TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:00
Speaker 1: Martleway College is putting out the call for carrying local families to host students age thirteen to fourteen.
00:00:06
Speaker 2: He'll be visiting from April twenty first to the eighth.
00:00:09
Speaker 1: The may a great chance to support international students while sharing a bit of our local Southland life. Fiona Brown is the wait whit this is a title, is the head of Koreas and International Student Director at Martleway College, and she is here to tell us all about it.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: We've just had this six degrees of separation chat. Where are you're from, who are you related to? And how long have you been living in Gore? But you've been at Martleway College.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: For how long? Now? A year? Next month?
00:00:39
Speaker 1: Yeah?
00:00:39
Speaker 2: And loving Southland life.
00:00:41
Speaker 3: Yes i am. Yeah, I've come from Monica, So a little bit of a change, but a good change.
00:00:45
Speaker 1: Yes, we're and stoked to have you as an important Hopefully you stick around. But let's talk about what it entails to be a host family. What kind of experience is Mudleway College hoping to create when these students come visiting in April.
00:01:01
Speaker 3: Yes, so this is a little bit different for us. So prior COVID, we used to have ten international students regularly coming from Thailand. Since COVID, it's been a little bit harder. The economy in Thailand has had a downturn and they've also built some international schools, so we've looked at changing things up a little bit and we're looking at short term students. So this group, there's fourteen students coming with three teachers. They'll be going to three different schools, mud Away, Saint Peter's and Southland Girls. So we have four students coming with one teacher. So for us at mud Away, these students will be the first time that they've traveled internationally. For them, learning English is on top, so it will be full immersion into classes. We offer something a little bit different here in New Zealand where we have really practical subjects, so we will be getting them into things like art and cooking and woodwork and you know, different things that they can't necessarily do in Thailand. But English is top for them and exploring New Zealand.
00:02:02
Speaker 2: So it's going to be full on a few weeks for the students. What do you want them to go home to?
00:02:09
Speaker 1: What do you want the ideal host family to look like at home?
00:02:14
Speaker 2: What all four students stay together, will they be split? What's going to happen there?
00:02:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we do like to separate them into different homes. So we have one student with one home, and we like to place the teacher with another teacher, just so they take lots away from that. For us, we want them to have a really good time in Gore, But in Southland and in New Zealand when I go overseas to international conferences, Gore's quite a hard sell compared to Auckland, christ Church, et cetera. Yeah. Yeah, so in Thailand, unfortunately rural means poor. We of course know that it's not the case. That's not the case. In Southland's a pretty cool place to be. So we want them to have a really good experience here. We want them to go home with some some English and just some really positive experiences from New Zealand.
00:03:04
Speaker 1: Yes, so if you can fill the brief with that, then you need to apply. But on that sort of note, for households who haven't hosted before, what kind of support or guidance does the school provide for the families to help, you know, them be a bit confident and prepared and.
00:03:20
Speaker 2: Have a bit of purpose behind it.
00:03:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, so so I'll be the contact from school. So when people contact me about wanting to be a host family, then I'll go around and meet you. You have a look at the home. We like the students to have their own room, so we just double check that everything's all good. But Keywis are really good at hosting, so yeah, we're really good at doing that. So providing meals and things and we pay you.
00:03:47
Speaker 1: Oh yes, and honestly, with the current state of play in the world, like someone might be thinking, oh, I'd love to, but my grocery bill.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: Is just stretched enough as it is. So you know, that's a bonus for that as well.
00:04:01
Speaker 1: If someone is listening and thinking, oh, maybe we could actually do this, what's the next step.
00:04:06
Speaker 2: And how can they get in touch with you to find out more?
00:04:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, so just getting in contact with me directly, so giving me a ring or an email, or getting in touch with school.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Oh so, Fionna's details are on the muddle Y College Facebook page.
00:04:22
Speaker 2: Email is attached to that. Jump on there.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: If you don't have Facebook and you wouldn't like to get in touch, text me. Five is years zero nine and I'll be happy to pass that on. Otherwise, just give the college a call and they can pop you in touch as well. But if you do know someone or you could potentially be keen to be a home stay host. April twenty first to May the eighth, Fiona and Ta Muddle, I would love to hear from you. I can only imagine it's a rewarding way to support students and showcase our awesome community.
00:04:50
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Fiona, awesome, thanks for having me