Discover America

Description & Promotion of Discover America

For 4 weeks, Discover America's participants (7-10 students/ group) visit American homes & interact with families in the community for a couple hours on topics like: Cultural Do's & Don'ts, Holidays, and Family Life. Why? DA provides international friends a warm opportunity to 'taste & see' life in the USA and develop friendships. DA provides annual Monthly-Moments like: a Welcome Party, a Hayride, a Thanksgiving Banquet, Progressive Dinners & more!

Discover America offers int'l friends the chance to discover life in the USA! DA is provided at no cost to int’l friends! So sign-up soon because groups of 7-10 students fill up quickly"!

We offer the following Discover America groups choices this semester:

Group #1: (Day of week / Start time / Group Leader)

Group #2: (Day of week / Start time / Group Leader)

Group #3: (Day of week / Start time / Group Leader)

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Getting Discover America Groups Started on Your campus

*** Find Discover America Group leaders: One leader must be a native born American & it’s always best to have a co-leader to assist the leader... especially important is having access to two cars. One or both of these leaders should be warm and open. It is very helpful if they are cross-culturally minded & a good facilitator of interaction. Group leaders should understand that they are being asked to be bridge-builders for 4 weeks with these international friends. Many American friends within churches are not comfortable committing an entire school year, but simply ask cross-culturally sensitive friends to facilitate a group for 4 weeks—helping to communicate weekly with students & coordinate transportation needs to the respective host homes.

*** Find Discover America hosts: Do this for the DA leaders unless they volunteer & know someone who matches the theme. American friends are generally very open to host events, especially if they know that there is no “prep.” Just ask them to help you provide snacks & drinks. If they offer to provide a meal... snatch the opportunity. Internationals love food. Hosts of all shapes, sizes, ages & ethnicity should be considered—singles & married couples alike! Most hosts are happy to have interaction with XA but don’t have more than a couple hours per semester to contribute. Encourage the hosts to invite other Americans that might contribute to the theme & enjoy being with your international friends. Find hosts that match the theme.

***Promotion:

Find ways to promote the DA group(s) among the “new” international students through the International office, ethnic organizations, and international relationship network. Decide beforehand how many groups you will have. Value, excitement and motivation of future DA experiences is raised if you communicate that the group(s) will close after having 15 “sign-ups”.

***Group size:

The initial group size will be 7-10 people after attrition, but these will want to invite their friends. If the group exceeds 12-15, tell participants that their friends need to sign-up “next” time, because hosts cannot accommodate so many friends comfortably & you want to protect the intimacy of their DA experience.

***Format of Discover America

The Discover America format is NOT lecture, though you may choose to regularly discuss in a circle for most of the evening. Food is a MUST even if it’s just snacks & drink. "Experiential" DA meetings are best. Name tags will be provided for each week, but make weekly introductions. Feel at liberty to do icebreakers, etc.! The primary goal is FRIENDSHIP not teaching! While learning a bit about life in America is very valuable, provide the students with opportunities to voice comparisons & contrasts.

I suggest budgeting 30+ minutes (at least!) of non-structured hangout time with the family/guest. Ironically, the significant things usually happen during these moments, more so than the structured minutes. The theme is usually addressed by hosts & Internationals in question/answer format. I can provide you with some suggestions or you can think of 3-5 questions on your own beforehand; then, that evening, allow for spontaneous dialogue/questions from hosts & students. DA Leaders are free to be creative with their own ideas.

***Popular Themes:

-Cultural Do’s & Don’ts (lighthearted suggestions of things considered polite vs. offensive to Americans). This is a GREAT way to begin with laughs (i.e. Is burping rude for your culture? Can I ask you how much did you spend on your car, or tell you that you look fat?)

-Ethnic America: be careful to find American friends who are fun & secure in their unique ethnicity

-Family Life in America: especially important to have multiple generations present

-Holidays: Great theme for cultural comparisons & natural opportunities for spiritual conversation

-Celebrations: (i.e. Do a full blown “Children’s B-day party” w/ MANY children present, or ask a friend if your DA group can attend his or her wedding)

-Education in America: How is education valued & accomplished in America? (i.e. A good experience is having the group tour an elementary school after hours, talk to teachers & invite a home-school family to participate)

- Romance: (find an engaged couple, a newly wed couple & a couple married 5+ years. Ask them to bring pictures for the discussion)

-Overcoming the Language Barrier (only use this with international friends whose

1st language is not English)

-Food (Are McD’s & Pizza Hut authentic American food?)

-”American Football Lessons” (Have a “Tailgate Party” & go to the game or watch it on TV)

-Money Matters: How do Americans view money? How is shopping different here than at home? What’s a garage sale?

-Day Trips & Vacations

***Maintaining Momentum post-DA: XA staff member should attend AT LEAST 1 DA meeting if not most of them to provide ongoing connection with XA & the internationals. It’s not enough to have great DA experiences. Be sure to have someway that the XA group (staff or student) is poised to maintain regular connections with these “friends”. Since most students eat lunch, a simple solution is to meet weekly for lunch on a day that is convenient for most of the DA group. Obviously, it’s best to have someone who attended DA at least one time.

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Monthly Moments...Fun Moments with friends!

In conjunction with Discover America & XA small groups, Monthly-Moments are organized as a point of contact for old and new friends to meet & mingle. Take a look at our ‘Sample’ year!

Fall Semester:

Welcome Week Barbecue

ISFM's Progressive Dinner

Hayride

Thanksgiving Day Banquet

Christmas Celebration

Spring Semester:

Potluck of the Nations

DA Wedding (mock ceremony)

Regional XA Easter Conference