DandNHill

I have just taken on a job in Oakville (so that's three jobs now...).

I'm now the host family coordinator for an international language school in Oakville and Burlington.

I can do the job standing on my head, probably even with my eyes closed.

However I don't know Oakville and Burlington. So I'm wondering if there are any areas where my students would be at risk of being mistreated. Especially the Asian ones as they tend to all walk around with their matching back packs making themselves easy targets.

I have to recruit a few families for the summer and want to make sure they are placed in nice neighbourhoods but I don't know where I should avoid. They will be going to Sheridan for the most part. I will need year round families too but they are easier as it will depend on which high schools take the international students.

I know a few of you live that way so thought I'd ask for your input...

Thanks a bunch

geoff52

I have lived in Burlington for several decades, and also lived in Oakville and have many relatives there. Both communities are very quite and safe.
But your students should follow some simple rules in public.
1. Don't congregate in huge groups so that the locals feel threatened.
2. No boisterous behavior in public.
3. Don't by provoked by any comment from local young people (there are idiots in
every community.
4. No drinking in public places.
Hope this helps.

sharkus

Hmm, trying to think of the "no-go" areas in Oakville, and not coming up with anything really. Well, not from the viewpoint of chav / scumbag / asshole type areas.

If I had to push it, some parts around the Kerr village area perhaps?

Personally the biggest type of people I have a problem with are the entitled rich types, who seem to think money makes them better than anyone else on the planet. Money does not equal class or manners, and they seem not to understand or realize this.

Oakvillian

This, absolutely. I live very close by the Sheridan campus; there are a number of condo blocks (mostly on Marlborough Court and White Oaks Blvd) in the area which don't quite fit the "Oakville is full of rich gits" stereotype but the inhabitants are mostly lovely people. There are also plenty of student rentals in the areas surrounding the campus. Frankly, anywhere in the College Park, Sunningdale or Falgarwood subdivisions would be within easy reach of Sheridan and - due to the age of the subdivisions - there are plenty of single family homes inhabited by empty nesters who may well be willing to take in a student or two over the summer.

Even in the supposedly sketchy areas of Kerr Village I think "sketchy" is a very relative term in Oakville - there's nowhere that I'd feel remotely uncomfortable walking alone at night (acknowledging, of course, that I am a middle aged, fat, balding white guy, and not a young Asian female...)

Hope that helps

DandNHill

Thank you guys, that really is helpful! Now to find the families... If you have elementary age kids watch out for the flyer that might come home with them as we also do mini stays with elementary age students... In fact we do the whole spectrum!!

If you know anybody who is looking to earn a few extra pennies please point them in my direction, you never know I might buy you a Tims when I'm in Oakville...

HGerchikov

I opened thread to offer advice but I see that Sharkus and Oakvillain have covered it nicely.

Partially discharged

In 2011 here in Ottawa our daughter was in grade 9 and she met a student from Spain who was staying at the home of a family on our street for the January - June period. The girl was at our daughters school and in some of her classes.

To cut a long story short the host family treated this spanish girl with little respect. Middle class home and they provided her with a mattress on the floor and no sheets etc. No help in getting any of the essentials (sheets, winter coats etc) and basically the same food every day and Sundays were church day (evangelical church) which wasn't this nominally catholic girls idea of a good time

Over time, we fell into a routine where this girl would come to our house for Sunday dinner and stay for the evening and then I would walk her home back to her house. She never spoke much about the living arrangments there until it was time to leave to go back to Spain.

At the end of the school year the girls parents and sister came for a vacation and we hosted them for a dinner and took them out for a dinner at a restaurant we liked. Nothing from the host family..not even the offer of a cold drink when the spanish girls family arrived on a hot day.

Needless to say the spanish family weren't impressed and the end result is they hosted us for a week at their seaside villa in Spain the following year.

The host family were in it for the money and it was quite obvious.

To the OP, please check references and previous people who have stayed with a host family before you include them in your pool of host families/households.

sharkus

Was there some kind of financial renumeration for the host family? Regardless, there is, as you mention, a little thing known as respect. If I were welcoming someone into my home I'd make them feel very welcome indeed.

Partially discharged

Yes, the family was paid but I"m not sure how much and they had been doing it for about 13 years.

DandNHill

I've been doing this for many years so I know a lot of the host families tricks. But thank you for mentioning it. Unfortunately students often will not complain as they are worried about how it will go down with their host family. It's often not until they go home that anything comes to light.
With this particular company one of my jobs is to communicate with the students regularly so if there is anything they will hopefully feel confident enough to tell me.

As far as money is concerned different schools pay different amounts but you're looking at an average of $200/week. So yeah if you feed them crap and don't interact with them you can make some good money! Sadly there are a few families out there like that!

As a home stay coordinator the difficult part is that the host family is on their best behavior the day I go round so it's impossible really to know if the house is usually clean and tidy or whether they had their annual clean up in anticipation of my visit.

I went to a house in Toronto recently and the woman had her Maltese tied to the basement door. She explained that she was keeping him away from me so he didn't bite me! She seriously thought that I would place a student with her with a vicious dog even if it was a small one??! So she got declined!!!

DandNHill

So I placed an ad on the facebook pages for the area.... OMG the response has been overwhelming! I've spent most of the day responding to peoples questions... I now need more students!!!!

SchnookoLoly

That's great that you've had such positive responses!

I would agree with what Oak and Sharkus said about Oakville, not really much else to add there!