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Q. What services does AVINS Homestay provide?

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A: AVINS Homestay offers a wide range of services for our students and schools, including:

• Recruitment and enrollment of host families, including annual background checks and evaluation of each family’s suitability to host an international student

• A qualified host family for each student

• Training for hosts

• Orientation for students

• Ensuring the student is welcomed at the airport upon arrival

• Regular check-ins with hosts and students from our local staff

• Organized social activities to help students explore their local community

• Multilingual and multicultural on-call support in case of emergencies

 

Q. What requirements does AVINS Homestay hold for its hosts?

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A: 1. A clean single room with bed, fresh linens, table and chair for study, closet, and proper ventilation.
2. Must have internet WIFI in the home.
3. Must offer breakfast for student to serve himself or herself, lunch when they are not in school, on weekends and, always the same dinner you and your family is having.
4. Transportation Arrangement to and from school.

 

Q. How does AVINS work in conjunction with Schools?

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A. AVINS must receive authorization from the school before enrolling the international students. AVINS has worked with hundreds of schools and ensures that students are in compliance with school policies. 

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Q. Are the students allowed to drive?

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A. No, we do not allow any of our students to drive while they are enrolled in an AVINS Homestay program, regardless of their age.

 

Q. What age is the student I’ll be hosting?

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A. We currently work primarily with students in high school (roughly ages 14-19).

 

Q. Who is eligible to host?

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A. All types of families are encouraged to host with AVINS, there is no “typical” host family - they come in all shapes and sizes. Even single parents are welcome. Each family is unique and provides the student with a genuine immersion experience.

 

Q. Do the students have health insurance?

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A. Yes. Every student will arrive with health insurance.

 

Q. What country will my student be coming from?

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A. We primarily work with students from China, however we do receive homestay requests from students from many other parts of the world, including South America and Europe.

 

Q. Can school faculty host a student?

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A. Yes, AVINS Homestay welcomes and encourages faculty members to host. It’s a wonderful experience and our students see great value in living with a teacher at the same school they are attending. However, some schools or dioceses do not allow school faculty to host. If no such restrictions exist, the faculty member would fill out the same host family application and contract as anyone else would.

 

Q. How long do students stay with host families?

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A. Student may participate in a semester (5 month) or year (10 months) program. 

 

Q: Can my student share a room with another student?

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A: No, we require each student to have his/her own individual room. There are rare exceptions to this rule and usually only apply to returning students due to their stronger foundation in English.