Japanese Exchange Program

California offers an alternate year program - traveling to Japan on even-numbered years and hosting Japanese students and their chaperones on odd-numbered years.

2009 4-H Japanese Month-Long Summer Hosting Program

July 22 - August 18, 2009

Fun - Rewarding - Educational

Being a 4-H international host family is fun, rewarding and educational.   You can welcome a Japanese student into your home and your family to join in everyday activities, help with chores, and otherwise fit in as a brother, sister, son or daughter. Host families appreciate the chance to develop friendships which reach around the world. They find that their international student not only teaches them to understand another culture and way of life, but also to understand and appreciate their own culture and way of life.

Japanese Exchange Information (Word) (PDF)
Host Family Application (Word) (PDF)
Host Family Description (Word) (PDF)
Host Family Reference Letter (Word) (PDF)
Timeline 2009 (Word) (PDF)

Teen Travel Guide Information (Word) (PDF)
Teen Travel Guide Application (Word) (PDF) - Due April 1, 2009

Hosting Month-Long Inbound Program Delegates
Japanese youth ages 12 - 18 will visit the U.S. July 22 to August 18. (most of the delegates are ages 12 - 14.) The students are members of the Labo organization in Japan, an organization devoted to the study of foreign cultures and languages, and the benefits of international exchange. Youth delegates are placed in homes with a host sibling of the same gender and within two years of age.  No special activities need to be planned, although many families and visitors enjoy the opportunity to take occasional sightseeing trips to local attractions and landmarks.

Hosting Month-Long Inbound Program Chaperones
Adult chaperones will accompany the summer youth delegation. Adults can stay for two weeks with two different host families or with one family for the duration of the program. Host families for chaperones may be singles, retirees or couples with grown or no children.

Expectations of host families are:

• Have fun!
• Provide the delegate with meals and lodging.
• Include the delegate in all family activities.
• Read the materials sent by the 4-H International Exchange Programs Coordinator.
• Attend an orientation session.
• Contact your 4-H International Exchange Programs County Coordinator or the State Coordinator immediately if illness or other major problems arise.
• Be flexible, patient, and willing to communicate both verbally and non-verbally with your delegate. Most of the participants will have limited English communication skills.
• The host sibling of the delegate must keep the exchange uppermost in mind during the hosting month, and make sure the delegate feels comfortable around friends and is included in activities.

The 4-H International Exchange Programs looks for all types of families to give delegates as broad a perspective as possible about life in the U.S. Urban families, rural families, single-parent families, older couples, singles, couples without children, and families with varies religious and ethnic backgrounds all have something to offer visitors from other cultures.  Families do not necessarily have to be 4-H members before participating, although they must enroll in 4-H in order to participate. It is preferable that the family be willing to be involved in local 4-H activities during the exchange.

For more information contact Pat English, California 4-H International Exchange Coordinator at pnenglish@ucdavis.edu or 530-754-8520

2007 4-H Japanese Exchange Summer Hosting Program

In 2007, California 4-H families hosted 24 Japanese teens and 2 adult chaperones. Japanese students came to live with a 4-H family in counties stretching from Siskiyou to Ventura County.

A parent stated: "This was a wonderful experience for us. You grow in ways you didn’t know were even possible. Opening up your heart to a new person (from another culture), makes everyone stretch, grow and increase love and happiness.”

A youth stated: “The exchange has opened my eyes to a whole new world that until this point has not touched my life. …. life enriching experiences like this one have the ability of reshaping me into someone more aware of the world around me.” 

Another youth stated: “I think this experience has made me more patient and helped me to try my hardest to explain if someone doesn’t understand.”

4-H members and leaders who hosted Japanese students report they have learned new things about the exchange country and about themselves. Participants identified growth in the following areas: empathy and concern for others, accepting differences, patience, learning to communicate, cooperating with others, and building self confidence. Data from evaluations shows that 85% of host families agree strongly and 15% agree somewhat that they benefited from the exchange. Eight-eight percent learned new things about the participating country and 85% learned new things about themselves.

Pictures from the 2007 Japanese Exchange can be viewed in the Photo Gallery on-line at http://www.ca4h.org/photogal/ under International Exchange.

2008 4-H Japanese Exchange Summer Travel to Japan
(on even-numbered years)

Fact Sheet
Slide Show from past participant
Video from past participant

http://margerymagill.blogspot.com - a blog from a 2009 Outbound

In 2008, fourteen California 4-H members and two 4-H volunteer leaders traveled to Japan to participate in an exchange with the Japanese Labo organization.  Participants, lived with a host family and experienced life in Japan. Host families eagerly introduced California teens and leaders to the culture of Japan and afforded them an opportunity to experience life from the inside - not as a tourist.   Teens either lived with the Japanese teen that they had hosted in the past or were placed with a family with a teen the same gender and close in age, with similar interests and hobbies.  Through this program, delegates:

• Shared their culture, customs, and heritage with a Japanese youth.

• Learned to value diversity and show respect and understanding for others.

• Increased their language and communication skills

• Increased their understanding of what it is like to be new to a culture.

• Developed understanding of issues related to living in a global society.

• Improved self understanding.

Six of these teens spent an extra four weeks in Japan with the Nihongo Program, an intensive Japanese language program. This program begins in mid-June and ends just prior to the four-week home-stay program. Participants lived with Japanese families in the Tokyo area and attend Japanese language classes five mornings a week at the Labo Center and then went into the community in the afternoon to "practice" their Japanese.  All Nihongo delegates must participate in the 4-week homestay.