English brings international students to Dominican in River Forest

Up to 60 Oak Park and River Forest families host students taking classes at Dominican

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 10:00 PM

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Culinary exchange: Shuji Tomita of Japan dishes up a plate of hot soup for dinner with his host family, Judy and Dan West at their Oak Park home.
J. GEIL/Photo Editor

By Devin Rose

Staff Reporter

Since his arrival in the U.S. last February, Shuji Tomita has dyed Easter eggs, eaten Thanksgiving turkey and attended church services — all for the first time.

Now the 31-year-old pharmaceutical salesman from Japan is getting ready to celebrate his first Christmas with his Oak Park host family.

"We have a lot of traditions that we did with our sons that now we do with the students," said Judy West.

The Wests are participants in a program run by ELS Language Centers. The program has its Chicago office on the campus of Dominican University in River Forest. This year is the program's 50th anniversary.

West and her husband, Dan, began hosting when a friend asked them to take in one of her students in 2006. Since then, 37 students from 11 countries have stayed in their home.

Many of them, like Tomita, are already established professionals in their home countries and have been sent by their companies to learn English, Dan West said. So on the weekdays, Tomita joins about 200 other students taking classes at Dominican.

Between 50 and 60 families in Oak Park and River Forest host students in their homes as part of the program, said Lee Fair, director of the Chicago center. Others stay in apartments owned by ELS or dorms at Concordia University, also in River Forest.

Every four weeks, the center gains and loses students, Fair said. Some of them are matched with their host families based on similar areas of expertise, e.g. engineering. Other families prefer to take in certain nationalities based on where they've traveled or their ages.

Most students the Wests have had were in their 20s or older. Judy West said she's happy not to have to be a parent to Tomita, who spends his free time going to concerts, restaurants and museums in Downtown Chicago.

For students staying at Marlene Mann's River Forest home — and there have been up to seven at once — there is one rule: only English can be spoken.

Mann, who has been hosting students for more than 20 years, said she likes the companionship that comes with having people around. One reason she and her late husband began hosting was to "pay back" the experiences her own children had studying abroad, she said.

Students from Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, South Korea and Saudi Arabia have stayed at the Mann household for anywhere from one month to five years.

"He left thinking he was our son," Mann said about the student from Spain who stayed the longest.

Students cook and eat together, help with chores, accompany her to movies and have usually been very considerate and protective of her and her family.

Mann also enjoys discussing politics and culture with the students, and the Wests agreed there are many interesting talks around the dinner table.

"You listen to the news and then you have somebody here who's part of it," Judy West said.

For Tomita, that became difficult in March when he was unable to contact his girlfriend after an earthquake in northern Japan. To help out, he worked on fundraising in Chicago with other students.

On Christmas morning, Tomita and the Wests will do something else to give back.

Just as the family has for years, they'll deliver food and gifts to people who are homebound through Dominican's Christmas Cheer program. According to tradition, Judy will make breakfast at home that the family will eat together when their sons, Dan and Tomita return from their deliveries.

It's important for the family to understand that the holiday is about giving as well as receiving, Judy West said.

In February before he heads back to Japan, Tomita will write a letter inside the book the Wests keep as a remembrance of all their students. When he has children, he said he wants them to learn English. The Wests will miss him, but they said Facebook has made it easier to keep in touch.

"It's kind of extended family all over the world," Judy West said.

For more information about ELS, visit http://www.els.edu/en