before the group arrives. Our daughters love looking over the application and reading about their new friends through their profile and seeing their home pictures. It helps them to make an instant connection and know what their friends are interested in. For example, we read that Daisuke liked drawing and Disney Pixar characters. He had also drawn an airplane with his pictures. My daughters thought, since he likes drawing -- maybe they could give him an "Etch a Sketch" as a welcome gift. Daisuke really appreciated the gift, especially after we had him watch some Youtube videos of what other people have done with the "Etch a Sketch". The second important component is that you hand out the check, on the pick-up date, before the kids are taken home. We are involved with another homestay program and they have us wait 3-5 days while the check is sent through the mail. We understand why they might have to do that procedure but trust is such a large part of a homestay program and it makes us wonder how much they trust us if they have to delay payment? We are thankful that the FOA program hands out a check without any delays.

Getting back to talking about our time with Daisuke & Yuto. Once they arrived, we found out they spoke little to no English so we wondered how we were going to communicate with them since we didn't speak any Japanese? Because of our previous experience with another Japanese student that spoke very little English, we used http://www.translate.google.com/ to make sure that they understood the important things that we needed them to know by typing the words and/or sentences in English and letting the program translate it verbally in Japanese. It is a great program to help bridge the communication gap. Outside of the important stuff, we tried to speak English only and let them figure out what we were trying to say, so they could hear our words. More often than not, they were able to understand exactly what we were saying since we used body language as well. They liked the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" approach best. We soon discovered that they both went to the same elementary school and before you knew it, they were the best of friends. After they bonded, it was easy for them to bond with us as they didn't feel that they were alone in this adventure. I think that is another important component that makes FOA special. Having the host family host 2 students, at a time, is a great idea. I think it makes a world of difference in how quickly they adapt to their environment. It had the similar effects for Rui and Yoshiki too, who didn't go to the same elementary school. For us, all the kids enjoyed playing Wii with our family and that brought us another step closer to them and allowing us to form a natural bond to do other activities together. I need to say that we always take them to the beach and parks first, before we let them play the games. Again, it was a great week and tons of great memories for them and for us. Our daughters have grown so much from this cultural exchange and meeting their new friends from Japan. Thank you and FOA for letting us be a part of such a fantastic organization. We look forward to hosting the next ISA homestay group.

Best regards

Don’s Family’s Homestay Experience with Rui and Yoshiki

Host Family Responsibilities

Host families are responsible for taking care of their students as if they were part of their family. Below is a list of the host family responsibilities:

Providing the student with a safe and friendly home in which to stay in.
Providing a private bedroom with the basic furnishings (bed, desk, lamp, dresser/closet, linens).
Giving students an orientation around the home and the local area.
Provide two-meals weekdays; breakfast and dinner, and includes lunch on weekends and holidays.
For dinner time, it is better to prepare meals at home. If you go out, student’s are not responsible to pay for their meal. If you choose to take students out to eat, please keep meals within your budget and not have students pay for it.
Please provide lunch in addition to breakfast and dinner on weekends and holidays. If you take the students out please either prepare lunch at home or take the students out to an affordable meal.
Provide student pickup and drop off transportation to FOA (ESL) class location. Carpool can be arranged if needed. Ask for assistance if needed.
Spending time in the evenings with the students—speaking English and checking in with them to make sure they are happy. Please do not leave student alone for long periods of time. Students under the age of 14 are NEVER allowed to be alone. An adult, 18 years or older, needs to be present with them.,
Spending a minimum of a half-day with them during weekends (taking them out on activities or sightseeing whenever possible, invite them with family & friend activities within reason, etc.).

Please also note that there will be at least ONE chaperone, who is the legal guardian, for each student in a group . Chaperones will be in charge of any medical emergency if an emergency were to occur, and they must be present with the student at a hospital or doctors office for approval of any medical procedure.

Communication is the key element for hosting a international students, and sometimes this can be challenging do to the language barrier. Our FOA members fully understand this, and are there to assist families, students, and chaperones to continue a good experience of communication. Host families can always contact one of our FOA members to assist them in communicating with their students if it becomes challenging in any way. Most importantly is to smile, and use google translate as a quick solution.

Homestay Fee:

Students expenses will be covered by FOA. We provide a small stipend per day for each student during the duration of their stay with their host family. Depending on how long the students will stay will determine the total amount of the Homestay Fee.

Provide access to the family’s laundry. Families may not charge students for laundry. Provide internet access (wireless if possible).

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