Home away from home

For ELI students, home may feel just a little bit closer--thanks to two growing programs designed to match them with American families.

The Homestay and Host Family Programs, coordinated by Nancy Purcell and Anne Rodgers, offer two opportunities for students to get to know Americans, the first by placing them in an American home for the duration of their stay and the second by introducing them to American families in the area who invite them to join occasionally in family activities such as a dinner or an outing.

Homestay coordinator Nancy Purcell celebrated student Kyung Jun Min's birthday with a little help from some small friends.

Both programs grew this year, reported Purcell. There are now 160 host families, compared to 90 a year and a half ago, she said, while the number of homestay families has increased from 15 to 45. The additional support has allowed more than 165 students to be placed in homes between January and October of 2000, said Purcell, including all of the participants in special programs such as Kobe Shoin Women's University, Hiroshima Institute of Technology and the Ukrainian legal professionals joining the legal studies program.

The Homestay Program is also open to ELI students in the regular program, said Purcell, with between 50 and 80 signing up for homestays each session.

Families are continuing a service begun last year of offering temporary housing to students who arrive before they can move into their dormitories or homestays. A driver meets the arriving students at the Philadelphia Airport and takes them directly to their temporary homestays.

"We are so happy to offer this to the students," she said, "so that they don't have to stay in a strange and lonely hotel during their first days in the United States." The benefit of hosting a student is mutual, commented Purcell, with many American families remarking how their lives have been enhanced by the experience.

For information on becoming a Homestay or Host Family volunteer, contact Nancy Purcell at
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