Testimonials

“It was a joy to have two girls from different regions of Germany live with us during two different summers. As each of them learned about America, we learned about their state as well. We all shared about customs, family life, education and government, as well as more personal things like school, boyfriends, career goals and spiritual beliefs. Each girl was very laid-back, ready to go with the flow of our family. We were fortunate that our students visited for 5-6 weeks instead of three, to allow us time to build relationships and do things together. We are still in touch with both of them. I would very much like to do it again.”

“In 2011, at the request of my daughter, we hosted an exchange student from France for a month. Alice quickly became fast friends with my daughters, and they enjoyed the month exploring the local area. They enjoyed each other so much that Alice asked to come back the following year. After years of being invited, one of my daughters is finally going to spend this Christmas in France with Alice and her family. The month we hosted Alice did so many things for our family. Our kids got a taste of another culture, they made a life-long friend, and their perspective of the world grew wider.”

“Hosting an exchange student is a very rewarding experience. We hosted two different students and enjoyed it immensely. We learned about France, where my grandmother was from. They were eager to learn about our culture as well. I was sorry that we weren’t able to host this summer.(I had surgery.) They are the easiest house guests I’ve ever had; helpful, polite and eager to please. We also traveled with them and never heard a complaint. They were excited to see different parts of America. They fit in easily wherever we went. I would gladly do it again.”

“We have hosted three students; one from Spain and two from France. Each time it was a great experience for our entire family to get to know our temporary family members and let them experience life with us. All of the experiences gave our daughters the opportunity to grow, learn, and even to show off the beautiful country we live in. Interacting with an exchange student definitely provides a new perspective. Our daughters still keep in contact with two of the students and hope to be able to visit them at some point. I definitely recommend hosting an exchange student.”

“Thank you so much for the opportunity to host Thomas and Arate. They were wonderful! They fit right into our family. Being able to look over the students’ dossiers and find ones that matched our family was so helpful. If they don’t come back next summer, we want to host again. ”

“We were SO hesitant to begin hosting. We really wanted to experience another culture through foreign students, but we had sons and a daughter and didn’t want to introduce more teen hormones into the mix. Eventually (like after 3 years) we finally went ahead and started with a boy since our oldest children were sons. Wow! We should have done it earlier! We’ve gone on to host every summer for the last 8 years, both boys and girls, and have had a great experience each time! We’ve even had both French and Spanish students together. The students and our children always saw each other as siblings, which put our original fears to rest. Plus, because of the French and Spanish siblings my children now have, they have French and Spanish homes overseas (some of which they’ve visited). The students were polite, open, helpful, thankful, and wonderful! Thanks so much for introducing us to this incredible opportunity! ”

“We had a great experience with our two exchange students, fifteen year-old teenage boys from Northern France and Spain’s Basque Country. They fit in well with the family and participated in everything we did. We felt good teaching them about our culture and helping them improve their English. It was very satisfying to see them go from a hesitant or nervous, “yes” or “no” to seeing them joke around and converse with family, friends and even strangers in homes, shops and restaurants. We chose two boys who suited our family well and they were no trouble to entertain and generous with their gifts and thanks. ”

“We were reluctant at first to open our home to an exchange student, but we are so glad we decided to open our door! Raphael has been such a blessing to us that I consider him another member of our family. We have become such good friends that he has now visited us three summers in a row, and he may even come for a fourth! We were also able to visit him in Germany and meet his wonderful family, so the bond we have we believe could last a lifetime. My children are especially fond of Raphael, and I think at this point they would be very sad if he didn’t come and stay with us again. Whatever the future holds, our lives have been changed by having this bright, interesting, and warm young man stay in our home, and our desire is to continue to build our relationship with him and his whole family. ”

“We’re a homeschooing family who wanted to give our children first hand experience with the culture of the languages they were learning. We started out hosting a French girl and had a good experience. We went on to host 2 more girls for our daughters and then it happened! One of the girls we hosted bonded with our family like no other and so now she comes back every year, out of program, and our daughters have taken turns going to France to visit her over other holidays. Now we have to move on to boys since our sons are now pre-teens. ”

“We were so delighted to find that our French guest truly wanted to integrate into our family! Hosting a Terre des Langues VA student proved to be a delightful experience that has provided a lifelong friendship between our family and “our” student.”

“We’ve hosted summer exchange students through TDL these past three years and look forward to hosting another this year. (The local representative) carefully matches the students and families to ensure a positive experience for everyone. Our children benefitted by learning other cultures, developing gracious hospitality, and practicing French. It’s been an enriching experience for our whole family.”