Becoming a PRPS Homestay Family

In the first photo, Lynnette Copeland with her husband Trevor and two exchange students all holding up their names written in Japanese. In the second photo, Lynnette Copeland with her homestay student Kanon Miyake, who was delighted to carve a Halloween pumpkin, an activity she’d never done before.  

Lynnette Copeland teaches junior high at Seven Persons School and this year she and her husband decided to become a homestay family to host exchange students for Prairie Rose Public Schools. Host families have many options to choose from including one month, two months, five months or a full school year. This past October Copeland hosted a Japanese exchange student followed by an exchange student from Columbia in January.  

With no children living at home any longer, Copeland found the exchange students brought life back into the family home. “Every experience was an excitement, she got to wear her hair in a ponytail, and they could wear makeup and jewellery if they wanted to. The things we learned were cool; she taught us how to do our names in calligraphy. In our spare room downstairs, we now have them framed,” said Copeland about Kanon Miyake from Japan staying with them.  

The group of exchange students and the families also did group activities together, including a trip to Medalta and taking in a hockey game. The October snowstorm was a novel experience for the students, who happily built snowmen in the backyard. The Columbian exchange student, Sara Milena Casanova Rincon, wasn’t so lucky with the weather, as she was here during the deep freeze in January when there wasn’t much snow, so the Copelands took her out to Elkwater to build a snowman and go tobogganing.  

“We also went on a hike, which was really funny because it’s hard as they don’t wear boots and walking on the trails in Elkwater was tough for her,” explained Copeland.   

 The Japanese students were from an all-girls school and the Copelands had the group over for a sleepover one night as it was something they had never done. They set up a campfire in the backyard and had smokies and smores, a food the students really wanted to experience. They also got to participate in their first Halloween and Kanon particularly enjoyed carving her first pumpkin.  

“We did so many things with them, it was so much fun. Having all the girls come to our house was something that we loved,” stated Copeland. “Kanaan’s English wasn’t as good as Sara’s so we put the translator app on our phones and that made a world of difference because we could communicate and ensured she understood what we were saying. We had two amazing girls, they were respectful, their cultures are respectful, and they were so excited to be in Canada.” 

If you are interested in becoming a homestay family, contact Andrea Pillman 403-502-6244 or andreapillman@prrd8.ca.

 By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer