Home:
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And Study Abroad
Preparation and support: Problem solving
Alphabetical Index
(starting after the Introduction)
Introduction Accompanying
partners AIDS Attack or assault
Children Differences from
the home environment and student expectations Documentation
Drugs Food hygiene Good
information about country; region; town Good information
about the placement itself Harassment at work
Health and security issues: experience of returners
and L2landers
Illness: Insurance Illness:
Precautionary measures Information about the
new setting: the basis Keeping staff informed (in
home and host countries) Learning about cultural
difference Link person abroad: role and location
Link person: consultations Link
person: Courtesy Medical help abroad Mental
illness or depression Parents: briefing Parents:
homesickness Parents: up-to-date addresses and
contact numbers Partners and special friends
Partners at home Partners
abroad Personal safety Phone/Fax
Preparation for independence Problems
Protection against theft Reflecting
on the experience Seeking help abroad (see also
link person abroad) Sensible groundless for safety
Sensible precautions Socialising
and integration Staff visits Theft:
Insurance Victims of Theft Video
conference Virtual visit and contacts: E-mail
Introduction
The briefing given to students setting off on residence abroad should cover areas where problems may arise. Some students may set out with very high hopes and little thought of potential difficulties, while others may be consumed with anxiety. The information which they receive during the preparation should enable them to see how to avoid trouble and how to manage a range of reasonably common situations.
Differences from the home environment
and student expectations
One main source of difficulty arises from the student's ability, or lack of it, to manage the new cultural settings and the implicit social codes. There is a tendency to assume that all will just be a replica of the home setting albeit through the medium of another language. It is most important to get across the message that this is not the case, particularly for those who may have little experience of travel or living in another country independently.
Learning about cultural difference
Any briefing should include discussion of the reality of intercultural difference and the fact that it may cause problems. It is usually helpful to invite L2landers to talk about what they would do in certain specific situations in their own country and it may also help to have some relevant aspects incorporated into the students' language studies. Returners may also have a role to play as they are able to speak of the reality of cultural difference from their own recent experience. The University counselling service may well be able to contribute to a general discussion of the issues involved so that the students see that the difficulties linked to cultural difference are not just some hobby horse of the languages staff but that they have a much wider currency and validity.
Information about the new setting:
the basis
While knowledge about the actual situation and country in which they are likely to find themselves during the residence abroad can only take the students so far, it is a vital first stage in the preparation.
Good information about country; region;
town
While most courses will now include some study of the country and its background, there will inevitably still be many gaps in the students' knowledge of the country and the particular location to which they will be sent. As well as the usual discussion and handouts, it is useful if some way can be found of encouraging the students to be proactive in finding out as much as they can about the area and its way of life through reading; through contacts with incoming exchange students and through work on a range of TV tapes and other materials.
Good information about the placement itself
As far as possible, students should be given a clear idea of what to expect in their type of placement, be it university, school or work placement. Particular attention should be paid to working practices and social interaction, especially where there have been found to be differences of approach or unrealistic expectations in the past.
Socialising and integration
Frequently, students complain that those with whom they come into contact abroad are insufficiently forthcoming or unconcerned about their welfare. Young students do not always understand what it is like to be an older adult in a pressurised situation without a great deal of time for sitting around discussing life or socialising outside work. They should be briefed on the fact that apparent neglect on the part of others may be simply due to a range of preoccupying factors. They need to know that it is often necessary to ask for help and make some moves, both at work and outside it, rather than always hanging back. At the same time, there may have to be some information on appropriate moves and activities which they may pursue outside work in order to meet like-minded people. In this respect, as elsewhere, the intervention of successful returners and L2landers may help. (Students vary in their background and degree of experience but where briefing is concerned the target is always the least skilled). One perennial area of trouble arises from the expectations of some outgoing students that they will engage in glorious and uproarious high jinks at a time when the locals prefer to be asleep in peace. Students have to be made aware of such matters as well as on the need to fit into a setting where they are in a sense guests.
Reflecting on the experience
Some students abroad have found it helpful to keep a diary while they are abroad to note their experience and progress. This often enables them to think about and reflect on the way things are developing for them and on their problems and successes . Writing about the new situation in this way can give a better understanding of what is happening and lead to greater insight and development. It also serves as a record of a formative experience which students often say they are happy to have. Year abroad tutors may feel it useful to include some reference to this activity and different approaches to it within the preparation.
