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0330
This is America - Want to Be a Foreign Exchange Student? First Do Some Homework
By Nancy Steinbach
2008-3-30
VICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week on our program, we talk about foreign exchange students in the United States.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
More than twenty-nine thousand foreign exchange students attended American high schools last year. The State Department says the teenagers came from one hundred nine countries.
Foreign exchange students get the chance to learn more about a culture and its people. They make new friends and experience new places. But they can also experience problems being far from home, among people they do not know and may not understand.
The way many describe it, the experience is exciting and frightening at the same time.
VOICE TWO:
In the past, exchange students usually had limited contact with their host families before meeting them. But times have changed. Today, exchange students may know a lot about their host family before they ever leave home. E-mails go back and forth; pictures of families, homes and pets are shared.
E-mail and cell phones also make it easier for the students to keep in contact with their own families back home.
VOICE ONE:
Exchange groups are supposed to provide a contact person, or liaison, to help students in case they have any problems.
This is what happened with a boy from Argentina we'll call Juan Carlos.
Juan Carlos liked sports; his American host family did not. He liked to go out with friends; his host parents did not approve. And they did not think he was doing well enough in school: he was getting average grades. The host parents discussed these issues with his liaison.
And the solution? A new family was found for Juan Carlos. The new family included two boys who played soccer on local teams. Juan Carlos joined those teams and was much happier with his new family. Not only that, his grades improved.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Exchange students have to speak English well enough to attend an American high school. But some students find it takes weeks or months for them to understand everything they read or hear.
One girl from Switzerland told her exchange group that some students at her American high school made fun of her accent. An exchange volunteer asked how many languages she spoke. The girl said her native language was Swiss-German and she also spoke Italian, French, English and Spanish.
The volunteer had this advice: Tell those students that you have an accent in four of the five languages you speak. And then ask them how many languages they speak. The majority of Americans speak only English.
VOICE ONE:
Seventeen-year-old Nadia Gerstgrasser is from Italy. Nadia says being a foreign exchange student is not always easy.
NADIA GERSTGRASSER: "Like the language, you think it's going to be hard, but you don't know how it is in real life when people don't understand you and how hard it can be even to order a hamburger. When a waiter asked me the first time how I wanted it done, I said 'cooked' and he was like 'yeah, I know, but how,' and I said 'on my plate,' and everybody started laughing. Stuff like that. It can embarrass you, but that's just the way you learn English. Now I laugh about it, but back then I was really embarrassed."
VOICE TWO:
Nadia is living with a family in Alexandria, Virginia, through the end of June. She is attending a Fairfax County high school with more than one thousand seven hundred students. Nineteen percent of them are limited English speakers. She says that surprised her -- finding so many different ethnic groups.
NADIA GERSTGRASSER: " You know, I was expecting all Americans ... like, I knew there was black people, white people, but I didn't know there was a lot of Hispanics, Asian kids at my school. And, yeah, it was surprising but positive."
VOICE ONE:
American high schools come in small, medium, large and extra large. They can have three, four, even five thousand students. It is easy to feel lost at first in a huge building and moving from class to class.
Changing classrooms might also be a new experience for exchange students. Some students come from countries where the teachers move from room to room, not the students.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
More than one hundred organizations are involved in the State Department's Exchange Visitor Program for secondary school students. These groups are responsible for choosing, placing and supervising exchange students.
In many cases, families pay an organization to place their child with an American family and supervise their time in the United States.
In the case of Rotary International, local Rotary clubs pay some of the expenses of exchange students. The clubs place students with three different families during the school year.
VOICE ONE:
As of last year there were twelve schools and school districts involved in the State Department program. Schools often want foreign exchange students as a way to increase the diversity of their student population. These programs may be true exchanges. A student from the school goes to a foreign country for a school year while a foreign student comes to the United States.
VOICE TWO:
Secondary-school exchange students normally come to the United States with J-One visas provided by the State Department. Some, however, come with an F-One study visa from the Department of Homeland Security. But an F-One visa does not provide the same protections as a J-One visa.
These protections include making sure all adults in host families have been checked for criminal records. Another protection is making sure exchange students have placements waiting for them in American schools.
VOICE ONE:
The Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students is a nonprofit organization in California. It works to strengthen protections for exchange students in the United States and around the world.
Sally Smith is a family law attorney who works with the committee. She says exchange students should know how to report any cases of sexual abuse or other crimes. In the United States, the number to call for police or other emergency services is nine-one-one.
Sally Smith advises parents of teens who are considering an exchange program to discuss the possible dangers with the sponsoring group. Exchange students should never leave home without knowing who their host family will be, and that the family has been investigated.
