When it comes to studying in Australia, "host family" is a topic that must be talked about. For underage students, you can choose either way in "parent study", "host family", "boarding school".
Parents in China are unable to spend a long time living with their children in Australia because of work reasons, and "school boarding" will face quota restrictions, so that "host family" has become the choice of most families.
However, the children of leave parents come to a strange environment far from the land, face strange boarding parents and boarding life, will encounter a lot of unknown problems, and do not know how to solve them.
Therefore, today, the editor will introduce you to the host family of studying in Australia, "Homestay".
1. Basic information about host families in Australia
Host family (Homestay,Hostfamily) is a kind of accommodation for tourists or foreign students when traveling or studying abroad. It can rent a room from the local family, which can not only adapt to the local lifestyle, but also improve the language ability. For students who have just arrived in Australia, it is a suitable way for most students to choose to stay in Australia.
Host families are usually received in Australia by middle-income newly retired couples, or some middle-aged women living alone. Law Australia stipulates that students over the age of 13 can apply to host families. Most host families live in an environment and three meals a day, which may not be as good as those of foreign students at home. But children`s daily meals must be clean, healthy and nutritious, and parents in host families also like to get positive feedback from their children and parents.
two. Standards for host families
Now there are a lot of international students who come to Australia to study. The Australian government has set up some audit standards for unified management of boarding families. All boarding families need to pass the review first, and we can introduce them first:
1. A safe private bedroom for students to use alone, with suitable storage space, personal belongings and learning materials, including desks, chairs and indoor lighting for study.
two. The home needs to be kept clean and regularly monitored for students` living hygiene.
3. Shared or private bathrooms are available and showers are allowed for reasonable time (usually not more than 15 minutes).
4. There are kitchens, living rooms, laundry facilities and family sharing areas;
5. If necessary, there is heating in winter and air conditioning in summer (usually fans, a few restricted and open air conditioners).
6. Provide students with the necessary keys, alarms or passwords to safely enter the host family.
3. Expenses for Australian boarding families.
Due to the different standard of living and consumption, the cost of host family will also be slightly different in different regions.
Today, we take the Sydney area in 2019 as an example to elaborate on the cost of host families.
Note: suppose the exchange rate of Australian dollars to RMB is about 1: 5
? Host family matching fee: 290 Australian dollars
? Pick-up fee: 140 Australian dollars
? Accommodation (weekly):
Students under 18 years of age (including three meals a day)
Separate bedroom: 350 Australian dollars;
Students over 18 years of age
Independent bedroom:
1. Including three meals a day: 330 Australian dollars;
two. Includes two meals from Monday to Friday, as well as three meals on weekends: 300 Australian dollars;
3. Only dinner per day: 280 Australian dollars;
4. Breakfast only: 270 Australian dollars per day;
5. Excluding meals: 250 Australian dollars.
Shared bedroom: 300 Australian dollars.
1. Include three meals per day:A$260;
two. Includes two meals from Monday to Friday, as well as three meals on weekends: 250 Australian dollars;
3. Only dinner per day: 220 Australian dollars;
4. Breakfast only: 210 Australian dollars per day;
5. Excluding meals: 200 Australian dollars.
When applying for a host family, students usually have to pay the first matching fee and the first four weeks of accommodation. After that, accommodation is paid every two weeks or four weeks.
4. Provisions, advantages and disadvantages of host families
As an international student, the small editor thinks that since choosing to live a boarding family must accept the fact that a``person is under the roof`` , in order to prevent us and the host of the host of the boarding family, there are still some rules that we have to abide by:
General rules for students in host families
1. Places of mutual respect, understanding and dissatisfaction should be raised politely.
two. To take part in some family work, such as helping with housework.
3. Get used to the master`s life, diet, work and rest time.
4. Take a bath for no more than 15 minutes
5. Host families need to be informed to stay outside
6. It is not possible to smoke in the bedroom
7. Do not move or change the furniture and accessories in the room at will
5. The benefits of living in a host family
If you have the opportunity to learn more about Australian local culture, you can make some local friends in Australia, improve your English, encounter difficulties in life, and ask your host family for help.
