Sekian is 17, hails from Hong Kong, and enjoys aerobics, baseball, movies, music, and singing. Manieng, also a 17-year-old boy from Hong Kong, enjoys aerobics, cooking, drama/theater, music, singing and volleyball.

Muhammad, an 18-year-old boy from Indonesia, enjoys baseball, guitar, movies, singing and television. He also loves ice cream.

From Paris, there is 16-year-old Paul, who enjoys cooking, drama/theater, drawing and painting, movies, music, reading, soccer, swimming, tennis, television and writing. Nicolas and Hugo are also 16-year-old boys from France, They share a love of aerobics, biking, movies, music, tennis and television. Nicolas also is into computers, and Hugo enjoys martial arts, swimming and volleyball.

Yuanhao, from Hong Kong, is 15 years old and enjoys baseball, movies, reading, swimming and television.

What these seven boys have in common is that they are coming to the Santa Clarita Valley July 14 to study English and experience American culture. They are in need host families, with or without children their own ages. They are part of a group of more than 140 teenagers from Finland,  Austria, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia and China who will join local families for a few weeks as part of the English First language travel program.

The program holds classes each morning at La Mesa Junior High School in Canyon Country and takes students and their adult leaders on trips to such southern California tourist spots as Santa Monica and Venice Beach, a Los Angeles city tour, shopping trips, and optional outings to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Magic Mountain and San Francisco. A surfing class at Zuma Beach and an afternoon Dodgers game are also included in their package tour,

Families are expected to provide transportation on weekdays either to the course center at La Mesa JHS or to conveniently located bus stops throughout the SCV, offer a sack lunch, and provide dinner on evenings when there are no special events planned. Most weekends are free for students to spend with their host families.

The Indonesian students will leave July 25 and the others will leave Aug. 2.

There are also two female adult leaders who are still seeking homes. Vida , is 37, lives in Austria, and speaks six languages. Her interests include movies, reading, swimming, dancing, volleyball, television and writing.

Tsz, from Hong Kong, is 27 years old, and is a professional social worker working with children. She enjoys movies, music, reading and swimming.

Families interested in hosting a student or leader can contact Site Director Nikki Beck at rogerandnikki@sbcglobal.net, or by telephone at (661) 755-6152.