Welcome!!
Welcome from Chicago Area AFS team to be part of our Chicago Area group. We have chosen you to be among the students in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs because of your unique combination of talents and interests and because we feel you will be a responsible and contributing member of our group. We are excited to meet you in August and know that you are enthusiastic, and perhaps a little nervous, about meeting all of us.
Please read the following information and share it with your parents. It will help you make realistic plans for your AFS experience in our area. As soon as you have the name, address, or e-mail address of your host family you can begin to communicate directly with them. Meanwhile, here is some general information for you.
School Forms
To attend school and participate in high school athletics in Illinois (the state in which you will live), you need to fill out a couple of health forms. These forms require signatures from people in your home country, so it is best if you can have these filled out and signed before you come. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this forms! The two forms are:
- The certificate of health examination. This needs to be filled for you to attend high school in Illinois. It needs to be signed by a physician. Your doctor in your home country can do this. We would need to make arrangemetns for you to have a physical here in the US if you do not bring this with you.
- The IHSA physical form. This only needs to be filled out if you want to play any organized high school sports in Illinois (soccer, cross country, etc). Many of you will choose to be on a sports team because it's an easy way to meet other teenagers. It needs to be signed by your natural parents.
- The Eye Exam Report form. Starting in school year 2008, all new students will need to complete a comprehensive eye exam by October 15th of the school year in order to be admitted into Illinois schools. It is not yet clear at this time if this can be waived for our exchange students.
If you are unable to bring these completed forms with you, we will work with you once you are here to get them filled out.
Your Host Family
AFS is an intercultural exchange. The purpose of your AFS year is to experience family and school life here and to share your culture, family, and school with us. Each AFS host family is different. While here, your first responsibility is to your host family. Your host family chose you because something about you made them feel you would fit into their family. They want to share their love and caring with you. They are volunteers and are NOT being paid for hosting you. We expect you to take an interest in each member of your new family and what they do. Expect to help with household chores such as washing dishes, taking out garbage, doing laundry and cleaning your room—just like a real member of the family. Remember that AFS is NOT a travel or a vacation program. Your family will want to share with you aspects of Chicago that have meaning for them and, perhaps, maybe even a part of the United Sates. BUT families vary in what they can afford to do. Thus, some families may take their AFS student on trips; others may not.
Each family will have different rules about being out with friends and how late you may stay out. It is important to American families to know where their children (including you) are and whom you are with. Family rules about this are to keep you safe. Your freedoms and restrictions may be different than those in your home country. We expect you to understand and respect them.
Your American High School
The Chicago area has a variety of public schools. Schools accept students based on the assurance of local volunteers that AFSers will participate in both course work and after-school clubs and sports. We volunteers and your host family will help you as best we can to do well in school, make new friends and be active in clubs or on teams, but it all starts with you and your attitude.
All schools would like you to have good grades and be proficient in English. This will make it easier for you in your classes and will enable you to share better with your teachers and classmates. Americans take the privilege and responsibility of going to school very seriously. We expect you to work hard and do your best, taking classes at a level that is appropriate for you. You must keep your grades up to remain on teams and in activities. Since being involved on teams and in clubs helps you meet other students and make friends, it is to your advantage to earn good grades. Some students are told by their home countries “that their school work in the USA does not count in their own countries”, BUT IT DOES COUNT HERE! If you do not do your best, it makes you, your home country, and AFS look bad. We know you want to do well, and we’re counting on you to do your part.
Many American High Schools will not give a diploma to exchange students. Some give a special diploma or a certification of attendance or participation. All schools will give you a transcript of your grades and an explanation of your courses, if you request them. If your application indicates you do not need a diploma, we believe we have no restrictions on which school we can place you in. If your application indicates you do need a diploma, we will make every effort to place you in a school that will give you one IF your schoolwork and grades meet the school’s standards. Please note that most American students are at least 17 years old when they graduate and have had 12 years of schooling excluding preschool and kindergarten. Please check with your school at home now to ascertain what you need to do or what courses you need to take while here in order to get credit for all or part of the 2008-2009 academic year. It is important for our schools to know this in September when you begin classes
Social Life
Schools are the center of social life for most American students. Not many clubs or discos are available to teenagers in the U.S. because they serve alcohol. By law, drinking alcoholic beverages, including beer and wine, is not allowed until the age of 21. As you already know, the taking of illegal drugs or abuse of alcohol can end your stay in the United States quickly and prematurely. Again, in accepting you as a student in our area, we trust you to abide by our federal and state laws and local rules.
Smoking is strongly discouraged in our area. It is considered unhealthy and distasteful If you smoke, it may very well offend those around you. The United States has laws against anyone under 18 years old buying cigarettes: many towns have laws against anyone under 18 even smoking. No one may possess cigarettes at a school. Smoking is not permitted in public buildings, restaurants or airports or on public transportation. The U.S. is much stricter than many other countries when it comes to smoking and many U.S. families do not want anyone smoking in their homes. If you smoke, we definitely encourage you to give it up or to abstain while you are here.
