Grade 12 student from Alix-MAC Jayden Stauffer with members of his Chinese host family. Photo courtesy of Jayden Stauffer.

来自Alix-MAC的 12年级学生Jayden Stauffer和他的中国寄宿家庭成员在一起。照片由Jayden Stauffer提供。

For any young student in the Wolf Creek Public School division thinking about participating in an overseas exchange program, it has never been easier as it is now thanks to their International Learning Program.

对于狼溪公立教育局想要参加海外交流项目的学生来说，从来没有像现在这样容易，这要感谢他们的国际学习项目。

Since the two schools divisions signed a memorandum of understanding last year, a number of Chinese students from the Guangdong province have already attended school at the Junior High and Terrace Ridge Schools, while a few Lacombe students have had student experiences in China

自从去年两个教育局签署了谅解备忘录以来，许多来自广东省的中国学生已经在拉科姆初中和特雷斯岭学校就读，而一些拉科姆的学生也有在中国交流的经历。

Host parent and Lacombe resident Korey Von Kuster currently has two 12-year-old Chinese girls living with his family, which includes his two daughters of similar ages.

寄宿家庭父母和拉科姆居民科瑞·冯·库斯特(Korey Von Kuster)目前有两个12岁的中国女孩和他的家人住在一起，她们与他的两个女儿年龄相仿。

He says besides the girls being amazed at the large variety of food choices, unsurprisingly one of the biggest shocks to the Chinese girls when they first arrived in Canada in February, was the weather.

他说，女孩们除了对食物选择的多样性感到惊讶之外，天气也是中国女孩今年2月刚到加拿大时感到最震惊的事情之一。

“They really didn’t have any words to describe just how cold -40 is [laughs]. Aside from that, they quite enjoyed the food and the amount of choice. They have rice and vegetables and whatnot, but just the amount of different things that we had in our Canadian melting pot, so that was certainly different for them… they try everything, it’s wonderful as that was one of my biggest worries about what do feed these kids.”  

“她们真的不能用任何语言来形容零下40度有多冷(笑)。除此之外，她们非常喜欢这里的食物和众多的选择。她们吃米饭和蔬菜之类的东西，但是在加拿大这文化多样性的汇集地里有很多不同的食物，所以这对她们来说当然是与众不同的。她们什么都吃，这很好，因为这是我最担心的问题之一，我会担心这些孩子吃什么。”

He says the life lessons and experiences he and his kids have learned by living closely with a different culture have been invaluable.

他说，他和孩子们在与不同文化紧密接触的过程中学到的生活经验和教训是无价的。

“If parents or families are out there and they just want to experience something different we would encourage you to give this a try because the amount of learning my girls have done just from having our two exchange students with them, the growth is quite phenomenal.”

“如果父母或家人都在那里，他们只是想体验一些不同的东西，我们会鼓励你尝试一下，因为我的女儿们从我们的两个交换生身上学到了很多东西，这种增长是非常惊人的。”

The exchange program does go both ways, as a few Lacombians have made their way to the communist country, including 17-year-old Brooke McWhinnie, a grade 12 students at Lacombe Composite High School who spent 16 days in China this past March.

这个交流项目确实是双向的，因为一些拉科姆居民已经前往了中国，其中包括17岁的布鲁克·麦克威尼(Brooke McWhinnie)，她是拉科姆综合高中(Lacombe Composite High School) 12年级的学生，今年3月在中国待了16天。

McWinnie quickly learned another unique experience of being a tall, blonde haired blue eyed foreigner in an Asian country: being stopped by locals for pictures.

麦克威尼很快就学会了在亚洲国家做一个金发碧眼的高个子外国人的另一种独特经历:被当地人拦下来拍照。

She says being willing to experience new ideas and ways of life goes a long way in building a person’s character and helped her work on her leadership and communication skills.

她说，愿意体验新的想法和生活方式对塑造一个人的性格大有帮助，这帮助她提高了自己的领导能力和沟通技巧。

“It was a lot different but I think when you put yourself out there and you’re willing to try new things, you can learn a lot and gain a lot from the new experience.”  

“这是一个很大的不同，但我认为，当你把自己放在那个环境里，你愿意尝试新的东西，你可以学到很多，并从新的经验中获得很多。”

Jayden Stauffer is a grade 12 student at high school in Alix who spent time in at a homestay in China, and wouldn't trade his experience for anything.

杰登·斯托弗(Jayden Stauffer)是阿利克斯一所高中的12年级学生，他曾在中国的寄宿家庭待过一段时间，这个经历是用任何东西也换来不了的。

“I still believe that’s one of the most incredible ways to truly experience a country from the perspective of someone who lives there, and I think having the opportunity to stay in a homestay completely enhances the entire experience for me…but just having that homestay aspect of the program was huge and that’s probably where I really learned what living in China was like.”

“我仍然相信这是从居住在那里的人的角度真正体验一个国家的最令人难以置信的方式之一。我认为有机会待在寄宿家庭完全提升了我的整个体验……但只是在住宿方面的影响是巨大的,可能是我真的了解了在中国的生活是什么样子的。”

Both Jayden and Brooke say this experience has given them the travel bug, and they plan on seeing more parts of this world after they graduate.

杰登和布鲁克都说，这段经历让他们对旅行产生了兴趣，他们计划毕业后去更多的地方看看。

The Wolf Creek School Division is still looking for a few host families for this summer and fall, and are always interested in hearing from Canadian students who are interested in the exchange program.

狼溪教育局仍在寻找几所寄宿家庭，希望能在今年夏秋两季接待学生，并随时欢迎对交换项目感兴趣的加拿大学生的参与。

与加拿大学生大使Brooke McWhinnie同一所高中的来自拉科姆综合高中的两名学生在两周前在艾伯塔省省级比赛中赢得金牌，该金牌是与其他61个学校的焊接和摄影职业技能部门共同竞争获得的。获得金牌的学生们参加了加拿大全国学生比赛，今天他们都在全国比赛中获得了金牌！

新闻出处：加拿大新闻媒体Lacombe Online

https://lacombeonline.com/local/exchange-program-offers-life-changing-experiences-for-students-host-families