April 20, 2019, a day in this pleasant and engendering spring, the 6^th Matching Program between JLU international student and Chinese families, which was organized by College of International Education, was successfully held in JLU Friendship Guesthouse.

    31 Chinese families and 45 students from 25 countries were matched. First of all, the participants watched a short video clip about previous matching activities to know more about the program. Li Meihua, dean of College of International Education, made an opening speech, thanking the participating Chinese families and hoping both Chinese families and international students to cherish this platform for promoting communication, deepening understanding and building lasting international friendship.

    Representing Chinese families, Li Gen, student counselor from JLU College of Chemistry, mentioned in his speech that the reason why he participated in the program was that one of his students once lived abroad in a hosting family, who found that homestay, comparing with living in an apartment, enabled the student to know more about local culture and learned more English as well. Through this program, Mr. Li himself took pleasure in helping people during the cultural exchanges with overseas students.

    Another representative, Guan Yue from JLU School of Foreign Language Education, spoke about passing the enthusiasm and care of Chinese families to international students, understanding multi-culture and enhancing ability of exchanging against the backdrop of globalization.

    Mu Ziyi, a Pakistani student participating in the 5^th program, shared his gains and sense of belonging during his interactions with a Chinese family.

    Representing students of the 6^th program, Yevgenia from Ukraine expressed her expectation for this meaningful program. Living by herself away from home, she sometimes felt lonely. She believed this program would be a good chance to merge into Chinese culture and to find an anchor for her heart in China, or “a second home”.

    After the matching, international students and their Chinese hosts talked freely. Smiles on their faces told that they befriended each other very soon and everyone expected to gain something meaningful from this program.

    Background of the Program: The Matching Program between International Students and Chinese Families is a student service activity launched by JLU College of International Education. It aims at bridging Chinese families and international students so that the latter can know more about Chinese culture and life from common Chinese families. The program started in November 2016 and was held 6 times in total. The enrollment for students and families is in March and September when new semesters begin and the matching then follows. Altogether 281 families and 362 students have been matched. At first, mainly the teachers who have studied abroad supported the program and now the program is extensively recognized and supported by families of JLU staff and those outside of JLU. It is their love and public spirit that make this program successful. At the same time, students are very enthusiastic about this program and their participation has made it very popular.