Foreign exchange students become part of family

Mandi Ford serves as a regional coordinator for EF High School Exchange Year.

“I married somebody in the military, so we moved all over the world. My kids were born in Italy. When we came back to the states, we started hosting foreign exchange students because we wanted to keep some of that diverse culture going.

“We’ve hosted seven kids from five different countries so far. Since we have a son and daughter, we try to alternate between boys and girls. It’s so neat for my kids. They like to tell people how many brothers and sisters they have, and the numbers keep growing. They think of them as siblings.

“From each student they learn a little bit of each language and culture. My daughter learned ‘I love chocolate’ in Swedish. The exchange student said she was teaching her the important phrases.

“My kids have memorized all the flags. They know where all the countries are. Last year in sixth grade, my son had to learn all the geography of foreign countries and had tests over where each country was. He said, ‘I’m the only one who got 100.’ He thought that was pretty neat.”

— Mandi Ford