Awareness of the existence of cultural differences and how to deal with these differences can have a profoundly positive impact on the quality of your relationship with your participant and on your entire family’s hosting experience. This handbook is designed to help you learn about both the Indonesian and U.S. cultures by examining a number of cultural topics in contrast with each other. We hope that you find these topics and others in this handbook to be interesting and informative: is directed toward you, the host family. You represent one of the indispensable ingredients required for an international exchange program to be successful. The information contained here also will be shared with exchange program support volunteers so that they, too, will better understand the Indonesian student’s world view and will be able to provide culturally sensitive and appropriate support to both the hosted student and the host family.
- Predominant communication styles in the U.S. and Indonesia;
- Indonesian family life and relationships;
- Indonesian cultural norms regarding personal appearance and religion;
- Key differences between the U.S. and Indonesian school systems;
- The general Indonesian and U.S. American views on concepts such as time and space.
Click here to access the handbook.