This document provides information and suggestions for organizing short-term student exchange programs and trips abroad for high school students. It discusses benefits of such programs including language immersion, cultural experiences, and lifelong connections. It also addresses challenges and provides detailed recommendations for planning activities, communicating with families, handling logistics, and ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for all participants.

1. HIGH SCHOOL
SHORT TERM
STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS
By Lauren Finaldi
Joliet Catholic Academy
www.profeTunes.blogspot.com

3. Benefits
 Language immersion
 More likely to study abroad in college
 Unique opportunity
 Experience life in another culture
 Lifelong friends/connections
 Become global citizens
 Broadens prospective of own country

5. Challenges
 School administration
 School policies
 Bad past experiences with tours
 Students/teachers missing school
 Parents
 Financial
 Fears
 Planning

7. Getting started
 Arrange for group from abroad to
come to your school first. Groups
come early September or January, so
start planning year prior
 Find organization to work with
 “home stay” vs. “exchange”
 Make a flyer for all FL teachers to hand
out and talk it up in classes/clubs*

9. Ways to recruit more families
 Extend personal invitations to families
you know
 Have information available at
Parent/Teacher nights, other school
events
 Ask enthusiastic students to help
recruit their friends
 Include in School Newsletters, send
email out to all families in school

10. Planning the Visit: Part I
 Hold a meeting for all
students/parents interested in
helping with the plans
 Set up Edline/other online group
 Create an online calendar
 Recruit parents to help
organize/chaperone specific events

11. Calendar of Events*
 Include after-school options almost every
day, more in beginning of stay
 After school & weekend activities are optional if
the family has something else planned, but keep
in mind students generally like to be together
 Have brief before-school meetings and
after-school meet-ups (help arrange rides)
 Help make arrangements for guests whose host
brother/sister works or is on a team, etc.
 If travel organization has planned some
activities, see if you can attend.

12. Party Ideas
 Welcome Party/Barbecue
 Day of arrival or following day, all family
members encouraged to attend
 Ask for families to volunteer their house
 Food donations or assign each family
something to contribute
 Goodbye Party/Gathering
 Host house or restaurant/pizza parlor

13. Party at Host Family House

14. Goodbye Dinner

15. Weekend Ideas
 Shopping mall
 Trip to city
 Sporting events
 Theater events
 Family gatherings
 College visits
 Short trips to places such as Galena, Starved Rock,
etc.
 Boat trip
 Concert
 Church

17. Field Trip Ideas
 Meet the Mayor  Trip to City
 Local attractions  Scavenger hunt
 Local museums  Guided tours
 Amusement park  Boat ride
 Local college visit
 Local sports
 Fire station
 Theater

21. After-School Ideas
 Dodge ball game  Any school events
 School sport  Cooking/Baking
events  Barbeque
 Ice-cream, FroYo  Mini Golf
parlor  Movie night
 Laser Tag
 Bowling
 Shopping Mall
 Arcade

22. In-School Ideas
 Shadow host brother/sister (2 days,
max.)
 Shadow someone new (FL Club, etc.)
 Split into small groups and spend day
talking to foreign language classes
 Subject of choice day (PE, Art, Music,
etc.)
 Spanish Class Parties

24. Planning the Visit: Part 2
 Work with teacher from other country to
match students
 Note: food allergies, age, animal fears/allergies,
introvert, extrovert, sports, interests
 Begin communication among students and
families
 Create Facebook page for group
 Add all members, share pictures of school, etc.
 Exchange email addresses

25. Planning the Visit: Part 3
 School approval
 Field trips/subs, etc
 Outside activities
 School lunches
 Bus to school
 School publicity/marketing
 School marquis/sign
 Bulletin boards
 Newsletters
 Press Release

26. Planning the visit: Part 4
 Make arrangements for all field
trips/outside activities
 Don’t forget tax exempt papers if
applicable
 Keep list of all contacts
 Confirm all events two days prior
 Make transportation arrangements as
needed
 Encourage family carpools

27. Planning the Visit: Part 4
 Set up several means of
communication
 Email Group
 Edline Group
 Facebook Page
 Text Groups
 Host Information Sheets
 Evites
 Twitter

28. Planning the Visit: Part 5
 Hold a mandatory meeting for all parents/students 1-
2 weeks before arrival of group
 Introduce everyone, facilitate friendships
 General information on group, country of origin, etc.,
main differences in customs, habits, etc.
 Go over calendar
 Hand out permission slips, contact information, etc.
 How to be a good host family
 What to do in case of problems
 Who pays for what? (Students have their own
spending money but if going to a restaurant or
somewhere as a family, please pay for your guest)

29. Arrival!
 Each host family should have at least
one person to greet and pick up
student
 Get notification from organization or
teacher from abroad when group is
within half-hour from pick-up location
and send out texts to families.
 Greet with: welcome signs, balloons,
etc.