Problems
While it is important not to seriously scare students (which can be counterproductive as regards self-confidence), it is necessary to look in some detail at the various problems that students might encounter whilst on residence abroad.
Illness: Insurance
Health briefing will include the need to have the E111/E128 with one; the fact that it does not cover all eventualities; the need for additional medical insurance which is usually linked to personal insurance for belongings (see also below under theft) and which may extend as well to civil liability . In addition to any expenses not likely to be met by the health scheme in the country concerned, extra insurance should also include provision for someone to fly out to the student in case of serious illness and offer emergency transport home, should this prove necessary. If the University has an insurance scheme, this and its possible limitations should be drawn to the attention of students. Students going to countries outside the EU and to areas where there is no or only limited reciprocal agreement with the UK will obviously require particularly detailed briefing about insurance and the type of cover needed.
Illness: Precautionary measures
Specific briefing will be given about potential health hazards in the target country, with special attention being paid to countries outside the EU. Information should be supplied about such things as vaccinations and any other health information or precautions relevant to the country in question. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office website may be of use in this connection (www.fco.gov.uk).
It is important that the student be aware of any areas of risk from the more minor to the serious and of sensible precautions that may be taken to avoid unnecessary illness. Common-sense measures such as a pre-departure trip to the dentist may be mentioned.
Food hygiene
Depending on the location concerned, particularly for countries outside Europe, it may be helpful to mention some practical tips which are second nature to seasoned travellers but of which young people who have grown up in reasonably hygienic conditions may be unaware. This might include things such as the wisdom for certain countries of investing in bottled water (and checking that the seal on the bottle is intact before use) or, at the very least, of boiling drinking water. Another obvious one for certain warm climates (again largely outside Western Europe) is the inadvisability of eating raw salad vegetables.
Drugs
Given what is said to be the prevalence of the drug culture, it is important to indicate the strict penalties that drug use may incur in certain countries and the consequences to one's subsequent career of expulsion or a criminal conviction.
AIDS
The incidence of AIDS is particularly high in certain European countries, as in other parts of the world, and it may be judicious to remind students of this fact, particularly if they come from areas of the UK where AIDS is not a major problem.
Medical help abroad
Prior briefing will obviously include information about the medical services in the target community; how they work; ideally a name of a doctor or medical centre in the location will be supplied in the residence abroad briefing notes together with that of the local hospital casualty department. It is very important to tell the students how to contact the emergency services (and to supply relevant numbers); they also find it helpful to know how to sort out their claims for reimbursement of medical expenses. The importance of consulting a doctor should be stressed so that potentially serious matters do not go undetected (and it may also be useful to point out that this may, because of medical insurance, actually be most cost-effective option despite any initial outlay). Students may also have to be reminded that anyone with an existing medical problem, should know what to do in the case of a flare-up. If necessary, they should take a letter from a doctor with them and, if at all possible, they should, for matters likely to need hospital treatment, have been helped to find the name of a hospital consultant or hospital department. The contact person abroad should be advised of any potential problems arising from a student's previous medical history.
Mental illness or depression
Mental problems and nervous breakdown are particularly distressing forms of illness and students should be warned of the advisability of taking prompt action if they discover symptoms in themselves or, indeed, if friends or acquaintances show clear signs of mental illness. It is important that such cases be treated as expeditiously as possible as there is always the possibility that the unfortunate victims may do real harm to themselves or to others. On no account should students remain in a house with anyone who is showing signs of violent or deranged behaviour.
Keeping staff informed (in home and host
countries)
Just in case any student does have to come home due to illness (or indeed for other reasons such as bereavement), it is important to make sure the group are reminded of the importance of keeping the home university as well as the contact person in the host university or the person in charge of them in placement or school informed.
Seeking help abroad (see also link person
abroad)
Specific guidance should be given about the person or people who may be approached in case of difficulties (link person in university; secretary to university department; supervisor in the work placement or the teacher looking after them in school). It may be useful to point to a number of areas with which these people might be expected to help. Students may need to be reminded that they should not hesitate to approach such people for advice. In cases of serious difficulties, the home university may also be telephoned to exert pressure, offer advice and / or moral support.
Personal safety
While the dangers that students may meet in locations abroad are not necessarily substantially greater than those which may be encountered in areas of the home country, they occur in different configurations. It is also true that students are unlikely to have the same innate sense of safety and appropriate behaviour patterns as those who have grown up in a particular country and acquired this knowledge over the years.
