Happy Lunar New Year!
Lunar New Year is a time to get together with family and celebrate the coming year! This year consider hosting an exchange student and make this year a great one for your family! Create memories and build lifelong friendships, enrich your entire family as you learn about the culture of your new ’son’ or ‘daughter’, and become an American ambassador by sharing U.S. culture.
Create something special for your family! Find a family and exchange student tested and approved fortune cookie recipe below!
Fortune Cookies
Total Time: 1 hr 24 min
Prep Time: 1 hr
Cook Time: 24 min
Makes about 20 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup flour, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
- Cut a stencil out of a plastic coffee can lid in the shape of a 3-inch disk.
- Whip the egg whites until stiff and chill.
- In a mixer, cream the butter, then add the sugar and continue mixing.
- Add the flour and blend in, then add the vanilla and blend again.
- Add the chilled egg whites and mix on low until well incorporated and the batter is smooth.
- With a small offset spatula, spread batter through the stencil so it is a circle onto parchment paper, about 6 per cookie sheet.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven until light golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.
- Quickly remove the pan from the oven and one at time place a fortune across the center with a bit hanging out.
- Fold cookie circle in thirds over fortune with flaps only slightly overlapping each other.
- Turn over and bring opposing sides together and pinch. Let cool.
- Enjoy!
Wishing you and your family good fortune and a happy new year!
-Your Student Ambassador Exchange Team
5 Reasons to Host an Exchange Student
Every year, Student Ambassador Exchange helps students from all around the world connect with host families in the US. As a host family, you’ll welcome an exchange student into your home while they study in your local high school. It’s a great opportunity for students and host families to experience new cultures, create memories together, and make lasting friendships. You’ll be surprised at what you learn about yourself and the student as you get to know one another!
Why Host an Exchange Student?
Learn About New Cultures
Hosting an exchange student is an amazing way to learn about other cultures without having to leave your home! Our students are excited to share their own heritage with their host families (in addition to learning about American culture). You can learn about the student’s native language, traditional food, holidays and festivals, and more.
Bring Excitement into Your Home
When you host a student from another country, activities that you do regularly suddenly become new adventures with your student! For example, activities like going to a restaurant and watching sports seem like special events when you’re introducing them to your student for the first time. This can revitalize your family activities and inspire you to explore your local community with them!
Improve Your Communication Skills
If you’re learning your student’s native language, practicing speaking with them is a great way to improve your skills. Also, learning to communicate with someone despite a language barrier is an important skill that you gain through hosting. You’ll improve your ability to connect and relate to others with a culture different from your own!
Make Lifelong Friendships
Host a student and make lifelong friendships with them! Hosting allows you to establish a meaningful connection with someone that you otherwise might never have met. Oftentimes our students and host families keep in touch with each other after the student returns home. Maybe you’ll even get to visit the student and their family in their home country!
Do a Good Deed
By hosting an exchange student, you’re making a positive impact on their life! You’re helping them adjust to another country while ensuring they feel safe, supported, and a part of your family. As a host family, you play an important part in helping students grow and develop.
Are you interested in hosting an exchange student? We are currently matching students for the 2018-2019 school year! Visit our photo listing to meet our available students and check back regularly to meet any new students added. Contact us today to find out how you can change one student’s life through education and cultural exchange!
Read More
Chinese New Year
Happy Chinese New Year from all of us at Student Ambassador Exchange! Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. It is celebrated around the world. The holiday begins on the Chinese Lunar New Year and lasts about 15 days. A different animal from the Chinese zodiac is celebrated each year, and 2018 is the year of the dog!
Chinese New Year is a time for families to get together. Traditions include feasting on New Year food like dumplings, giving red envelopes with “lucky” money, watching lion dances, and setting off fireworks. The color red is popular during festivities because it symbolizes happiness, prosperity, and good luck in Chinese culture. Common greetings include”Xīnnián kuàilè” (meaning “New Year happiness”) and “Gōngxǐ fācái” (meaning “happiness and propserity”).
Want to learn more about Chinese culture?
You can host a Chinese student and learn about their holiday traditions! We are currently matching students for the 2018-2019 school year. Visit our photo listing to meet our available students and check back regularly to meet any new students added. Contact us today to find out how you can change one student’s life through education and cultural exchange!
