CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Intensive English Institute (IEI) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is now recruiting local families to host visiting Korean college students during the 2004 spring semester.
The students, from Konkuk University in Seoul, will study English language and American culture for an entire semester at IEI. They will be on campus from late January to early May.
Although the students will live in campus residence halls, they would benefit greatly from opportunities to interact with members of the community - outside the classroom, said Dawn MacLellan, host coordinator.
Hosts - whether single people, couples or families - spend a few hours a week with one or more of the students, so that the students can practice their conversational English while engaged in everyday activities such as eating, shopping, and attending sporting events, concerts and movies.
Hosts consistently report that hosting language students from abroad is mutually gratifying because it allows the hosts to learn a great deal about other lifestyles.
Anyone interested in being a host should contact MacLellan at 217-333-6598 or grimesma@illinois.edu.