Home Stay Host Families Needed for Mandarin Language Assistant

Nín hǎo

In 2015 we will be having a Mandarin Language Assistant (MLA) in our school for a year. We are inviting our school families to host them in their home.

MLA Details:

• They are current university students at Xiamen University in China
• They are volunteering for a year to work in our schools to assist in teaching and learning
• We will be sharing them with St Francis Xavier School in Tawa. The MLA will spend half a week in each school.
• They have training in Beijing before they arrive and another week training in their first week in NZ
• They arrive in February
• They have reasonably fluent English
• Rigorous process for selection - we receive only the best
• There are a number of MLAs coming to Wellington in 2015 and throughout the North Island.

Home Stay Requirements:

• A welcoming and caring home with a family who value the gains you will get from another culture 
• Willingness to share your culture and lifestyle with them
• Willingness to commit for a term 
• Can provide them with their own bedroom
• Embrace them as part of your family during their stay
• There is a generous home stay payment for the host families

Benefits:
For the host family:

• Past host families have had cultural richness added to their homes with people taking turns cooking, experiencing different dishes and sharing of cultural traditions. 
• Sharing and strengthening your own culture, celebrating your family traditions together
• Many host families and MLAs remain close friends/family after the homestay and children in the home make connections for life.
• A future contact in China
• Home stay payments that cover extra expenses and more

For the MLA:

• The 2014 MLAs have loved being part of a kiwi family (doesn't have to be kiwi though) and have learnt a huge amount of NZ culture during their stay. 
• They have improved their English
• Assisted in Asia Awareness programmes and Mandarin in schools. 
• Many have traveled with their host families around NZ, many have done their own NZ travelling in the holidays. 
• They have enjoyed the connections with other local MLAs.

If you are interested and would like to find out more please complete this 'Expression of Interest' google form. There will be a get together to answer your questions and to share some guidelines before you need to make a final commitment. I will contact you individually to arrange a meeting time that suits us all. Due to a tight time frame to have this all set in stone, it would be helpful to have your expression of interest submitted by Monday.  My email address is below if you have any questions.
Expression of Interest Form

This is a wonderful opportunity for our host families and also for our school.


Xièxiè
Angela
angela@amesbury.school.nz