How to Write the Note

So you stayed with a host family for three weeks, and now you're home, and your mother says you have to write to them. She's right. Here's a short guide.

How long should it be? Short. Five or six lines. Nobody wants to read a page.

How do you start? With “Dear” and their first names, the names you actually used at the table. Not “Dear Sir”.

What do you write in the middle? One thing that really happened. Not “thank you for everything.” Everything is too big. Write the small thing: the walk to the shop on Sunday morning, the terrible film you all watched twice, the day it rained and nobody wanted to go out.

Do you have to express big feelings? No. One true sentence is better than five polite ones. And don't say sorry for your English.

How do you finish? Say you hope to see them again — but only if you really hope that. Then your name.

That's it. Send it in the mail if you can. And here's the thing about a thank-you note: your host family won't keep it because your English was perfect. They'll keep it because you remembered the name of the dog.