Preparation for foreign student - does this sound okay?

[Madmog]

We have a young foreign student (nearly 12) staying with us soon.

I do my weekly shop the day she arrives, so trying to cover what she'll eat. Might do pizza and chips with salad the first night as that generally goes down well. I then plan to offer her whatever we're having for a meal (tend to cook two different things anyway as we have a fussy eater and a veggie in the house) and if she won't eat them, ask her to choose something out of the freezer, or to have ham or quiche in fridge if it's a last minute reject, ie something I can just get out without cooking. We aren't really pudding people, so it we have anything it tends to be yogurt, ice cream, fruit and sometimes chocolate mousse, apple pie and cheesecake if I'm in the mood for making them. Lunchboxes tend to be sandwiches, fruit or veggie sticks, Babybel, Pepperami, sausage roll or scotch eggs, cereal bar, chocolate biscuit bar or crisps and biscuits for morning break.

At weekends we were thinking of visiting a castle (which has zip wire and ropes for older ones), trip to scenic village and picnic, trip to local park with log walk and ropes for older ones and shopping in local town. If we go out in the week, it'll be swimming, local walk, maybe a meal or Tescos. It does say to do what you'd normally do. We wouldn't go out quite as much, but these are all things we'd do as a family if we go out.

Not expecting it to be easy as her English is sure to be limited, but just wondered if anyone has any comments, good or bad, on the above.

My son's exchange family played board games with him. It worked really well as it enabled him to interact with them despite limited language.

Thanks for that. I was actually thinking we could play some wii games after she'd unpacked to save any ackward conversations, but will have a look at some easy board games. I think I might get the swingball, frizbee and bowls out for her stay in the hope we have decent weather.

That all sounds lovely, I'm sure she will feel really welcome!

I was packed off on loads of foreign exchanges when I was between 11 and 15 and the things I remember the most were simple things like hours of table tennis, going to the cinema, the outdoor swimming pool, bike rides down country lanes, tea and cake at the French granny's house! So all really normal stuff, but just being included by a nice family and not left alone to be bored and shy was the best thing.

She may well be used to having bowls of salad served separately to the main meal, almost like a starter. I have found this with foreign students who are employed at the schools I've worked in.