Sally Smith notes that the rules in the United States do not say how a criminal background check must be carried out. The Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students wants the government to require criminal checks based on fingerprint records.
A State Department representative tells us that officials are now studying the possibility of strengthening the requirements for background checks. But she says the details are not known at this time.
VOICE TWO:
The State Department has programs to bring exchange students to the United States from different areas of the world. One program, for example, is for German teenagers. Another is for students from countries of the former Soviet Union. Other programs offer exchanges for students in Serbia and Montenegro and countries with large Muslim populations.
VOICE ONE:
Gauri Noolkar from India is in Virginia as part of the State Department's Youth Exchange and Study, or YES, program. We'll let her explain it:
GAURI NOOLKAR: "The students in the YES program, their expenses are basically covered by the State Department of this country, and it is for fostering friendship between America and Middle East and Asian counties. It is based on merit and talent, and they cover all our expenses and in return we are expected to teach people over here about our cultures and then go back and teach our people about American culture."
Seventeen-year-old Gauri is also attending a public high school in Fairfax County. And like Nadia from Italy, Gauri says she, too, was surprised by the ethnic diversity she has seen in the United States.
GAURI NOOLKAR: "Another surprising thing was even though it is a very individualistic society, there is a notion that Americans just live for themselves. But I realize that over here they are very helpful and nobody turns you down. If you ask for help, you do get it."
VOICE TWO:
To become an exchange student at an American high school, students must have completed no more than eleven years of school, and done well. They must be between the ages of fifteen and eighteen and a half. They must also speak English well. And they must agree to accept the rules of the exchange program and their host families.
Host families are supposed to receive training in hosting an exchange student. Host families do not get paid, but they get a fifty dollar tax deduction for each month the student lives in their home.
VOICE ONE:
Nadia Gerstgrasser has this advice for students considering a foreign exchange:
NADIA GERSTGRASSER: "You should not leave your country thinking 'Oh, wow, cool, a year of holiday, I'm not going to do anything, it's going to be fun, everything is just going to be exciting,' because it's also hard. But at the same time it's so cool. You're gonna start liking it. It's worth it. You should try."
Going to a foreign country to live with complete strangers is not for everyone. But many who have done it say the experience taught them a lot about the world and about themselves.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Bob Doughty. For transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to 51voa.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
想成為交換生嗎?首先做些準備工作
去年超過2.9萬國外交換生進入美國高校學習.美國國務部指出,這些交換生分別來自不同的109個國家.
國外交換生得到機會了解更多的當地文化及民族,結交新朋友及體驗新的環境.但是同時也給他們帶來許多問題.如遠離家鄉,置身於陌生人中.
大多數人認為此體驗是興奮與恐懼並存.
過去,交換生一般在見面前很少與其寄宿家庭聯系.如今時代改變了,交換生在離家前可以通過郵件與寄宿家庭聯系,了解寄宿家庭許多信息,如照片,家庭成員,寵物等.
郵件及手機也使得交換生與家里聯系更方便.
交換組織應該提供一個專人負責聯系,以便學生在有什麼問題時可以提供幫助.
以下的是來自阿根廷的男孩Juan Carlos所發生的故事.
Juan Carlos 喜歡邉�,但是他寄宿的美國家庭並不喜歡;他喜歡與朋友一起外出,但是他寄宿的家庭不允許.他在學校屬於中等水平,但是他寄宿家庭認為他在學校的表現不夠好.所以,這家主人夫婦與他的聯系人討論這些問題.
最後的解決辦法就是另外給Juan Carlos找到了一家寄宿家庭.這個家庭有兩個在本地足球隊打球的男孩.Juan Carlos也加入了球隊,他與新的家庭相入更愉快.不光這樣,他的成績也提高了.
交換生進入美國高校必須有足夠的英語能力.但是有部份學生發現他們都要經過數周甚至數月才能看懂和聽懂一切.
一個來自瑞典的女孩告訴交換組織,她所在的美國高校一些學生取笑她的口音.交換組織志願者問她會說幾種語言.這個女孩說她的母語是瑞士德語,另外她還會說意大利語,法語,英文及西班牙語.
志願者勸告她:告訴那些學生你的口音包含你會說的五種語言中的四種,然後問他們會說幾種語言.大多數美國人只會說英語.
17歲的Nadia Gerstgrasser來自意大利,她說做為一個交換生是件不容易的事情.