Sensible precautions
In certain countries harassment may be a particular problem for girls who are sometimes quite upset by the level of verbal innuendo and other minor forms of harassment to which the country nationals are quite immune . They should be briefed on the importance of dealing peremptorily with strangers who may approach them and of walking away from them. Staff may also wish to draw their attention to the fact that different cultures can have different codes for social interaction and that what may be considered perfectly normal behaviour at home may be misinterpreted. Sometimes it may not be safe for girls to walk around alone, particularly after dark. Indeed even young men can have problems in some locations so it wise to suggest, without being unnecessarily alarmist, that students brief themselves on any local danger spots and avoid them. Returners and L2landers may be of help in giving this information. Potential self-defence items such as umbrellas and rape alarms may be mentioned. Students may be advised to go to (or offered) self-defence classes to equip them with some basic self-defence techniques and to increase confidence in their ability to cope. Simple precautions may be mentioned, such as keeping doors to rooms in residences or apartments locked, not leaving windows open, not opening a door before ascertaining the name of the visitor, not sleeping with a window open unless it is completely unreachable from the ground. You may wish to visit the Suzy Lamplugh Trust website www.suzylamplugh.org/index.htm and consider acquiring some of their literature and their video.
Attack or assault
Students need to be reminded that any attack or assault should be reported to the police and medical advice immediately sought. In addition, the link person abroad as well as the home university co-ordinator should be informed.
Sensible groundless for safety
In this sort of area, it is all too easy to overdramatise or to scare. Consideration of sensible groundless can help students to take the necessary precautions and avoid trouble without undue restrictions to their lives.
Harassment at work
Harassment at work is a very serious matter and should be reported immediately to the student's supervisor in the location and to the home university so that immediate action may be taken.
Theft: Insurance
Any insurance taken out for illness whether it be a university or personal insurance is likely also to cover theft but it may not be high enough to meet full cost replacement for anything very expensive. The students may need to be advised of the necessity for additional insurance to cover such items as laptops, electronic equipment or musical instruments.
Protection against theft
It is necessary to remind students to take sensible precautions against theft: not to leave baggage unattended or in the care of strangers; not to leave possessions in car-boots overnight; not to have credit cards lying around in full view; girls should have secure handbags and men should not have their wallets in obviously pickable pockets. Doors to rooms or apartments (including those in student residences) should always be locked and windows should not be left open.
Victims of theft
Students should know that if robbed it is essential to go immediately to the police to report it (not that the victim is very likely to recover the valuables, but a police declaration covers them for insurance and also if documents such as driving licence or passport are lost, particularly if they are in a country where it is illegal not to have an identity document in their possession at all times). Some towns will have a lost property office and objects such as purses or handbags (emptied of anything valuable, of course) may eventually end up there.
Health and security issues : experience of returners
and L2landers
Where serious issues such as illness, health and personal security are concerned, it is particularly important to involve returners and L2landers in the briefing in order to get up-to-date information and also some peer input (not just nervous, killjoy or middle-aged staff making the points: this is for real but you can also come back in one piece, notwithstanding any potential dangers and difficulties).
Link person abroad: role and location
There should be some discussion of the role played by the link person abroad and their name and the location of their office should be included in the briefing material. It may be useful to state expressly that the students must make themselves known to the contact person when they arrive. If they are going to a placement, they will be told who the supervisor is and what they can expect in the way of help and advice from them. Future assistants should have a clear idea of how schools usually organise their work and the sort of help and advice they may expect (as well as what to do if it is not forthcoming).
Link person: consultations
It is a good idea to point out to the students that if they have problems, they are expected to consult the link person (of course links are not always equally sympathetic, particularly if they think that the problem is one which the students really ought to be able to solve themselves). As traditions of student support differ from country to country and people vary in their availability and helpfulness, students may need to be encouraged to acquire the qualities of polite persistence that are habitually displayed by their counterparts in the host country. If the link person proves particularly unhelpful, the students should be aware that they may always ring their home university to get things sorted out. In any case, the need for prompt action to redress problems early in the residence abroad period should be stressed as students are not immune from the natural human tendency to let things slide.
Link person: Courtesy
Advisers abroad react favourably to students who approach them in a spirit of courtesy and politeness. It is useful to remind students of this and of the fact that they should keep the adviser informed, letting them know, for instance, if they have to go home due to serious family problems or illness. The adviser should be told when the student is finally leaving the location and thanked for their help. Good relations between student and link person not only assist the student but also help to foster a positive image of the university and its students with obvious benefits for all concerned.
