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Original poster

foreign exchange questions

29 replies

bettterandnow · 08/10/2013 14:45

DS is very quiet but wants to continue studying German. However the idea of foreign exchange terrifies him and I must admit I am not looking forward to it as the school have said in no uncertain terms that all AS level students must take part in the foreign exchange. How do you cope with a foreign exchange student? Any experince/tips gratefully received. How will we cope with the evenings? What did you do? There is nothing around us but restaurants and not exciting ones at that.

OP posts:
joanofarchitrave · 08/10/2013 21:42

Sounds like an excellent opportunity for your son to learn the international language of poker... we used to play a lot of that in our house.

Or snooker? Is there a snooker club locally that takes 16 year olds? Then they could watch The Colour of Money with the German subtitles on...

Finding out what the other lad would like to do, or normally does in the evening, would be a good start - maybe they could exchange a few emails, does your school encourage that?

TBH it could be the start of a new phase in your son's life. Maybe there could be a bit of a group meeting up from your son's school with their exchange partners to snog in the park to hang out together?

Original poster
bettterandnow · 08/10/2013 21:35

Hoping weekend trips will help but it's more the evenings that I am fretting about! After dinner how does a shy lad think of things to do when all he does is read or go on laptop. We have some board games but he will have to make an effort with those as he thinks the exchange student will not be interested in anything we have to offer. The expense is not going to be easy. and I'm trying to make the house look better but every little thing adds up and decided can't spend anymore will just have to make sure it is really clean to make up for the state of our belongings.

It will be end of November the student will be here so cold and dark early on. Just wondering how others have kept the awkwardness at bay.

OP posts:
Leeds2 · 08/10/2013 17:03

Whereabouts do you live? Just wondering what your nearest city was.

We have had two exchanges (Spanish and American),but we live near London so plenty of possible day trips.

Will the boys be in school for some of the time? That would obviously help! I had trips organised for the weekend days, and we went to Harry Potter World (the American girl was a big HP fan) and the seaside (Brighton) as well as the London stuff. Both of ours also liked shopping, but they were girls! Go swimming, or bowling. Play on the wii or xbox, if you have them. DD and her Spanish exchange watched a couple of dvds in English, but had the Spanish subtitles turned on!

Chopchopbusybusy · 08/10/2013 14:54

Watching with interest!
I've just sent the deposit for DDs Spanish exchange trip.
DD goes to Spain first and then the Spanish student will come here a couple of months later. Worst case scenario will be if they hate one another! Hopefully that won't happen.
We live in a small town where nothing much happens! My plan is to organise some trips out and keep them busy.