Host Family Webinar Series
30 minutes | Flexible session dates available | Increase your cultural awareness as a host family
Au Pair in America is offering 12 cross cultural education webinars for host families throughout the month of October. Those families with an au pair already in the home are obligated to attend at least one webinar and/or an event offered by the local community counselor. It is a Department of State requirement for host families to attend a cross cultural educational event at least once a year.
Please click on the link below for dates and times and register.
Webinar Topic 1
Culture Based Coping
What cultural aspects come to light when we navigate through a global pandemic? Let’s take a look at cultural differences, where we find unity as humans and how we might use empathy to best help each other to cope emotionally. We may just discover that 2020 is the year we co-create the world that we all wish to have.
Webinar Topic 2
Partnering with your Au Pair during Remote Learning
APIA Orientation Trainer and Educator Sandee Plescia will lead a discussion about changes in US schools and educational systems due to Covid 19 and what this means for Host Parents and Au Pairs. Strategies for creating a successful host family/au pair partnership to provide a supportive learning environment for the children will be discussed.
Webinar Topic 3
How to have Productive, Painless Conversations with your Au Pair during a Pandemic…and Anytime
Are you hesitant to bring something up or are finding it increasingly difficult to communicate with your au pair? Are the issues new or are they old ones that have been magnified by the Pandemic? Good relationships require communication. We will discuss how to have those difficult conversations with your au pair – now and anytime.
Webinar Topic 4
Understanding Generation Au Pair
Can’t tell your TikTok from your Whatsapp? . . . this webinar is for you! We’ll talk about our modern au pair generation – what makes them tick and how we can better connect with one another.
Join us for a 30-minute webinar with Q&A to learn additional cross-cultural competency
skills so that you and your au pair can have the most successful exchange possible.
We hope you enjoy participating and look forward to hearing your feedback.
This webinar is offered by Global Awareness, a program developed by Au Pair in America to highlight the cross-cultural aspects of the exchange experience, which is the heart of the au pair program. For more information please visit www.globalawareness.com.
System Requirements
- PC-based attendees: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
- Mac®-based attendees: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer
- Mobile attendees: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet
Your webinar leaders
Kim and Tanja’s Story
Kim Van Cleave Michaels and Tanja Carroll have created the host family cultural webinars together and alternate hosting these webinars. They both have MA degrees in Intercultural Relations, have lived overseas numerous times around the globe, as well as sat in your seat as a host family.
Kim first experienced the power of international exchanges as a host sister to a Mexican exchange student. She has lived and worked in Spain, England and Japan and has overseen U. S. Department of State J-1 visa exchanges for over 20 years, 15 of which have been with the American Institute of Foreign Study. Kim is currently a Senior Community Counselor and the Western Field Representative for Au Pair In America.
Tanja, a native from the Netherlands, but has lived in Egypt, Peru, England, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Spain, Belgium, and India. She has extensive travel experience through South Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. After completing graduate school she settled in Rhode Island. She started out at Au Pair in America in 2014 as a Community Counselor and is currently a Global Awareness Representative.
Their webinars weave intercultural theories into the most common cross-cultural scenarios au pairs and host families experience during their program, highlighting the opportunities for learning and growth that these exchanges bring our US American host parents and children.
They would like to thank you for your participation and for allowing them to be a part of your Au Pair in America cross-cultural competency journey. The heart of our program after all is cultural exchange…
