Student Exchange Programs

I’ll take out any personal references just in case! I’m working on writing a host family letter, does it sound alright? I am supposed to write why I am looking forward to becoming a member of their family, the activities I enjoy, my family, and my motivations to become an exchange student! I am supposed to write it fairly basic in case my host family in case they do not speak English well.

Dear Host Family,
My name is ********, I am ** years old, and live in ******** in the United States. I am grateful to be able to join your family and for you to give me this opportunity. I am excited to get to know you and learn about what is special to your family and your community and I look forward to being immersed in a new way of life and experiencing a new culture. I am very excited to be an exchange student from the United States.
I live with a family of four. My sister’s name is ********, she is ** years old and we have a puppy named **** and a hamster named ****. I love all kinds of animals but dogs are my favorite! ******** is very dry but we have a nice view of the mountains from our house. There are not many trees here, which is hard to get used to because I love trees. My father was in the Army and he used to skydive. I’d be too scared to skydive! We moved around a lot, but only within the U.S., and we stayed awhile at the ****** ****** ******** ******* in **** *****, *** *****. **** ***** was nice because it had many trees that turned beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow in autumn. I love to hang out with my friends at school; they say I am a bit shy at first but cheerful and funny as I get to know people. My chores at home are cleaning my room and the bathroom, vacuuming, taking care of ****, taking out the trash, and loading and unloading the dishwasher. Occasionally when we get a lot of snow my sister and I will help shovel the driveway. I love sports and being active, in particular I enjoy lacrosse, volleyball and tennis. I made Junior Varsity volleyball this past season and I play outside hitter! Unlike most of my family, I do not like fast food, but I love trying all sorts of new and interesting foods! In my free time I like to draw and sometimes paint while listening to music. Personally I prefer rock, but my list of music ranges from country to pop. I have been painting since I was little and like giving my artwork as presents to people! Always looking to learn new things, I take pleasure in learning to play new instruments. A recent instrument I learned to play is the ocarina. I was inspired to learn it by one of my favorite video games. I love movies; my favorite movie is the new Sherlock Holmes. The clever dialogue is amusing, and it’s very suspenseful. For books I like all sorts of genres in particular science fiction! I started martial arts last year, and am working my fourth belt. I hoped to be like Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan in those old Kung Fu movies when I was younger! Overall I have a variety of interests.
My school is new, so I would be the first outbound student. I hope to learn a lot about people from other countries and apply it to a program taught at my school called International Baccalaureate. They encourage a global perspective and to think about how events affect the world. We are required to learn a second language, either Spanish or French, and I am in my third year of French. Learning to speak French is a very fun and fascinating experience! My favorite subject is Art, especially ceramics, but my favorite core class is Civics and History, especially world history. I get mostly A’s and B’s and I Thank you again for accepting me into your home and giving me this amazing opportunity to better understand the world we live in.

Does it sound alright? This is maybe my…third draft?

Thanks!