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SALT LAKE CITY -- August 2010 found me and my family at the Salt Lake City International Airport, welcoming a teenage girl from Taiwan into our family for 10 months. She had come via the foreign exchange program, "The EF Foundation." Our student was accompanied down the escalator by another student from Japan. And they were not alone in coming to Utah. In fact, in southern Utah County, we met students from Germany, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Spain. The program also hosts students from Norway, Switzerland and Thailand.
Shao-Yun, or "Jean" as she preferred to be called, came with the hope of improving her English and gaining an experience going to an American school. Her father is a businessman and he had told her that becoming proficient speaking English would further whatever career path she chose. However, from the day she stepped off the airplane, she seemed to speak English well. This was due, she said, to the education she received in Taiwan. Apparently, from the time students in her country are in grammar school, they begin to learn to speak English.
Jean and I had many conversations about life in Taiwan, which expanded my vision of the world tremendously. My children and I marveled at the fact that students went to school early in the day and never left their classes. Teachers rotated in for each subject. As a result, you would go to the school with the same students for an entire school year. One fact I found very interesting was that the teachings of Confucius are mingled throughout school studies, encouraging moral values.
We gained many experiences from having Jean in our home. I took Jean to an authentic Asian market in Provo, owned by a family from Taiwan. She picked out some food and cooked some of her favorite foods from Taiwan for us.
I purchased chopsticks so that we could complete the experience. We also were treated to a Chinese New Year, with Jean again cooking for our family. We were given envelopes her mother had sent her for us, with a little gift inside. On the outside of the envelope, Jean wrote a name for each of us in Chinese, which held a special meaning for us.
Some of my favorite times, however, were the long conversations I had with her. Jean shared with me her culture and the things her mother and her mother's parents taught her. I learned to love not only Jean but her mother and her grandparents as well. These were the times my love for my "daughter on loan from Taiwan" grew the most.
Sometimes culture did conflict, giving a teaching moment for all. For example, if one of my children complained about what was served at the table, Jean felt very uncomfortable. In her country, this was disrespectful. Youths did not speak to their elders in this fashion. Times like these provided talking points to learn from for my children and for Jean.
On the first day of school, Jean said, "I am going to just jump and get involved." And she did! She tried out for drill team and made it. This gave her experiences making friends, participating in the social experiences of school and traveling. A full course at school provided the challenge of studying in English, which was a bit harder to do. Jean knew the content of her studies but had to learn to translate.
One of the best parts of hosting an exchange student is sharing the holidays. Halloween saw my daughters and me and Jean dressing as Harry Potter characters. She was Cho Chang, I was Molly Weasley and my daughters were Hermione and Ginny. We had a blast serving trick or treaters with her.
Christmas also was delightful as we shared the traditions of gift giving, putting up the tree and Christmas carols with someone who had never experienced these things before. These are very much family oriented holidays, and to open our hearts and homes to someone new increased the love and joy we all felt on these special days.
Before she went home, I asked Jean if she felt she had gained what she had hoped to by coming here. She said she had. She wanted to improve her English skills, both in speaking, writing and reading, and grow as a person through experiencing the American way of life. But I think our family learned quite a bit, too. Our view of the world expanded, learning from another person's way of life. We learned it is enriching to share our life with someone else, and we learned to be enriched by their ways as well.
Brenda Bennion lives in Santaquin, Utah, with her husband of 23 years and is the mother of five children, a West Highland terrier named Annie and a cat named Smokey who thinks he's a king.
