Volume 39, Number 02
Kids
School Years Down Under
Danielle Tate-Stratton talks to Hirofumi Wataru about his high school home stay in Australia.
by Danielle Tate-Stratton
For many young students, the chance to live away from friends and family first comes when heading off to university. However, more and more high school students are getting the opportunity to travel and live in a new environment through a home stay (typically living with a host family with no reciprocal visitor) or exchange (students are often paired up and live first in the family of one student and then with that of the other) program.
Some schools have their own exchanges with “sister schools” or are part of organizations such as the Round Square (www.roundsquare.org), which has member schools located around the world from Australia to Oman, including one in Tamagawa. In other cases, private companies sponsor or organize home stays and exchanges. This is how, when he was just sixteen, Hirofumi Wataru traveled from Japan to Adelaide, Australia to take part in a home stay program. Wataru chose Australia because it “has a good reputation for public safety and also, the cost of living was not as expensive as America and England.”
Hirofumi had studied English for three years at junior high school in Japan before going to Australia, but he says, “It was impractical in terms of being able to go and live overseas.” As a result, he spent six months in intensive language classes practicing speaking, reading, and writing, before moving on to a local high school for year 10 (the first year of high school in Japan). He went on to complete three and a half years of home stay, followed by nearly five additional years in Australia on his own.
Before embarking on his home stay, Hirofumi had never traveled overseas and says that, in discussing the trip with his family before he went, “my dad was quite happy about it. He said he would do the same if he were twenty years younger. Others, including my mum, my sister, grandparents, and friends were mostly surprised about it as I was the first person [in my family] to go overseas to study.”
Hardly surprisingly, given his limited language background, Hirofumi says: “For the first two or three months I had some difficulty having conversations with the host family. Fortunately, as they had three other overseas students they were very patient and always tried to understand what I want[ed] to say.” He goes on to say that, “my host family [members] were immigrants from Italy so my host family taught me about their life as immigrants and their culture, and also invited me to many family events which I really enjoyed.”
For Hirofumi, there were few challenges, other than the language, to be faced while living in a new country. He credits this to being young and having “no fear to do anything.” One might be concerned about living with a family made up entirely of strangers, but for Hirofumi, the experience was a positive one and he was able to learn about and appreciate family life and its importance to Australians. Wataru says, “I thought there was more time for family in Australia. I noticed in my home stay that the parents would always come home from work at a regular time and have dinner with the family. Now that I work in Japan, I can appreciate the lifestyle in Australia that allows people to have a good work/life balance and enjoy time more with the family.”
In answer to a question about the differences between his family in Japan and in Australia, he comments: “The family treated me like their own kid. They have taught me many things and always gave me a hand when needed. I felt I was a member of the family and so I guess there were no big differences.”
Another part of his new family that proved very useful to Hirofumi were the three other home stay students, from Hong Kong, Korea, and Indonesia, who were living with his host family. He credits them with helping with things ranging from his studies to showing him where the important places, like shopping malls, were located.
As for school, Hirofumi was “surprised [to find] how there are so many elective subjects students can choose from, depending on personal interest or choice in career. The classes were more interactive as well, with much time for debates.” And, regarding life in general, he felt that in Australia, “compared to Japan time flows much slower...it feels [like] the days are actually longer.”
Not surprisingly, after his return to Japan after eight years in Australia there were a few things to get reacquainted with. For instance, Wataru says he had forgotten about some cultural things such as the prevalent use of honorific language, while away. However, on the whole, when asked if he would recommend a similar experience to another student, Hirofumi answers with the emphatic, “Yes, definitely.” He says that: “Apart from being able to immerse into an English environment, I was able to learn much about other cultures and history from my host family... My home stay experience has certainly broadened my horizons and made me appreciate other cultures even more.”
Wataru's advice to any student regarding a move to a new country and culture? “Go with an open mind and positive attitude.... Home stay is a great way to learn [another language] and experience a new culture that can enrich your life and [I] would certainly recommend it to others. However, even if you don't have a chance to [experience a] home stay, there are many opportunities, even in Japan, to meet with people from other countries and cultures where you can have a very valuable exchange.”
If you or your children are interested in finding out more about exchange possibilities, check with your school's guidance counselor to see if there are existing exchanges offered in your school. Alternately, exchange opportunities can be found through public and private programs such as ASSE, which offers international exchanges for those 15–18 years old in over 50 countries (www.asse.com); AFS, which has been facilitating international exchange since 1919 and helps more than 11,000 people exchange each year (www.afs.org); or ISEP, which provides university students from 275 schools in 39 countries the chance to study abroad (www.isep.org).