As you can see, I am virtually fluent in French so no problems there 
I am assuming that we will acquire a monosyllabic 15 year old French boy to sit alongside our very own one which we already have at home. They will either barely interact or spend most of their free time playing x-box (actually, no problem with that). I also have a DD who is one year younger, and, erm, growing up, so I'm hoping we do not get a handsome, charming one to further add to the mix.
Anyone got any tips on things that have gone well/things to avoid?
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Alors! C'est le dreaded French Exchange coming up soon. Any tips?
41 replies
TawnyPippit · 15/09/2016 08:32
OP posts:
TawnyPippit ·
12/10/2016 08:44
Yes, all going well here. He's a nice kid and speaks really good English. He and DS have got on very well (and DS has been a really thoughtful host, which has been very nice to see). They have played industrial amounts of Xbox, which I have overlooked, because it genuinely is a bonding experience and its actually quite nice to hear them jabbering away to each other while doing it. I can see in my OP I was worried I was going to get a monosyllabic boy - SO not the case 
. He is a bit exhausting, in that he is like a talkative puppy, but that's not really a problem.
Also, re my previous concerns about a young Johnny Halliday turning up, he feels like quite a young 15 and DD doesn't seem to fancy him, so that's a bonus.
OP posts:
ThenLaterWhenItGotDark ·
05/10/2016 11:22
lol- well, our aforementioned Germans came at Easter, and it was one of those Easters at the end of April.....and there was 6 ft of snow on the ground. 
When I went over to Germany the thing I definitely appreciated the most was when the family got together with other families, so the pressure wasn't all on me. They did that a few times which was nice.
What we also know tell our exchange kids is not to be afraid to be honest- if you don't like something say so. If you eat something you don't like on the first night, and say it was nice, guess what you're going to get every night! (though they'll all buy MacDonalds every time they hit town anyway, and then tell everyone in Paris/Berlin/Rome that the Brits only eat in MaccyDs!)
ThenLaterWhenItGotDark ·
05/10/2016 09:13
Generally they will be micro-managed by the school, there is such a lot of emphasis placed on safeguarding etc these days it's rare to find them left to the family's devices for very long at all.
Don't worry about the language, the whole point of an exchange is that the student speaks English, even monosyllabically!
I'd imagine nearer the time there would be meetings galore, there were when I did the German one a million years ago (and that was before DBS checks etc, but no stone was left unturned)
My (ex) friend who had arranged to have a boy stay with her decided on the bus back from Gatwick she didn't fancy him, so left him on the bus station. The police came knocking on our door at midnight saying "er, we've found your German" Our German was actually tucked up in bed. They'd taken laddo to this girl's house, her parents knew nothing (they hadn't been to the meetings because they were busy/working/ill, and as I said, back in the day, safeguarding was unheard of) and her brother had said "oh, he must belong to ThenLater, she's having a German to stay"
That was a fun night.
Now I find myself organising this sort of thing and I'd say just be a normal family. The important thing is that they feel part of the family, they'll complain about the food whatever you cook, as will the British kids over there. It's part of the whole experience to say "it was fantastic, I loved it but the food was SHIT!"
Seeline ·
05/10/2016 09:04
Good luck Hulababy - hope all goes well. Post any tips that you discover
Seeline ·
16/09/2016 08:24
What on earth would I do with a 14y boy??? Never had one of those before!
Hulababy no experience on the exchange thing but 14yo boys I can do
Feed him - lots and constantly
The fact the he only grunts at best probably has nothing to do with the language barrier
Enjoy!
Pradaqueen ·
16/09/2016 04:48
No experience of exchange personally OP but a cautionary tale of how the simple things go wrong...
My friend had a German exchange last year organised by the school. On the whole, all was well except for when the UK school organised a trip to London for the German kids only whilst the UK kids went to school. We are in Greater London so great train links except for the fact that the UK school teacher put them on a platform at a major London station unaware that the first train departing from the platform was to destinations on a different fork of the train line. None of the German kids knew they were on the wrong train nor had a clue of the journey time, just 'get off at x station' which of course never arrived. It then appeared that the uk hosts didn't have a mobile for the teacher. Cue all parents waiting as requested at the station for three hours 
while the situation descended into a farce as the exchange kids got to the end of the line at a seaside town miles away from anyone and apparently no ability to call anyone.
So.... Make sure you have a mobile for the UK teacher if they go out of school by themselves and that the exchange student has yours plus a detailed map of the rail links and likely journey times to get from a to b.
My poor friend was beside herself but couldn't leave the station in case the poor kid arrived to find no one there. As not all kids had to get off at the same station not all of them were missing hence the problem.
On the whole, the exchange was a success and she is doing another one again this year for her next child. Her opinion is that it definitely helped her child's German.
Best of luck!
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QueenofQuirkiness ·
15/09/2016 17:41
I did the French exchange, it was great fun, except my partner didn't eat anything that we cooked...naturally my parents were worried and thought she may have had an eating disorder. They were going to contact the school and ask why they hadn't informed us of it, but I later walked in on her stuffing her face with m&m's
DD15 is doing the exchange this year, and if it truly goes to pot just remember, it's only a week!
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