Parents: briefing
While students have certainly attained the age of majority, many still rely on their parents to a large extent for advice and counsel as well as for financial support. Indeed experience shows that the attitude of parents can be crucial in fostering a positive approach to the time abroad and, in case of problems, may be decisive in encouraging the student to work his/her way through them and persist with the residence. For these reasons, some universities now think that it is a good idea to have a leaflet for parents so that they gain a better understanding of the period of residence and become more involved in the process. Students may also be encouraged to discuss the time abroad with their parents and to show them the briefing material from the university. Not all parents will be equally helpful and some may not even wish to be involved but concerned parents do worry. It may help to get them on your side, so to speak, if some aspects of the residence abroad are explained to them and they see what the university's role and input is and also if they understand the nature of things such as the accommodation that their offspring is likely to find (residences abroad do not all meet the UK standards but they may be the best alternative because available and cheap). It may also be useful for parents to have some idea of the financial implications and costs in various locations.
Parents: homesickness
Ringing one's parents in tears is a not uncommon phenomenon and so it may be judicious to brief parents on the fact that some traces of depression and homesickness are quite normal at certain points. What is required from them in such instances is moral support and encouragement to stay abroad and sort out the problems rather than leaping onto the first available plane home. It may even, on occasion, be helpful for parents to know that distraught offspring can, if really desperate, come home for a week during mid-term breaks or other holidays (provided finance and distance permit this). Normally this is not advisable but, in cases of extreme distress only, it can provide a necessary breather provided, of course, that the parent is willing to see that the student returns when they should.
Parents: up-to-date addresses and contact
numbers
Students do need to be warned about the importance of giving up-to-date addresses and telephone numbers to parents in case they have to be contacted in an emergency.
Partners and special friends
Partners and special fiends fall into different categories. At one end of the scale are the usual boyfriend/ girlfriend relationships while at the other there is the much rarer settled family group. Year abroad tutors may came across a range of situations, depending on the nature of the institution and the educational groups for which it caters. Whatever the situation, partners or special friends at home or abroad can be a source of some distress and students likely to find themselves in this situation may need focused counselling and support.
Partners at home
It may be helpful to include in the briefing some constructive advice on techniques of preparing for residence abroad and maintaining relationships despite the separation. The person abroad will have the interest of the new setting but is likely to miss the companionship of the normal scene, while the one who remains at home will have to continue without the presence of the other. S/he may have to deal too with the home and, perhaps, family, without the usual support. It is essential that the partner staying at home be fully briefed by the student on the importance of residence abroad to the programme so that s/he understands the necessity for the time away. Other matters to be covered might include ways of involving the partner in the period abroad (getting them to go out with the student and see them settled in; suggesting that they come and stay for a period; maintaining regular telephone contact).
Accompanying partners
In rare cases, some students may be able to bring their partner with them if the partner's work is transferable or independent (e.g. writer) or if the partner is able to go out and take some form of temporary work. This is most likely to apply to mature or slightly mature students. In this case, special briefing may be necessary, particularly where the partner is unlikely to be very competent in the foreign language. Such partners will certainly need to go to classes to improve their language skills and they should be warned about the importance of socialising with people of the host country so that real profit is drawn by the student from the sojourn. (See also accommodation).
Partners abroad
Students may on occasion find a partner abroad and show some reluctance to return to complete their studies. While it is difficult to tackle this eventuality directly in the prior briefing, tutors may be able to point to the importance of returning to complete one's studies even if the experience of life abroad leads them to feel that they might wish to settle there. As students do often, for a variety of reasons, linguistic and financial as well as personal, decide to extend their period of residence, it might be broached in this connection.
Children
Parents with young children are naturally much exercised about them if a course demands a period of residence abroad and such students need early counselling as to the options. The student has to decide whether the child should be left at home or taken but this decision may depend on facilities and possibilities in a range of potential host locations as well as on the student's own circumstances and support. Factors to be taken into account will include the length of stay; the level and nature of childcare available; the age of the child; the stage of their schooling. Crèche facilities can be very adequate abroad although there are differences in practice as to the type of crèche available and who runs them (state; university; community; church). While children are generally said to adapt quite fast to a different language, for some it may present initial problems. If the child is at a stage in its schooling where a period of absence from home would not be too disruptive, there is the possibility of placing the child in a host country school, provided a suitably sympathetic local establishment can be found and the child is able to cope with the new linguistic setting without undue strain. In certain large centres, there may also be the option of international schools. All this takes time to consider and set up so the process should begin as early as possible. It may also prove helpful to put students in this situation in contact with others who have faced similar problems (and indeed to have some special briefing notes for such circumstances with examples of cases and comments from those concerned).