In fact, host families are relatively convenient, do not need students to cook, and basically do not have to worry about living expenses, and so on, can also recognize friends from different countries in the same host family.
Some host family owners may take students to participate in a variety of activities, such as family gatherings, etc., the safety factor is relatively high, need to undertake certain housework, improve the ability to live.
6. The disadvantages of living in a host family
Since the host family needs to take a certain responsibility for the safety of the students, it may require the students to go home on time and do not need to cook on their own, which means that the food is not necessarily appetizing, the price is not very cheap compared with the free rental house, the cultural differences between the East and the West, there may be a lot of problems in communication, there will be a lot of general rules, if you can not abide by it in time, you will get along very unhappy.
7. What should I pay attention to in the accommodation of host families in Australia
In fact, living in someone else`s house, sharing with others, to abide by the basic rules. We Australian students living in host families should pay particular attention to the following points:
Rest time
Australians like to go to bed early and get up early. It is recommended that you should not use the phone to chat with people after 9: 00 in the evening, and do not take a bath, wash up and make a lot of noise, let alone return at midnight, so as not to affect the landlord`s rest.
Bath aspect
Australia generally attaches great importance to personal hygiene, bathing very often. But in fact, because Australia is short of water, there will be corresponding water policies to avoid waste. Boarding students had better ask about the right time to bathe when they move in so as not to have unnecessary conflict or no hot water. Shorten the time of taking a bath as much as possible, about 10 minutes is appropriate. After washing, clean the bathroom, wipe it with a cloth, and finally open the window for ventilation.
Friends visit
In general, please ask the consent of the host of the boarding family and invite friends to visit. Don`t ask them to come here frequently to avoid disturbing daily life of the boarding family. It is better not to stay in the room.
Help properly
Active participation is the best performance of integration into the family. Boarding students had better not have the idea of "I pay you to work". They should take part in some housework, such as setting cutlery before and after dinner, cleaning the table after dinner, taking out garbage, helping clean house, and so on.
Practice dialogue
Many boarding students choose boarding to improve their language proficiency. It is best to find a chance to talk to the landlord, and not regardless of the occasion, let the landlord practice English with you.
Clean up the room
Australian families usually clean their homes every Saturday or Sunday, and the whole family clean their rooms, cleanse, clean their clothes and so on. Boarding students are also advised to do a comprehensive cleaning of their rooms and tidy up their belongings.
Respect each other.
Although the parents of the host family are not their own parents, during the boarding period, they are taking care of their daily diet. They have paid some care and help, and the boarding students should respect the landlord`s family.
Exchange and communication
More communication, not only makes great progress in your language, but also makes you better integrated into your host family.
Do in Rome as Rome does [as the Romans do].
If Chinese students stay in a host family, it is particularly important to note that if they want to cook and cook, be sure to consult the host family owner. Because there are many westerners who can`t accept the smell of frying fumes, Chinese students must pay special attention to this point. If the meal cooked by the landlord`s family is not very acceptable,
Such as curry, can communicate properly, really can not consider changing host family.
8. How to deal with the problem
Be polite and communicate with host families
In fact, we foreign students and host families have contradictory problems, most of the time it is also caused by communication, so when there are problems, we must patiently say their ideas and try to communicate with the host family first to get the appropriate solution.
Ask for help from the school
Most host families are actually managed by the school, not denying that sometimes it may be a student`s language problem, or that the host family is actually too mean in some ways, and if it is endured at this time, it will make the contradiction deeper and deeper, and even its studies will be affected. So at the right time, ask the school for help, come forward to help yourself coordinate the problem, or find a more suitable host family.
Contact Australia Homestay Network
If it hasn`t been solved, the host family is not under the premise of school management, when students can contact AHN (Australian Homestay Network), an organization that manages host families all over Australia, and can contact 24 hours a day and help solve the problem.
Contact: 1300 024 628
Email: [email protected]
report to the police
When you think that the host family will affect your life and health, you can actually choose to call the police, and the police uncle will help solve the problem:
Australian emergency alarm telephone number: 000 (life safety received by threat)
Australia non-emergency alarm Tel: 131444
