Christmas Merriment With ELS Atlanta Hosts and Students

Students were surprised by a special visitor from the North Pole!

For international students at ELS-Atlanta on campus at Southern Polytechnic, Christmas came early this year. At the annual ELS Atlanta Christmas party, the holiday was in full-swing with a visit from Santa Claus, Christmas carols and gifts.

Santa hands out gifts to students on his "good" list.

There were ear-to-ear smiles and much laughter all around the room as their teacher, dressed as Santa Claus, and his elves (a few ELS staff) led them through traditional Christmas songs such as "The 12 Days of Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

Then after food and Christmas cookies, Santa read student's names off of his "good students list" and each student who brought a gift to exchange received one. The students could not hold back the laughter and smiles at the sight of their teacher dressed as old St. Nick.

Learn more about hosting a student with Mark's Homestay

Several host parents showed up to take part in the festivities as well!

Host parent Angela Green showed up to get in on the holiday fun with her homestay students!

International students all over Atlanta are enjoying Christmas with their host families this week. Holiday traditions and stories about cultures are sure to be shared. For several of the students, Christmas was a holiday widely celebrated in their home country - but for others it was their first taste of Christmas magic.

Learn more about staying with an American host family while studying English

Although Christmas is celebrated in many other countries, each country has it's own way of celebrating and it's own holiday culture. For one former ELS student, Gustavo Machado, the holiday was similar but different at the same time.

"The holiday was very similar - people gave gifts and we sang songs and lit up a tree, but we called Santa 'San Nicolás' instead. And we wrote letters to baby Jesus instead of Santa. It's fun to see the similarities and differences of the holiday in different countries," says Machado.

How will you share holiday traditions with your homestay students this year?