Home Stay Seminar

Home Stay Seminar for Host Families (How we pick our Host Families)

IPEE’s home stay program is a vital part of our Total-Immersion method of teaching.  The cultural interaction, communication, and the students well being while attending our institute are the prime focus of this  program.  If a host family is accepted by IPEE, after completing a comprehensive application, interview and home inspection by one of the co-owners, the family attends a seminar outlined below.

ENABLING SEMINAR FOR FAMILIES

General objectives:

  1. To present the program and the specific point of view of IPEE.
  2. To establish the priorities of the school in relation with the home stay program.
  3. To delimit spheres of actions between the student and the family.
  4. to channel possible uneasiness and listen to suggestions for resolution of possible problems.
  5. To try to join two different cultures.
  6. To promote a relation of confidence between the family and the Institute in order to efficiently resolve any misunderstandings.

CONTENTS

PART I

  • Welcome
  • Introduction
  • Costa Rica: its strategic tourist position
  • Costa Rican culture with regard to other foreign cultures
  • Individualized attention / temporary availability
  • Balance between Costa Rican and foreign culture
  • Needs of a foreigner
  • Privacy or loneliness?
  • Form of address, relationship
  • Showing one’s emotions

PART II

  • Differences between hotel, bed and breakfast and home life.
  • Integration into family nucleus:  rules of every house.
  • Service
  • Discretional use of the service
  • Efficiency of the service (and amenities)
  • Food and nourishing habits in general
  • Limits of action radius
  • Member or intruder?  Change of habits in the family routine

PART III

  • Reasons why the service is offered
  • “My liberty ends when the liberty of the other starts.”
  • Delightful moments and deceptions of every age.
  • Physical, mental and emotional handicaps
  • Taboos:  religion - racism - sexuality
  • Ethics
  • Honesty

CONCLUSION

  • Duties and rights of the lodger
  • Letter of the Institute to the family
  • Doubts and suggestions