At Global Immersions Homestay, the comfort and experience of both hosts and visitors is always our number one priority. We offer cross-cultural workshops and on-going intercultural support for both hosts and visitors, and informational host events so that the homestay experience is enjoyable and beneficial for all. As homestay provides an insider’s view into the U.S. culture, interaction is crucial piece of the experience.
Through our December host event, Insights into Visitor Interactions, our hosts had the opportunity to share and learn from each other new ways of exposing their visitors to American culture. To find out more about the unique interactions between our hosts and visitors, we put the question to our hosts – here’s what they came up with:
- Games night (board/card)
- Day trips
- Restaurants (ethnic/American)
- Cultural events
- Cooking together
- Grocery shopping
- Watching/explaining sports
- Plays/school activities
- Research on visitors homeland before arrival
- Maps or place mats to discuss where the visitor is from during dinner
- Seasonal activities
- Watching movies/TV
- Wii (dance games)
- Discuss about each other’s cultures/daily lives
- Daily errands
- Interact with pets
- Car wash
- Recycling
- Shoveling/playing in the snow
- Parties (holiday, birthday, family, other events)
- Music – playing together and sharing artists from their country
For additional ways to interact with your visitor take a look at some of our suggestions here.
Do you have other suggestions or ways you interact with your visitors? Email us and we’ll share them with the hosting network!
