FAQ for Students

WHAT IS IT? The Institute immerses you into real life in the United States through instruction in English and in American culture at Bethel University and through a homestay with an American host.

WHY HOMESTAYS? The homestay experience is the heart of the program. It changes your learning experiences into something personal. Your host becomes your teacher and mentor friend. You become a real member of the family.

WHERE IS THE PROGRAM? The program takes place in the best of the 50 United States—Minnesota! :-) Minnesota is located in the north central part of the USA, close to Canada. The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the “Twin Cities”, make up the largest metropolitan area in Minnesota. Minnesota is a very safe place to be in the United States, and people here are friendly, kind and patient.

WHAT ABOUT BETHEL UNIVERSITY? Bethel University is a private liberal arts school of about 6500 students located just north of St. Paul. It’s modern campus is situated next to Lake Valentine.

WHAT WILL I LEARN AT BETHEL? Each morning you will have a special presentation from a guest speaker. The subject will be a topic dealing with an important aspect of American culture, and the speaker will be someone who is an expert in that field. Also during the morning, you will have ESL class, led by an experienced ESL instructor. ESL class is designed to help you better understand the presentations and field trips, and time is spend each day talking about the homework questions that you discussed with your host the night before. Afternoons are spent going on field trips to places of interest in the Twin Cities area.

WHAT ARE THE HOSTS LIKE? There are a wide variety of hosts: Younger and older, single and married, with children and without children, etc. All hosts are kind, patient and friendly. They volunteer to be hosts because they want to invite you into their home and they enjoy getting to know you and becoming your mentor and friend.

HOW AM I MATCHED WITH A HOST? We gather information about you and about all of the hosts. We then try to match you with someone who has some interests in common with yours.

WHAT WILL I DO WITH MY HOST? The most exciting and interesting thing that you will do while you are here is become a member of your host family. You will experience what real American life is like because you will be living as an American does, with your host.

WHAT ELSE WILL I DO WHILE I AM IN MINNESOTA? There are an incredible variety of things to do in Minnesota. The vibrant urban environment of the Twin Cities has so many interesting things to see and do, and the beautiful nature of Minnesota is not far away. Minnesota is also an agricultural state, and you can see corn fields that stretch out to the horizon, as far as the eye can see. At night, the sky is clear and you can see shooting stars and, if you are lucky, the northern lights. And for shopping, there is the largest mall in the USA - the Mall of America! For more information about Minnesota, go to Explore Minnesota.