Homestay Program

A home away from home for international students in Vancouver.

Johnathan Academy provides carefully vetted local homestay placements for international students, offering a supportive English immersion environment and authentic Canadian family experience.

Family Selection

All homestay families undergo thorough background checks and home inspections. We match students with families based on compatibility, location, and dietary needs.

Ongoing Support

Our homestay coordinator maintains regular contact with both students and host families, ensuring a positive experience and addressing any concerns promptly.

English Immersion

Living with a Canadian family provides daily English practice in a natural setting, accelerating language development beyond the classroom.

For a student arriving without family in Vancouver, the homestay placement matters as much as the timetable. A student who is unsettled at home does not learn well at school, and problems in a placement tend to show up first as attendance and grades.

How Placement Works

Families are screened before a student is placed, and placement considers the practical things: distance from Oak Street and the transit route, whether the household already hosts another student from the same language background, dietary needs, and allergies.

A placement that looks fine on paper can still be wrong in practice. Students and families can raise a concern at any point, and a change can be arranged — this is a normal part of the programme, not a failure.

What a Host Family Provides

  • A private bedroom and a place to study
  • Meals, adjusted where there are dietary or religious requirements
  • A household where English is spoken daily
  • An adult who notices when something is off

What the School Handles

The homestay coordinator is a separate contact from academic staff. Placement, household concerns, and changes go there; course and grade questions go to teachers and the school office. Keeping the two separate means neither gets lost.

For Parents Overseas

Contact details for the host family and the coordinator are provided when the placement is confirmed. Time zones make this harder than it should be — if something needs attention, write to the coordinator rather than waiting for a call that lines up.

Guardianship

Students under the age of majority studying in BC without a parent generally require a custodian. This is a legal requirement tied to the study permit, not a school policy, and it is separate from the homestay arrangement. Raise it during admissions rather than after arrival.

Questions

[email protected] · 604.971.6888