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WELCOME TO OUR FOURTH

EDUCATION TRAVEL & CULTURE

NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2020 - *+ Pages -

www.edutrav.org

STUDENTS‫ ز‬ ARRIVALS

We have found more than 100 homes for our exchange students this school year!

“OUR AMAZING HOST FAMILIES HAVE WELCOMED OUR EXCHANGE STUDENTS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY THIS MONTH”. - Education Travel & Culture

STUDENT ORIENTATION Our students are setting in their new life and getting adjusted to so many new customs and habits during their exchange year.

We gave our students so many advices in our student orientation that will help them during this journey.

STAYING HEALTHY The following section is dedicated to how we, at Education Travel & Culture, are handling the COVID-19 Pandemic. • All host families, students and ETC staff must follow Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Guidelines - www.cdc.gov/coronavirus • In addition to CDC requirements, we will follow all local, state and federal and to fully protect all students, host family and staff. • We are recommending that all students arrive early to allow for a 14-day quarantine within the host family home. • Local coordinators may not have the ability to see students in person until 14 days after arrival. • Social Distancing must be upheld when seeing local coordinators and ETC staff & students. Students must be prepared for school requirements having to do with COVID-19 which include but are not limited to: • Requiring a quarantine • Staggered schedule (in-class part time/online part time) • Online learning as part of a regular school schedule. • Social Distancing within schools Students must follow all host family rules regarding COVID-19 and understand that the rules may be more stringent than local government rules/guidelines. • All natural parents of students need to communicate with their partner via ETC and not directly with the host family • It is expected that many schools will not have regular sports or extracurricular activities available due to COVID-19. • Even though participation in a sport/ extracurricular is never guaranteed, different areas of the United States might have different availability. • All students are required to read and receive a copy of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Guidelines prior to departure.

See handout “COVID 19 Prevention CDC” for more information

SCHOOL IN THE USA

Our students started their ˛ȲȺɈ ƮƊɯ Ǟȁ ǘǞǐǘ ȺƧǘȌȌǶ‫ث‬

Hyoeun’s onlineschooling schooling Moritz’s online

First day of 11th grade for Jannik

First day of school for Enno

1st day of school for Annika

FIRST WEEK IN AMERICA

STUDENT STORY ٗwɯ ˛ȲȺɈ ɩƵƵǲ ǞȺ ȌɨƵȲ ƊȁƮ X love it here I saw so much about Idaho and everything is so beautiful. My host family is so nice and lovely and I love them already”. - Aaliyah

STAYCATION Gaspard and his host family

SPORTS Anouk tried out for the school softball team and she made the JV Team

SPORTS Biel made the varsity soccer team in high school. Also, he is trying out for the Montana Olympic Development Team!

USA SUPERMARKET Charlotte was amazed by the size of the store watermelons!

TACO TUESDAY Johannes enjoyed Taco Tuesday night with his host dad in AZ

STUDENT‫ز‬ STORIES

Our students had a blast in our summer program!

SONGSEOL YUN Songseol has really enjoyed this summer to the fullest. She has an amazing relationship with her host family. She enjoyed her summer classes very much and felt excited to attend each class. This has helped her improve her English. The student is very close to her family and her friends.

NAYEONG KOH Nayeong shared that she really enjoyed the English classes with NISE. She has learned a lot and was looking forward to her classes every day. Her host family is delighted to have Nayeong in their home to share the family’s adventures.

HYOEUN “Summer program helped me a lot. It ǿƊƮƵ ǿƵ ǏƵƵǶ ƧȌȁ˛ƮƵȁɈ ƊȁƮ ȺȯƵƊǲ ǿȌȲƵ‫ ة‬ and it really helped me to improve my 0ȁǐǶǞȺǘ ȺǲǞǶǶȺ ɈǘƊɈ X ɩƊȺȁ‫ز‬Ɉ ƧȌȁ˛ƮƵȁɈ ƊƦȌɐɈ‫خ‬ Also, the course was quite fun--I thought it was gonna be a little boring, but it wasn't! I really enjoyed it”. - Hyoeun

WONJOONG KIM Wonjoong has gained a huge ƊǿȌɐȁɈ ȌǏ ƧȌȁ˛ƮƵȁƧƵ ɩǞɈǘ his English during the summer classes. Wonjoong has expressed that he liked the classes, he could see friends as well as meeting his English teacher. For Wonjoong, this summer, he feels he is able to ȺȯƵƊǲ ƊǶȺȌ ǿȌȲƵ ˜ɐƵȁɈǶɯ‫خ‬ - Hyoeun

SEOYON Seoyon is currently back in school at Explore Academy. She really enjoyed the NISE program and its summer classes. She liked reading the book they read together and she liked that her teacher made her speak when she was being too quiet!

FAMILIES‫ ز‬ STORIES THE HALANDERS “I am thankful that our student plays board games and watches movies with my kids, plays soccer and basketball in the yard, and is teaching my kids about life in a foreign country. Last night, our student made Bulgogi and my picky eater who never tries new food loved it! My kids are going to be good Korean food cooks by the end of summer, and they have had a friend at home to help keep them entertained. We've bonded more than usual because of all the family time". - Kristie H. (host mom)

THE PLASENCIOS "When one door closes another opens.... while I am sad that Max and Sebastian's exchange year was cancelled I am excited to still be welcoming students to Arizona this year. I know Covid is a thing but I feel like it has taught us to give up too easily. I'm not about giving up. Life is too short. We can't waste time living in fear. That is why I decided to move forward with hosting. We have already been met with challenges. The school district I have been employed with for nearly 27 years decided the boys couldn't attend school so we found another district. Was it easy? No, but it was worth it. In the next couple weeks I will be welcoming Johannes (from Germany) and Arturo (from Spain) to Arizona. We will make the best of this year because that is what we are supposed to do. See you soon guys!!". - Mikel (host dad)

THE CAMACHOS “A year ago today we were at the airport picking up a 16 year old stranger from Spain, not knowing what we had gotten ourselves into. Alba quickly and seamlessly became a part of our family will always be an important part of our lives! The house hasn’t been the same these last 2 months without her! (The guest room will forever be “Alba’s room” )”. - Jacki (host mom)

THE PONDS "Being their "American Mom" has brought me as much joy as my own beautiful children. I cry when they leave and I cry when they come back to visit or we get to visit them. No, not everything ran smoothly and we had ups and down and issues that had to be worked out, but we are better off because of each of them". - Paula (host mom)

THANK YOU SEPTEMBER 2020