York students Colin, Alan, and Li enjoyed the true spirit of Thanksgiving when they took part in the tradition of feeding the less fortunate at the Monterey Fairgrounds on Thursday. Monterey host Sandie gathered the boys early in the morning and worked alongside them preparing and serving meals. What a wonderful activity to expose the students to!
Four of our international students volunteered to help pack up turkey dinners for the less fortunate on the Saturday before Thanksgiving at St. Mary’s Church in Mansfield, MA. Andy (Norton High School), Henry and Andrea (Walpole High School), and Cheng (Medfield High School) all enjoyed the experience. Personal Best Karate in Norton, Foxboro, Medfield, Norwood and Easton holds the Turkey Brigade every year to feed between 2,000 and 3,000 homeless or hungry families a Thanksgiving dinner. Gphomestay was proud to have sponsored this wonderful event. Thanks to these students and many others, thousands of local families were more likely to have a happy Thanksgiving.
This past weekend, students from Mercy High School in Burlingame and Sacred Heart Cathedral Prepatory in San Francisco were in for a real treat when Residential Manager Kim Khuneraksa organized a private cooking class for her students. Those in attendance learned how to cook Singapore-style noodles with chicken and fresh spring rolls, and were very excited to show off their newly acquired skills to their host families by bringing extras home to share!
York student Cici got to bring her surrogate grandparents from her host family of last year, Tom and Jane, to the school’s annual Grandparents’ Day. One of the hidden benefits of our Homestay programs is that our students gain not just a new host family, but an extended family as well! Big smiles all around ?.
On Wednesday, November 28th, several of our international students at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, IL volunteered at the school’s Open House where prospective students and their families were able to meet students, teachers, administrators and coaches, take a tour, and experience “Broncoland” for themselves. Gphomestay was happy to be there to represent our international student program with The Cambridge Network and inform prospective Montini families about the opportunity to become a host family!
“I wanted to share with you a very positive experience I had with my ESOL 2 class this week. We are on chapter 3 in book 5 on culture. As a final project I had them choose a component of their culture and create a digital story book for children. Their creativity amazed me; some even illustrated theirs! They read their books to the first grade classes in our lower school today. The children were so engaged, and our students worked really well with them. It was a wonderful way to connect cultures and grade levels.” -Erin, ESL Instructor for Canterbury School, Fort Myers, FL