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Japanese Homestay Program in Australia

Every winter (July-August) a group of Japanese high school students fly across the Pacific Ocean to share daily life with an Australian family for 3 weeks of friendship and discovery.
Host families welcome their Japanese visitor as a family member- not as a tourist or guest. In this way, both sides can truly learn to understand one another. Japanese delegates will also have a chance to attend high school with their host to experience school life!

Why Homestay?

Homestay is the best way of gaining mutual understanding and making friendships. On a sightseeing trip, you only make superficial contact with a country’s culture. But by sharing daily life with a family and creating new friendships, you can engage with a country’s culture on a deeper level.

History

Labo’s Homestay Exchange program with Australia began in 1982 with 50 Australian participants traveling to Japan. Since then, we have been operating this exchange program successfully, every year gaining more supporters and participants!

Program Highlights

· Japanese students attend high school with their hosts.
· Students are placed in a family with a child of the same gender and similar age.
· Host families are not expected to plan special trips or activities for their exchangees.
· Students are anxious to share daily life with you and are encouraged to try all new experiences.
· Labo members take part in six months of orientation activities prior to leaving Japan.

Preparation Process of Japanese Delegates

·Nov.-Dec : Orientation for the participants and their parents
·Dec.-Jan : Labo Winter Camp
·March : Labo Exchange Inauguration Ceremony
·June : Monthly District Meetings , Weekend camps for all participants
·July : Send-off party , Overnight hotel stay, Final Orientation

Schedule

Arrival

* The arrival program is held on the first day of arrival. Students will stay at a hotel for the night for homestay orientation. This will also give them a chance to recover from their long flight and to become accustomed to local time, weather, food and so on.

Travel to Host Families

*Sydney group : For the group of students placed in the Sydney area, host families will meet them in Sydney and take them home.
*ACT group : Those who need to travel on a domestic flight will be escorted by our Australian staff and will meet the host families at the destination airport.

During Homestay

The students will attend high school along with their hosts. Host families must obtain the school principal’s approval prior to their arrival. For more information, please contact Price Travel Services.

Departure

The Labo delegates will gather for a few nights prior to their return to Japan. They will then reflect upon their experiences and prepare to head back home!

Schedule for 2007

Date of Arrival : July 21 (Sat)
Meet Host Families –Homestay begins : July 22 (Sun)
Farewell with Host Families- Departure Programme begins : Aug 12 (Sun)
Date of Departure –Arrive Japan : August 14s (Tue)

  Homestay Programme in Japan

Mid December- Beginning of January for 3 weeks.

How to become a Host Family

If you’re interested in hosting a Japanese student,

please contact Price Travel Services
Address: GPO Box 5036
Sydney, 1044
Australia
E-mail: reservation@pricetravelservices.com
Phone: 02-9247-3086
Fax: 02-9251-4187

OR

Labo International Exchange Foundation
Nishi-Shinjuku Mitsui Bldg. #16F
6-24-1 Nishi-Shinjuku
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023  JAPAN
Tel: (03) 5324-3430
E-mail: exchange@labo-global.co.jp

Comments from Japanese Participants

"“Smile” is always the key to make friends!"
"My host and I became like real sisters!"
"I had fun teaching Japanese calligraphy in one of the Japanese classes! I hope they still remember the Kanji’s I taught them."
"My host family spoke Chinese in the house so I took this opportunity to learn both English and Chinese. I was able to learn that language barrier is no obstacle if you give some effort to try to understand each other!"

Comments from an Australian delegate

"My name is Andrew Lake and I am 17 years old, from Canberra in Australia. I found out about Labo through school and was very lucky to participate in their Homestay Program.
Everything from spending time with my host family at home, to going to school, to climbing mountains and singing and dancing around the bonfire at winter camp was just so much fun. Living with another family gave me the perfect opportunity to experience first hand what it was like to live with a foreign family and learn and discover the differences between the Western and Asian cultures and the general way of life. Of all the great experiences, the best thing about my trip was the friendships that I made.
Over four weeks I met and made such good friends with so many people that there is not a day that goes past that I don’t think about someone I met. The bonds that were formed between myself and so many others were so strong that I would have given anything in the world to not have had to return home.
We will be friends forever. I had the best time of my life in Japan and returned with so many good memories that I will treasure for life. If I had the chance, I would go back to Japan and get involved with Labo again tomorrow."