30. Greetings!

31. Once Home…
 Be aware of time difference/jet lag
 Speak slowly and clearly, repeat if needed
 Ask to see pictures of their family, house, etc.
 Introduce all family members/photos of any not present
 Typical family routines, rules
 What to do with laundry
 If sharing a bathroom, discuss shower routines
 Provide towels, ask if they need any other toiletries or
forgot anything
 Discuss use of electronics, WIFI, etc. and
communicating with home

33. First School Days
 All teachers in school should have been notified of
guests shadowing host brothers/sisters
 All host brothers and sisters and guests meet in
classroom before school
 Welcome!
 See if principal or other administrator can greet
 Discuss school rules/expectations (stay with host!)
 Tour
 Allow visiting teacher to talk to his/her group. Make
sure all is well.
 Meet after school if going to event, help arrange
carpools, etc.

34. Possible Issues
 Student unhappy with host family,
vice-versa
 Someone in family gets ill
 Host student gets ill
 Misbehavior
 Drinking, parties, etc.
 Student doesn’t have enough money

35. Taking a group to another
country

36. Length and Dates
 Typically two weeks in length.
 Typically over Easter or Christmas
break, plus miss some days of school

37. What to Look for in a
Travel Organization
 Easy to contact representatives any time of
day, ease of communication, quick responses
 Flexibility of programs (dates, excursions,
etc.)
 References. Call other school who have used
them before
 How long have they been in business? Try to
Google the name of company + complaints

38. What should be included:
 Round trip airfare (including luggage)
from your local city
 Bus/train transportation with escort
from airport to final destination
 Hotel stays as needed (check website
or references for hotels)
 Some meals during hotel stays
 Guided tours
 Travel insurance

39. Promote the Trip
 Hand out information to interested
students*
 School announcements, newsletter,
posters, website, etc.
 Visit school FL clubs, FL Honor
Society meetings
 You generally need more student
participants than group tours, usually
12+

41. Participants Must APPLY*
 Require students to apply to the
program and provide teacher
signatures, references and possibly
write in target language. Give
approximately two weeks until
deadline.

42. Informative Meeting
 Schedule a meeting in the evening so
parents can attend. (approximately one
hour)
 Hand out information/itinerary provided by
organization
 Organization may provide slideshow
 Introduce yourself and other chaperones.
Tell qualifications and why you are excited
about this trip
 Answer questions
 Go over payment plans, etc.

43. Acceptance Letters*
 Send a list of applicants to school deans,
guidance counselors and business office
(private schools) to get their approval of
applicants.
 Talk to other teachers, check references as
needed.
 Send letter of acceptance/or denial to
applicants*
 Include information on how to sign up
 Include Parent Consent Form
 Include date of first meeting

44. Paperwork
 Fortunately, many organizations now
provide ways for parents to submit
papers and payments directly online.
This is very helpful and is something
you may want to ask when shopping
for an organization.

45. Your Group
 Once students have been accepted
and have paid 1st non-refundable
deposit, you will know exactly who
will be part of the group.
 Hold bi-weekly meetings before or
after school. You may want to have
them every month and as the trip
gets closer, every other week, and
then every week.

47. Meeting Topics
 RULES  Famous artists, authors, etc.
 What to expect from your destination
 Food  General
 Clothing geography/history/politics of
 Tips area
 Greetings  DVDs on the location
 Other cultural differences  Passports
 Weather  Notarized travel form for
 What to bring students under 18
 Voltage, outlets  What to buy
 Money  Travel safety
 Photos to show host family  Useful/essential vocabulary
 Gift for host family  Culture shock/jet lag
 Local chocolate
 Book on your city
 Local team gear

48. Reminders
 Remind all teachers of students
attending and days they will be
absent. Ask them to consider giving
them assignments related to their trip
to make up for missed work.

49. T-shirts
 Consider having a group T-shirt made
to all wear while traveling on the
plane and home. Consider ordering
one for host brother/sister. Makes a
great gift! (I use CustomInk.com
online to design and order)

50. www.CustomInk.com

51. Passports
 Tell students not to take Passports with
them when going to school, shopping etc.
 Students should make four copies of
passports…leave one at home with parents,
give each group leader a copy and keep a
copy.
 You will need your actual passport (not a
copy) when going to banks to exchange
money

52. Communicating with home
 Many homes have WIFI, bigger cities with
McDonalds, Starbucks, etc. will have WIFI
 You can buy a cheap pay-as-you-go cell
phone
 Many countries have phone booth joints
where you can go in and make long
distance calls for very reasonable prices.
 There are phone apps for free chatting.
 WhatsApp

53. Blogging/Facebook
 You can find free sites for blogging,
such as Blogspot.com. Create a
group blog and add all members as
administrators. Have students add
pictures, stories.
 You can make a Facebook Page for
your group and students can upload
photos and comments.

54. Take lots of pictures!

55. Enjoy making memories!

56. Enjoy knowing you’ve made
this happen!