Ready for the adventure ?
- The guest family, helped by their son or daughter, will contact the host students’ parents by letter or phone to plan the journey. The parents will exchange names and addresses.
- The host students will be met at the airport, they will have a room of their own and will be insured during their stay.
- They will visit the places described in the web-site and will meet the other participants at least once.
- Typical food will be served and described.
- At the end of the holiday they will be driven to the airport for their back flight...
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What would a typical day be like?
What is the “code supplied by the teacher” in the contact form?
Question
I like the idea, but who guarantees that this project is reliable and I can entrust my child to a foreign host family I don’t know at all?
The project involves a teacher from Verona, who supports the initiative “Exchange holidays in Italian Families”. He/she should get in touch with a teacher he/she personally knows in one of the countries mentioned in the web-site, illustrate the project, supply the website address for further details and enquire about the students’ availability to this type of holiday. If they are interested,
the guest students will subsequently inform their parents.
The parents that are interested can contact the host families directly by sending an email from the website. When they are really interested in the initiative, they must fill in the contact form with information about themselves, their children and the code supplied by the Italian teacher. Further e-mails and phone call will supply the practical details of the journey.
The guest students should carry along with them , beside identification card and health insurance, a bilingual text summarizing the information about themselves and their parents, home addresses and phone numbers, flight schedule, length of their stay together with the information about the host family that will meet the guest students at the airport, will host them and take them to the airport for their back flight.
As you can see the preparatory stage is clearly very important as it sets up relationships between the families and this is the main aim of “Exchange holidays in Italy”
Question
My daughter is intolerant to some foods and I am worried she may eat something that is dangerous for her health.
If there are minor allergies, it will be enough to state them beforehand and supply the necessary medicines, major allergies would be difficult to handle by the host family and this would advise against taking part in the exchange.
Question
Will the children be allowed to “go out and about” on their own or will they always be watched by adults?
The guests will be with the family and they will not be allowed to go out on their own, except on short errands and for a limited amount of time, but the guest student might be introduced friends who are familiar to the host family.
As a rule, as it the case with any child, he/she will be free to be on his/her own to relax, to read, to write, to use the computer, to listen to music… He/she will only be asked to patiently speak to us in English, that’s exactly what we wish!
Question
What would a typical day be like?
The various possible activities will be planned together the night before, depending on weather conditions. For example a trip to Venice or an excursion by cableway to Mount Baldo is not advisable on rainy days.
Depending on the destination, railway or car will be the means of transport. We might have a picnic and take food and drinks from home, or treat our guest to restaurants.
We will visit nice places and try to make ourselves understood in tentative English but we will be helped.
Among others activities we won’t rule out games and cooking!
Question
If during the exchange my on/daughter wanted to visit some specific place which has not been scheduled, could his/her request be granted?
Of course it could, depending on the destination. If it takes more than two hours to reach it by car, it might not be worth driving for most of the day.
Question
What is the “code supplied by the teacher” in the contact form?
The Italian teacher in touch with his/her colleague abroad supplies the Internet address of the site and a code to those who are interested in the exchange. When filling in the application form this code supplies the organizers with information on the origin of the contact. We must have a common point of reference!
