We are thrilled to be welcoming our Japanese Sister School, Takayama Junior High School, again. The visit allows our students to engage in real-life language, cultural and social situations which enhance their language learning. It also provides our wonderful College community with an opportunity to show hospitality to our overseas friends. We are seeking families from the College to host students in groups of two or three for the duration of the visit.

Many families who have previously hosted have had a fantastic experience. Please enjoy reading about three such experiences.

“We had a great pleasure hosting two students. We loved having the girls over. We became tourists in our own city visiting Luna Park, the Opera House and taking the ferry under the Harbour Bridge. We also did a day driving trip to Bombo Beach and Kiama Blow Hole. We relied on Google Translate to communicate and had lots of laughs (things lost in translation). We experienced Taiwanese Hotpot and Korean BBQ as a family as well. Overall an amazing experience. As first time hosters, we loved learning about the Japanese culture and practised our Japanese with them. We look forward to doing it again next year.”

“Hosting three students from Takayama, Japan was a real highlight for our family. The 3 girls were delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed introducing them to Sydney. The girls (aged 14 and 15) were keen to experience family life in Australia, to taste our cuisine, to improve their English and to see some tourist sights. Before they arrived, we were provided with a profile for each student that helped us to get to know them. The girls had been learning English at school, and were keen to practise their skills. Although our family does not speak Japanese, communication was not a problem. Sometimes we used Google Translate to help, but mostly the girls were excellent at communication. We visited the Blue Mountains and Cronulla Beach and the girls were also keen to go shopping. We made origami together and played Uno. The girls came to church with us on Sunday and we met with friends on Saturday night who were also hosting Japanese students. The girls were very polite and wrote us beautiful messages of thanks before they left. We were very grateful for the opportunity to host the girls and look forward to opportunities in the future to host other Japanese students.”

“Our family hosted two Japanese students from Takayama Junior High School, Japan. These boys were immediately warm and smiling as we met in the College quad and their eyes lit up as I handed them each their first Australian Tim Tam. The two young teens were kind, respectful and excited to experience our country.  We bonded over the simple things; ten pin bowling, burritos, Mario Kart and games of Uno. We made it a rule to call the colours in Japanese during the game.  We showed them our unique Australian animals at Featherdale Farm and their favourite was the koalas. They ‘wowed’ at the expanse of the Jamison valley, the Three Sisters and the Scenic Railway, and they shopped for iconic Australian food such as Tim Tams, Byron Bay cookies, Smith chips and Australian honey. We also put on a good Aussie BBQ complete with a fire pit and sparklers with another family that were also hosting students so they could share their experience together. The boys spoke what English they could and we thanked them in Japanese for their efforts. It was a joy to share our home and show them the sights and in return share their joy and wonder at all things Australian. The morning they were to leave they gave us a hand-written note in English expressing their gratitude for their time with us and left us with four beautiful origami cranes. We felt truly blessed to be a part of the homestay program.”

Hosting Information

Takayama Junior High School will be visiting from Friday 31 July to Tuesday 4 August. 

  • - Students attend College on weekdays and enjoy family life with you on the weekend.
  • - Japanese language is not necessary.
  • - Students will simply fit in with your family routines, eat the food your family would normally eat and they need their own bed but they can share a room.
  • - Families are paid $60 per night ($120 to host 2 students).

Mrs Fiona Byrne
Languages Coordinator & Year 8 Advisor