Hints for hosts
“The stranger living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Lev. 19 v.34)
Your role as host is generally to make the students feel welcome in this country during their time of study here. Most students are eager to learn about Britain and our lifestyle and culture, and the host can help them explore this. Ideally, the relationship between you and your student will be one of mutual benefit and we hope that it will develop into a two-way cultural exchange.
“The BISC Local link scheme is a very positive and rewarding experience. The student enjoys the hospitality and learns much about English culture and customs, and the hosts in turn learn much about the students home country and are enriched by this international friendship.”
PRACTICALITIES
We ask both hosts and students to agree to BISC’s Code of Conduct.
We want to ensure that both hosts and students feel comfortable signing up, so we ask that everyone reads and agrees to our Code of Conduct, which you can read here.
You will receive the details of your student(s) from BISC via email.
This will give you their postal address, email address and mobile number and some information about them. At the same time, we will email them with your name and contact details, so that they can recognise your name when you get in touch.
Make fast contact
Please try and contact your student as soon as possible after receiving their details. Even if the first meeting cannot be for a while, it is important to make contact early.
Offer to pick your student up (if possible)
In arranging a meeting for the first time it is helpful to offer to pick up your student, if possible. Many will be unsure of their way around Bristol so it is important to meet them somewhere that they are familiar with. If it is not possible for you to meet them, give them clear directions, with your contact phone number, so that they can phone you if they get lost. Once you’ve arranged a meeting, it is useful to email or phone your student a day or so beforehand to remind them of the arrangement.
What happens after the first meet-up?
There is no model for how your hosting should develop. We hope that you feel able to invite your student for at least two visits a term for the first two terms. The third term may be more difficult as students have exams to prepare for. However, you may wish to meet up more often with your student.
We will send you more helpful information once we’ve got your reference!