Hosting foreign students (14-18)

[Brokenfurnitureandroses]

Hi all.
I’m considering hosting foreign students over the summer in Dublin. They will be teenagers. Has anyone ever done this before? What agencies did you go through? Any tips?

[greenlanes]

I recently hosted French teenagers (5 -6 different groups over 1 year) A local lady set up a hosting company and language school. The schools visited the UK (South east and London) for 3-5 days. You could host 2-4 students. You were paid per student per night. You had to provide a separate bed per student (ie a double bed was only for 1 student) but there could be several beds per room, breakfast, packed lunch and dinner (apart from 1 evening). The teenagers varied in age from 13-19.

I enjoyed it. My school French was long forgotten so we sometimes struggled, but mostly the kids wanted wi-fi to call their parents, hot water for showers and hot food then sleep!

Cost wise - It was pocket money effectively. I lived a distance from the main drop off so petrol was a high cost for me. You could really scrimp and save on the food (eg Lidl or basics range all the time) but part of their experience was trying new foods so I would buy lots of different things for their packed lunches.

The hosts varied - some had children still at home, others didnt.