Staff visits
Many institutions visit their students whilst they are abroad and although such visits are expensive, they have been shown to be of real benefit in offering an opportunity to assess the success and problems of the situation in which the student is placed and in maintaining good relationships with partner institutions and placement providers. Students should be briefed in the course of the preparation on staff visits and their likely format as well as on the importance of undertaking the necessary preparation. Visits can take a number of forms depending on funding and institutional practice. Some institutions will be able to visit each location. Others will ask students to travel to a number of centres (students would normally be reimbursed for economical travel). The possibility of a short residential course for students in particular countries also exists (students come together with a view to working on an aspect of their studies and there is also time for discussion of a range of difficulties from studies to accommodation or more personal matters). Whatever type of visit is chosen, it is a good idea to have a form on which the main areas of discussion with each student may be noted (and a copy of this should be included in any prior briefing material). It is always important in the course of a visit to make a point of talking to each student separately in case there are matters they would wish to discuss without the presence of their peers. Interviews with returners indicate that students welcome a visit and that it can have a very positive effect in solving a range of problems from the relatively simple to the more acute. Visits can also give students a real feeling of support and help them in some ways to make a new departure where problems of one sort or another have been preventing optimal benefit being drawn from the time abroad. The knowledge that they are to be visited by a member of the home staff also motivates some towards more regular and assiduous patterns of study.
Virtual visit and contacts: E-mail
Apart from the traditional letters, reports and the visit, modern technology offers a range of ways by which students now maintain contact with the home university and their tutors. E-mail is a very efficient method of keeping in touch, answering queries and giving advice on all sorts of topics. Indeed, by prompt reaction, it may even prevent things escalating and serve to avert more major crises. Prior preparation should thus include reference to e-mail possibilities. As these are still unfortunately not always available to students in host locations, there may also have to be some reference to ways of setting up personal amyl accounts. It goes without saying that a note of all relevant amyl addresses should be included in any briefing material given to the students.
Video conference
Some institutions now arrange for a video discussion with students. Depending on the facilities available, this can turn out to be an expensive option particularly if a special studio has to be hired and it is sometimes awkward to arrange. Tutors do report, however, that there are benefits to visual contact on screen as distinct from telephone and with improvements in computer/video links, this may become an increasingly useful option.
Phone/Fax
For really urgent matters, the telephone is vital and students should have a number to ring in the department. Secretaries will naturally be briefed about fielding calls (and if necessary re-routing them) when the staff member is unavailable. Increasingly it is practice, in case there is a genuine emergency, also to include the home telephone number of a member of staff in the briefing material. Students should be reminded that if they do need to be rung back the necessary contact information should be given; feasible alternatives should be suggested, and there should be a realistic chance of speaking to them (i.e. there is no point asking in an emergency to be rung back at a residence where the phone is always likely to be engaged or in a school where no- one will go and get them). They may have to be prepared to ring back to the home university themselves, should they urgently need to speak to a staff member.
Documentation
It is important to cover the points discussed in class in written documentation as memories are short. Indeed this is now regarded as essential good practice in respect of residence abroad. Students often comment that they have found it useful to have documentation with them which can be consulted as the need arises. One word of warning is, however, to read the documentation carefully with an eye for possible sources of misunderstanding, loopholes and increasingly, legal liability. Also, as things abroad do change, it is advisable to have some sort of rider to this effect. In the preparatory sessions, the students may be reminded of the vital role they play by adding amendments and updating points in relation to their location and country (but if this is to work successfully, there has to be some sort of system in place to collect the information).
Preparation for independence
No matter how comprehensive a briefing one wishes to give, time is always limited, situations change from year to year and eventualities will arise which could not have been foreseen in advance. Students should acquire in the course of preparation a sense of independence and some knowledge of appropriate approaches and coping strategies. Good briefing will warn the unwary but it will not be so negative or focused on difficulties that it robs the students of confidence. It will empower through information and constructive discussion.
Dr Elisabeth Lillie
1999