Your International Exchange Coordinator (IEC) (lingo alert) is your first stop for questions or concerns during your exchange year (and leading up to). This goes for the host family and the exchange student. They are basically “supervising” the exchange year and making sure nothing goes wrong, this is for everyones safety and sanity. Having been both host mom and IEC I can see things from both sides and provide decent advice to families.
Your IEC is who helps you through the application process and helps you pick a student. They are generally pretty good at reading through the bullshit on applications, something good to have for first time host families. Some of the students are coached during the application processes, or even worse someone else fills it out for them. IECs are pretty good at picking out the genuine students and matching them to an appropriate family.
They also support you and your student(s) throughout the exchange. They are by law required to check in with you and your student(s) monthly (separately) to see if there are any issues arising. But you can also call them too if you need some help in between. Even if it is as simple as bouncing an idea of another person. I really like to get ahead of issues so I have no problems just sending a text or quick call just to see if my plan is on the right track. And it also helps makes it known that there might be an issue coming up and keeping your support in the loop. Now don’t call for every little thing, but if you need a little extra help or encouragement go for it.
Obviously if something big comes up call you IEC as soon as you can and let them know what is happening. It could be seriously bad grades, extreme behavior, or a trip to the hospital (though not limited to those things of course). Your IEC will either help you through the situation, take over for you, or enlist help further up the chain.
Sometimes you just need a third party to help navigate the communication minefield of a family meeting. You have tried to talk to your student about something and tried again and nothing is working, so this is when you can (and should) call in you IEC to help broker some peace. They will then continue to monitor the situation and apply any further actions needed. But hopefully one meeting will do the trick!
Encourage your students to be honest with their communications with their IEC. It doesn’t help them if they lie or skirt the truth. If there is an issue or concern, be it with you, the school, or general exchange life, they should let their IEC know. Their IEC should establish a trusting relationship with your student in case something comes up and they need to talk to someone that isn’t you. I always tell my students they are always safe to talk to me or my husband but if they need someone else to talk to they should call their IEC or program advisor (more on that support wheel-spoke later). Always encourage honest communication because how can any of us help solve the problem if no one really knows what is going on.
Hopefully you will have a great relationship with your IEC, and even more so for your student. My regular IEC and I have a friendship beyond the host family-IEC relationship and we are able to talk about life things that have nothing to do with the exchange year. Now not everyone will form a bond like that, but just remember that your IEC is required by law to contact you and your student monthly. It is for the student’s safety and your peace of mind that someone is out there to help; it is not them not trusting you.
If you are interested in becoming an IEC contact me and I will let you know more about the position and how to become one. (Note: you do not need to host students to be an IEC, though it does help having some experience)
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