Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Hosting our new Amity Assistant, Jeanne Perrier

We are excited to announce that Roosevelt will have another French native Educational Intern this fall for the full 2017-18 school year, Jeanne Perrier. She studies English (language, literature & civilization). She aspires to be a teacher.

Hosting our intern is a key factor in the programs success. The host families play a key role in shaping our intern's views on American family life and education here (they are all studying to become teachers). They also become short-term family members who can become lifelong French native friends. This year we will need 3 host families to volunteer to host an intern for about 12 weeks, but longer stay is a possibility if it suits the family. This is an exciting opportunity to have your children really connect on a daily basis with a native French speaker and learn more about French culture! All interns have excellent English skills so communication with non-French fluent families will not be a problem.
If you are interested in hosting our new intern, please read the information about the Amity Intern Program and requirements below. I included some of Jeanne's words about herself and her views of this exciting experience. Email me (wiebe_c@4j.lane.edu) if you have any questions or would like to put your name on the list to reserve a specific intern time period (Fall Term: Sept-Dec, Winter: Jan-March, Spring: April-June). Thank you for supporting a strong educational experience at Roosevelt.

HOST FAMILIES (from the Amity website): http://www.amity.org/category/host-family-overview/
Host Families play a vital role in the success of an assignment. By welcoming an intern from another country into their home, volunteer host families gain friendship, understanding, knowledge and a connection to the world. They will experience new tastes and customs, and have the chance to practice their intern's language. Their children will learn about different parts of the world from the intern, and may receive extra help with their own language studies. Long-lasting relationships that may develop between the family and intern can lead to an ongoing exchange of friendship and hospitality. Children may also benefit from having an international friend and a foreign pen pal. Learning about another culture may create new interests in travel and international issues. Hosts may also gain a new perspective of Americans and American culture as seen through the intern's eyes, leading, perhaps, to broadening their own opinions, beliefs and values. HOST FAMILIES PROVIDE: A private room. Three meals a day, including a sack lunch on school days.  Transportation to & from school if school is not walking distance or accessible by public transportation. 


Jeanne Perrier's words about ....
host families:
To be a good guest, I assume you have to try and taste everything, be easygoing and flexible. I might share with my host families my own food, French traditions, or my taste in films. I think you have to be grateful because you are a guest in their house and show them interest, participate in conversations, and in their traditions. I would be curious.

....living in the U.S:
This internship will enable me to learn a new way of teaching, very different from the one I experimented in France. French immersion schools awakes my curiosity. I picture that you have to be diversified in terms of methods and be very open minded. I am interested in international relationships and exchange with children. Furthermore I studied for 2 years American civilization and I would like to experiment this way of life, and thinking. This internship will help me to improve my social and linguistic skills and give me a huge experience to confirm my career goal.