Connecting with International Students

As an ISEP Ambassador, you play a vital role in welcoming the incoming ISEP students to your campus and helping them have a successful experience abroad. Remember it was not long ago that you were arriving in a new country and trying to make sense of a different culture and possibly even a different language. Most likely, you’ll always appreciate those people from your host country that made you feel comfortable and welcome. Now it is your chance to do that for someone else!

Tips to Get Started:

• Give Pre-departure Advice. Ask your home ISEP Coordinator for the contact details of all students who will be visiting your institution in the upcoming semester. You can send a welcome email to these students and make yourself available to answer their questions before they arrive. This can also be done via Facebook, and you might consider creating your own Facebook group for your visiting students.
• Assist with the Arrival Orientation. All ISEP universities will have some type of orientation for incoming ISEP students before classes begin. This is often organized by the admissions department or the international office. Attending and helping with this event can be a great way to meet the incoming ISEP students. Ask your home ISEP Coordinator or international office for details.
• Visit Sites of Interest. Remember how exciting it was to see new things off campus when you were abroad? Take visiting ISEP students to local spots of interest, especially those that may not be on a typical tourist map. Also, help them find out about planned trips available through the international office or student activities office on campus. Invite them home for the holidays– often the most welcoming and authentic experience of culture happens when families gather for traditional celebrations.
• Everyday Logistics. Helping incoming ISEP students is simple but can make a world of difference. Show them around campus and the neighborhood. Offer to drive them to a nearby store once a week so they can shop for groceries and other supplies. Explain the public transportation system and help them try it out. Make sure they know how to find out about interesting activities and events on campus.
• Recruiting Helpers. Invite visiting ISEP students to talk about their home institutions when you promote the ISEP experience at study abroad fairs, class visits, or info sessions.
• Buddy Program. With the help of your home ISEP Coordinator, you can set up a buddy program in which each incoming ISEP student is matched up with an ISEP alum. The local buddy can meet the international ISEP student within the first couple days of arrival, show them around campus, and help get them get settled. The local buddy can give useful advice about navigating the new culture, academic system, or language, especially during the first few weeks.
• Conversation Partners. Match up international and local students interested in practicing conversation skills in each other’s language. Alternatively, you could hold a weekly language discussion group for all visiting ISEP students. While many of these students may arrive with a high level of language proficiency, they will probably be grateful to get a better understanding of local slang, idiomatic expressions, and colloquialisms.

Demonstrated skills for your résumé

• Cross-cultural communication
• Event planning
• Coordinating hospitality initiatives
• Providing local orientation and advice
• Networking

“All of the international students had seen snow before, but just a dusting, so I invited them to stay in my apartment while 12 inches fell overnight. While one student couldn’t stop looking out the window, another dressed herself in three pairs of pants, four shirts and a big jacket just to walk to my car because she thought it would be much colder with the snow. A third student just walked through the snow for twenty minutes because it felt cool. I wondered what I had never experienced that was extremely common in other parts of the world.”
Erin Keranen — ISEP Ambassador from Central Michigan University, USA

“This semester I met with Ball State’s international event coordinator. He works with the international students, creating programs and events for them throughout the semester. We have a program called the Friendship Family Program, in which international students can sign up to have a contact family out in the community. My family has been a friendship family for a German and a Danish student.”
Brittanie Middleton — ISEP Ambassador from Ball State University, USA