What to Bring
The Chicago climate is one of extremes. We have an expression in Chicago that if you are unhappy with the weather, just wait 15 minutes and it will change! When you arrive in August, it’s very likely to be hot (80-90 degrees F, 24-27 degrees C) and humid. Shorts and T-shirts, sundresses, gym shoes and sandals are all appropriate. In autumn our weather turns much cooler necessitating a jacket and warmer clothes. In winter, it can become extremely cold (10 to 20 degrees F, -4 to –10 degrees C). So while you are here, you will need both a bathing suit and a warm winter jacket with scarf, boots, gloves and hat. If you are not able to bring these, your host family and local AFS representative will help you borrow them or buy them here.
School dress codes require students to be clean and neat, but it’s fine to be casual. Blue jeans, pants and T-shirts are okay. Only a very small number of schools require a uniform. If yours is one of these schools, we will tell you in advance or help you acquire the clothes you need when you arrive.
You may be attending at least one and maybe several more formal occasions while you are here. For boys, a sport jacket and tie will be necessary. For girls, it will be helpful to have at least one nicer dress. In the spring, most AFS students attend the school prom (fancy, dressy dance) to which a tuxedo or a more elegant dress are usually worn. AFS students usually borrow a dress or rent a tuxedo for this occasion. It is not necessary to bring these formal clothes.
You will also be speaking to groups during the year, so please bring photographs and slides of your home, family, school, and community.
Note: Please bring an official school transcript showing your most recent grades. Also, when you Receive your placement papers, take note of the required immunizations and bring proof of having had those immunizations. If you do not have all the proper immunizations, you will not be allowed into school until we can arrange for you to have them here and you will have to pay for the immunizations.
Conversion information and baggage restrictions:
We have created a special page to help you with time, currency, and units or measurement conversions. Note that in the US, the standard electric power is 120V (not 220V). The wall plugs are also different than with Eurropean and Asian electronics. There is also a gadget on this page to help with with the most current weight and baggage restrictions in force by most major airlines.
Other information:
Phone calls: Please limit your phone calls to or from family and friends at home to no more than one phone call a month. Phone calls can make you feel homesick, interfere with your ability to adapt to your host family and hurt your ability to learn English. Many students now e-mail family and friends often too. Again, we discourage you from too much contact, not more than 2 weekly.
Money: Our host families differ in their financial abilities. They will, of course provide for your food and basic needs and include you in family activities. However, they might not be able to give you anything extra (movies, clothing, sport or cultural event tickets, etc.). They will probably expect you to pay for your own haircuts and for personal items such as toiletries or cosmetics. Schools vary in what they give to AFS students. Some provide books: others do not. Some provide lunch: others do not. Some provide the school yearbook, sports equipment and waive graduation costs but most do not. Sometimes schools or AFS chapters plan optional trips during the year that could cost as much as $500 or $600. We do not want anyone to be excluded from an activity based on financial need but we want you to be realistic about your expenses here U.S. laws will not permit you to have a job that requires a work permit. It is possible to baby-sit, do gardening, shovel snow or ash cars for neighbors in order to earn some extra money.
Most of our students bring Traveler’s checks or use ATM cards. Talk over your needs and financial arrangements with your parents before you leave home. We will do the best we can to help you with financial necessities. In general, if you make arrangements ahead of time and can bring any expensive or special equipment with you which you know you will need such as athletic shoes, a heavy coat or a camera, it will be better.
Visits: AFS strongly discourages your natural family from visiting. Visiting places a hardship on your very generous host family and interferes with adaptation. Some parents want to visit their children at the end of the school year and travel with them. In our experience, this is one of the worst times for students to see their parents. You will be in the middle of final exams and end of the year activities and will probably be trying to spend as much time as you can with friends and your host family. We encourage you to come back to the U.S. with your family a year or so after your AFS experience is over.
More About Chicago: Aside from our fickle weather, Chicago is a wonderful place to live. Lake Michigan, on which Chicago is located, is more like an inland sea than a large lake although it is fresh water. Our lakefront, even in the city itself, is a clean, recreational area, free from industry. Swimming, sailing, bike riding, rollerblading, walking and jogging all take place on our lakeshore in nice weather. We have many parks and open spaces for picnics and playing.
Chicago has outstanding cultural aspects too. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is world renown: the Chicago Lyric Opera and many fine theater performances are also available. We have a wonderful Museum of Science and Industry, a world class Art Institute and museums of Modern and American art. Two zoos, the Shedd Aquarium and Oceanarium, Adler Planetarium, important architecture and sculpture, ballet and modern dance, jazz, blues, rock and rap music are all part of our cultural scene. And, of course, the Sears Tower is one of the tallest buildings in the world!
Sports: We have American football (the Bears), basketball (the Bulls), ice hockey (the Blackhawks), two baseball teams (the Cubs and the White Sox), and our soccer team (Chicago Fire). Most high schools play all these sports for girls as well as boys along with tennis, swimming and sometimes golf or gymnastics.
The Most Important Thing You Can and Should Do RIGHT NOW: STUDY ENGLISH.
There is much to look forward to during your year here. Please let your parents know that we will do our very best to take good care of you and place you in a loving, caring home. If you have questions, please fell free to write or email one of us. We anticipate a wonderful year with you and will see you soon!