"比如說語言,你認為會很困難,但是你並不知道在現實中是什麼樣,如果別人不理解,你甚至連點漢堡這麼容易的事情也很困難.第一次侍應生問我要幾成熟時,我說:'煮熟的',他說'我知道,但是多熟呢',我說'在我盤子里'.然後大家都笑了.諸如此類的事情,讓人難堪.但是這卻是一種學習的途徑.現在我感到好笑,但是當時卻真的很尷尬."
Nedia現在寄宿在維吉尼亞亞歷山大的一個家庭到六月底.她與其他1700多學生一起就讀於Fairfax縣高中.這所學校19%的學生不能流利使用英語.她說剛開始看到這個寵大的不同種族的群體使她感到驚訝.
NADIA GERSTGRASSER說,"我以為是全部是國美國人,我知道有黑人,有白人,但我不知道有這麼多西班牙人,亞洲孩子在我們學校.這讓我驚訝,但很好."
美國高校有小型的,中型的,大的及超大的.一般學生從3000,4000,甚至5000不等.剛開始進去在那麼大的校園,從這個教室到那個教室,很容易迷路.
找教室對交換生來說了是一大挑點.有些學生在本國教室是固定的,老師從這個這個教室到那個教室.
超過一百家組織涉及到美國中學生交換游學的計劃中.這些組織負責挑選,安置及管理交換生.
在許多案例中,學生家長給組織付錢請他們安排自己的孩子到美國家庭及管理其孩子在美期間的行為.
比如扶輪國際,本地分社給交換生繳納部份費用.分社給交換生在校期間安排三個家庭.
到去年為止,已有12家學會及學會行政區涉及到國務部計劃.學校一般以接收交換生來增加其學生的多樣性.這個計劃也許是真正的交換,一個學生去到外國學校一學年,同樣外國的學生來到美國學校.
中學交換生到美國一般持國務部通過的J-One 簽證.然而有些是持國土安全部通過的F-One學習簽證.但是 F-One簽證不提供與 J-One 同等保護.
這種保護包括對寄宿家庭中所有成人犯罪記錄的檢查及確認在美國學校有對應的交換生.
加拿大的國外交換生安全委員會是非盈利組織,是為了加強對美國及全世界交換生的保護.
Sally Smith是一個家族律師代理,與委員會合作.她說:交換生應該懂得如何報告性虐待及其它的犯罪行為.在美國,911是報警電話及其它緊急救助.
Sally Smith建議考慮交換計劃的青少年父母與主辦單位討論可能存在的危險.交換生在沒有弄清楚寄住家庭情況及寄住家庭在未被調查前不能前往.
Sally Smith解釋說,美國並沒有規定必須執行犯罪背景檢查.國外交換生安全委員會要求政府對犯罪記錄檢查根據指紋記錄.
國務部代表指出官方正在研究加強背景檢查的可能性.但是她說具體細節現仍不清楚.
國務部已經計劃從世界各國引進交換生.例如,其中一項就是從德國引進十幾歲的青少年.另外一項是針對前蘇聯的學生.另外還有塞爾維亞 ,黑山共和国及其它穆斯林的國家.
來自印度的Gauri Noolka,目前作為國務部青少年yes交換計劃的一員,我們讓她來給我們解釋一下:
"yes交換計劃的學生的學生基本上由本國國務部支付,是為了培養美國與中東及亞洲國家的友好關系.根據學生自身的學習成績,國務部支付所有費用.但是作為回報,要求我們向當地學校傳播我們文化,歸國後再傳播美國文化"
17歲的Gauri也是在Fairfax縣高中就讀.如來自意大利的Nadia一樣,Gauri說她剛開始也詫異於這個寵大的不同種族的群體.
GAURI NOOLKAR說,另外一個感到詫異的事情是盡管這是個非常個人主義的社會,一直認為美國人非常獨立.但是來到這後發現他們非常的樂於助人的,只要你請求幫助,你就一定能得到.沒有人會拒絕.
要想成為美國高校的交換生,學生不光要完成十一年的教育生涯,而且要成績優異.他們必須在15-18.5周歲期間.他們必須能說流利的英語及接受交換計劃與寄宿家庭的相關規定.
寄宿家庭應該接受相關招待交換生的培訓.寄宿家庭沒有报酬.但是在交換生居住期間,可以得到每月50美元的稅收減免.
Nadia Gerstgrasser建議準備交換的學生一些建議:
"你不能抱著'哦,爽,一個的假期,我不做任何事情,只是去玩,一切將是多麼刺激'的想法離開.因為事實上這是很艱難的,同時也很酷.你會開始慢慢喜歡上,因為值得.應該嘗試一下."
到國外完全與陌生人生活並不適合所有人.但是很多人已經嘗試過了,這種體驗教會他們許多,關於世界關於自己.
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