They had taken the teenagers on trips to Rotorua, Taupo, on a farm and into the bush, she said.
Mum Barbara also popped over regularly and left lollies on the boys' pillows, carrying on a tradition from when her own children were younger, Ms Thompson said.
"They absolutely love it and she gets pleasure out of it as well."
Mr Thompson was involved with theatre and it has been a passion shared with Tranziscus. The duo will appear in a production next month.
"It's been fantastic showing them some Kiwi hospitality. I know they are happy we all fit in and have our little jobs and our routines that all works in well."
Lee was getting used to a small city. His hometown of Guangzhou has a population of 10 million.
The 16-year-old said he was focussed on his study and wanted to be a businessman.
He would continue studying in Tauranga next year and liked living with the Thompsons because "they are very nice to me".
Tauranga Boys' College director of international students Annette Roff said it had 43 international students.
It had a stringent vetting process for potential homestay parents overseen by a manager that matched students accordingly.
Often homestay parents were interested in learning about another culture and it also appealed to retirees.
The programme paid $240 per week including food, but the biggest requirement was that the students were going to be part of a family. "We don't want homestay parents that are just doing it for the money."
Otumoetai College homestay manager Liz Anderson said it had 69 foreign students and 42 were in homestays.
Often students would have requests and some might opt to be placed with people that had no children as they wanted to focus on study, or they might be allergic to certain pets or not like dogs.
It paid $245 per week and had 50 homestay parents on the books. She said a few of its parents had been doing it for up to 12 years.
"We encourage them to look after the students like their own children." Carmen Hall