INTERNATIONAL SUMMERSTAYS
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : i**o@a***o.i**o
Mission Statement
Promote cross-cultural understanding and friendship through cultural immersion programs in schools and homes
About This Cause
We accomplish our mission by offering cultural speakers to local schools, organizing cultural immersion programs in the US and abroad, and partnering with local colleges and universities to provide homestays for international students to enhance educational programs for international students. For our cultural speakers series, we hire and train different speakers every year to visit world language classes and teach interactive classes about life, music, food, and families in the country they are from, or a country they have lived in abroad. Our speakers teach students about how it feels to be an international visitor in a country, what makes them feel welcome, and what makes them feel insecure, and how all of us can extend ourselves to make others feel included. We introduce the idea of hosting a student, or participating in a homestay program abroad as a way of improving language skills, gaining maturity and insights about oneself, and improving their curiosity and understanding of people from various cultures. Students and families who participate in our programs are looking for much more than just travel. We are providing connection opportunities for people who are interested in sharing cultures with each other. In order to prepare students and families for a successful experience, we carefully screen and orient outbound students and potential host families so that they are ready for the challenges they will find by living together with someone from another culture. When students travel, they are expected to use the language, and adapt to the family and culture in the country they are visiting. When families host, they are expected to accept the student as part of their family, including them in activities such as shopping, cooking, household projects, mealtimes, and social gatherings. Although most host families love to show off the areas in which they live, the focus of our homestay programs is on daily living, and language practice, and not on sightseeing. We offer programs for middle and high school students, and for college students. The majority of our programs for middle and high school students involve a total family immersion, or a combination of language training with family homestay. Students travel individually, or in school groups with a teacher. In every case, we have local organizers on site to manage the programs and provide emergency contact 24/7. We partner with local colleges and universities to provide homestays for students participating in their academic programs. This partnership allows local institutions to offer educational programs which are enhanced by immersion in host families where students can practice using the language, and experience American culture on a day-to-day basis. We carefully screen host families for a genuine interest and ability to host an international student, but we also pay a stipend to the families hosting college-age students which more than covers the cost of hosting. Most of that stipend is spent directly in local communities. Our Volunteer Internship Program gives international students the opportunity to visit the Northwest as volunteers at non-profit agencies while living with host families. Our international volunteers contribute their skills to various non-profits in the area while sharing information and customs from their own countries. We have placed volunteers at OMSI, Ethos Music Center, Portland After School Tennis and Education, Laurelhurst Village, Portland Art Museum, Compassion First, Rose Haven, First Impressions,and Pixie Project in the past few years.