"Will my hand phone work in America?"
Frequent contact by phone or email with your friends and family in Thailand is like hanging on to the edge of the pool when trying to swim.
Leave your hand phone behind and join your host family who volunteered to accept you into their family.
Adapting to life with your new family, making new friends and improving your English goes quickly if you keep your eyes and ears open and focused on where you are, not where you were.
Culture Shock
What is culture shock?
Culture shock is a normal adjustment phase when a person moves to a place where things are very different. Fear of new things is a normal human reaction. Blaming other people is usually a way of running away rather than learning to adapt.
Kids who adjust best when they go to America are those who have a positive attitude about life, care about other people, are eager to try new things, and don’t mind making some mistakes while they learn.
See also LFS Camp and how the Program Staff work with exchange students. More about "Culture Shock" ... here.
Questions
What questions do host families ask exchange students?"
"Well, I might say All they want to know is anything about you. Like my host they were asking me that What is your favourite food? What do you want to do? What are you curious about?.......And important thing is of course they want to know our culture, if not they wouldn't picked you right? So I think there are almost questions that they are going to ask you....."
Thanks Kwan.
If I break a rule when I am in America will I be sent back to Thailand?
The goal of the exchange student program is to have you succeed, not fail. Rules are guides to help along the way, not traps. 95 % of our kids in the past 12 years have completed their full ten month program in the America.The screening, testing and training along with the LFS Camp program and the successful matching and staff support of host families, students and schools, all helped make that happen.
Host families
"When will I know my host family?"
Most host family and school placements are completed by July, some in August.
Each year, over 20,000 students from all over the world become exchange students in America.
The host family placement process is linked with completing all the school enrollment papers too, so the programs in Thailand hear about the details when everything is finished.
Here is more about the American exchange student program 40 year History.
Compensation
Do host families get money from the 'government' to be a host family?
Host families do not get money from the American government.
The cost of taking care of an exchange student is considered a gift, since the host family is not repaid.
Therefore, host families can deduct up to $50 per month on their tax return as an expense, which means they save about $5 a month in the amount of taxes they pay.
This information is on the IRS Government web site.
"What gifts should I bring my host family?"
Host families are opening their homes and lives to you.
They don't get paid to take care of you and the best gift you can give them is to try your best to adapt to your new life.
Small gifts made in the LFS Camp Art classes have been very popular.