Home Away from Home: A French and American Cultural Exchange

International education is more important today than ever before. The world seems to become smaller and smaller by the day. The internet, in addition to a rise in international travel, has dramatically increased the connections between people in different nations and cultures. Our “work” world is dominated more and more by international relations and cooperation. It is therefore vital to prepare our children for an interconnected world, to break down cultural barriers and to open minds!

But how can we educate future global citizens? Can we raise cultural awareness through textbooks or movies?

This is exactly what Rob and his wife Merry Ann Corrigan asked themselves about a year ago. “We live in a small town in Central Oregon. It’s a wonderful community in many ways, but there is not much of an international influence or cultural diversity here. My wife and I have both had opportunities to live and travel abroad, and know how important those experiences have been in forming our own world view. We traveled to France as a family a few years ago, and the experience really sparked a flame with our two middle-school aged children. The following year, they both started studying French in school. “

The Corrigans soon realized that although their children studied a language and culture in school, it would never have a life changing impact and impression on them. While searching for ways to help their children develop cultural awareness, Rob and Merry Ann heard about the CIEE USA High School Exchange Program. CIEE brings high school exchange students from over 55 countries to the United States to live with an American host family and attend high school for one or two semesters. The reasons for hosting an exchange student were obvious for Rob, “We hoped that having a foreign student in our home would help impress upon our own children the importance of awareness of other cultures. We thought it would give them inspiration to want to learn and practice French, and help make the value of learning a foreign language – an ability to communicate with and better understand people who have backgrounds quite different from your own – more apparent, instead of simply a book exercise.

After being interviewed and prepared by their CIEE Local Coordinator; the family chose to host a student from France, Nathalie. Once the summer came closer the Corrigans, especially both of their children, Drew and Emily, became more and more excited for Nathalie to arrive. Finally, in August 2008 Nathalie landed in Oregon. “As things turned out, Nathalie was exceptionally motivated to immerse herself in American culture. She is always enthusiastic in explaining things about her home to us if we ask, and she brought with her a beautiful book with photos of her home town (Grenoble, France) which we have enjoyed. Nathalie very genuinely and deeply came to immerse herself here, have fun, and learn. On the third night she was with us, we were barbecuing, and I recall asking her how she liked her food served. “Whichever is most American,” was her response. She has always been up to try anything, any experience that we can involve her in.

For the Corrigan family, their immediate goal in hosting an exchange student was to better understand different cultures, but they discovered an added benefit as they came to learn more about their own American way of life and community. “Primarily, the experience of having Nathalie here with us has shown us our own community and culture again through fresh eyes. For instance, sports are not a component of school life in Nathalie’s community in France. If a student wants to participate in a sport, it is through a club, done in the evenings once or maybe twice per week. In contrast, at our local high school, the large majority of students participate in one or more sports on behalf of the school. As is normally the case when trying to compare cultures, there is not a “better” and “worse” approach; there are clearly pro’s and con’s to each. But through these and other observations which Nathalie has helped us make about aspects of our lives which are in plain view, we have had a chance to consider more objectively things about our own community, culture, and educational system that we simply took for granted before Nathalie came to stay with us.”

Apart from the insights that family Corrigan gained, Nathalie had some surprising discoveries on her own. “Nathalie had never participated on a sports team, and hadn’t ever taken any sports seriously. She didn’t own a pair of running shoes, or bring with her any sports clothing. Last fall, Nathalie joined her host school’s Cross Country team. As things turned out, Nathalie has a natural gift for running and a keen competitive instinct. Between those inherent traits, her supportive teammates, and a good coach; Nathalie went on to actually win several of her first races, and was one of the top 4A runners in the state. Nathalie formed great friendships during the training season with her teammates, through shared losses and successes. She is currently running on the track team, and last week was the top female finisher in a large (14-team) meet hosted at our school. After all of this, there was no one more surprised than Nathalie herself, except possibly her parents back in France.”

Unfortunately, it came time for Nathalie to pack her suitcases, board a plane, and return home to her friends and family in France. Although the upcoming goodbye was very hard and sad for everyone, both sides, the Corrigan family and Nathalie, gained much from this amazing exchange experience. “We wanted our kids to better understand that the world is a big place, that there are many different sets of cultural values around the world, and that ours is just one of them. Hosting an exchange student has already helped bring this point home. We hope that we will stay in touch with Nathalie, and that that connection will become an on-going reminder and point of contact for our children.

Beyond the issues of international cultures, however, it’s also been instructive to host another person – foreign or otherwise – in our home. Nathalie has helped us look anew at the way our family handles chores, the way we get through routine mornings, etc. It occurred to us, before we ever met Nathalie, that the students who want to spend a year living in a foreign country, away from their family and friends at home, are probably students with a positive outlook, accepting disposition, strong curiosity about the world, and interest in others. This was indeed the case with Nathalie. If other host families are as lucky as we have been in finding such a charming and charitable young person to come stay with them, they will also have a wonderful and enriching experience for their efforts.”

The Corrigans
CIEE Host Family