Hosting foreign students- anyone a host family?

[rosesinmygarden]

Is anyone else a host family for foreign students?

We are due to start next month and feeling a bit nervous. Any advice very welcome.

They'll be coming for 3/4 nights at a time and we are having groups of 3.

We've done this in the past. If you can, put together a welcome booklet with the house rules- having things in writing prevents misunderstandings as English is their second language.

Thanks, I have done a little sheet to put in their room. It's got things like times for breakfast and leaving the house etc.

Did you drive them in your car at all? And did this impact your car insurance?

I considered it, briefly, but compared the money coming in from foreign students, and the tie of having to feed them and be around, compared to having a lodger. A lodger pays about as much money, incurs few extra costs except council tax, is here long term (no gaps!), cooks for himself and does the his own laundry. He even lets the dog out for a wee if he's nearer the back door than me.

If you're doing it for fun / cultural exchange then it's perfectly sensible, but if you're filling a hole in your finances a lodger may work out better. That said, perhaps the money works out better if you're having groups of 3 and they're all sharing a room.

They are mainly French so I've translated the sheet into French on the back.

It's partly for fun, partly for money to pay for extras like holidays. We'd rather not do the lodger thing as with the foreign students we can pick and choose which weeks we have them and which we don't. It's around £200 per stay so not masses considering I'll have to do 3 meals a day and do drop off/pick up each day at their coach but I'm hoping it will suit as I work from home.

Oh and dd is GCSE age so says shes looking forward to practising her French! I'm more convinced she's hoping we get a group of teenage boys .... sigh!

I did this on and off for about 14 years. First I had teachers staying which was great and really easy. I then had three students, mainly German, staying for five days at a time.

I found it fine, most were really well behaved and my son enjoyed their company. I didn’t have a set of rules but was strict about being quiet once I was in bed.

Food wise I would ask if there were things they disliked but in the whole they ate what I provided. The main hassle was packed lunches as these can add up.

We have kept in touch with a fair few and they always say we are welcome to stay with them.

I don’t know if you have specified non-smokers or if you mind people smoking in your house, but it hadn’t occurred to me that a 16 year old would put non-smoker on their forms anyway because their parents would be reading it, I’m assuming that’s why our non-smoker stank her bedroom and consequently the upstairs out repeatedly.

She was otherwise fine, but the cost of feeding her and the inconvenience of lifts to and from the Uni summer school and then to and from evening socials with fairly late finish times was more burdensome than I anticipated and for negligible social, cultural or financial reward. I didn’t repeat the experience.

I think I was unrealistic about what a 16 year old looks for from a host family, of course it’s bed, food and lifts and nothing more, even though I had a daughter near her age. I think I thought there would be more chat around the table and more of a relationship.
I felt a lot of responsibility too as 16 is still very young.
How long is the stay? I think you may be getting paid a lot more than we were. I’m in a northern city though. The pay did little more than cover the additional costs.

Also I banned deodorant being sprayed at bedtime as I learnt It really affects my throat.

We get £19 per student, per night. And the stays are 3/4 nights and groups of three. So far, I've only said I can do school holidays as I work less then.

Good point about the smoking ... ours will be 11-18 years so I'll need to add this to the sheet.

I’d be concerned about hosting 3 at a time. It’s peak age for sneaking in fags, booze etc around and getting off their tits. It’s often the first time they’ve been away from home with their peers and I think being in a foreign country can make them feel like nothing will stick, just like when our own dear teenagers decamp to Falaraki etc.

If you are hosting 3 at a time I think you will have to set very strict ground rules on booze, uninvited guests, smoking and drugs, and tell them there will be no chances, the first offence and not only will they be leaving immediately, you will insist their parents are informed. They are probably normal, well behaved kids at home. Unfortunately we Brits are often seen as more permissive than their own country’s nationals and have a reputation as badly behaved pissheads, so that probably doesn’t help with some.

Crawley has had much more experience than me however, so I may be unrepresentative in my experience and fears.
As I say, apart from the sneaky smoking, our French girl was fine, but I know other hosts had problems with booze and students going AWOL, which would have worried me to death in case she came to harm.

Thanks for the heads up!

The agency we are going through say they have a zero tolerance policy for anything like that and that whilst they've never had to send anyone home, they would if necessary. The agency has been running 25 years so I'm hoping they have things in place for any behaviour issues.

The students are not allowed out on their own at all and will only be at our house 7pm to 7.30am as they go out all day dropped off and picked up by us at a local coach park. Sounds all very controlled.

We also live in the country with nowhere interesting to get to easily even if they did decide to venture out without permission. No street lights or pavements and public transport stops at 6pm.

We've been told the agency caters for 11-18 year olds but that most are 12-14.

And we are also given a direct home phone number for their parents.

Sounds good! You being in the country reduces the risks a lot I think.
I think it is a lovely thing to do, so it goes against my inclination to have pointed out so many negatives. I hope it goes well for you, if it does I can see it being very rewarding. Ours just wasn’t that into us 😂 She was polite and civil.

Lol, polite and civil I can handle. Sex, drugs and rock n roll ... may be not so much.

I guess if it goes terribly wrong we just won't do it again

My students were all under 16 and always came straight home and stayed there unless coming out with us. Honestly never smelt any cigarette smoke or dealt with booze. The most they did was get rowdy messing around.

I always felt the company would deal with any problems.

Thanks Crawley.

I'm really hoping that as I'm going to be driving them to and fro the coach stop there is little opportunity for them doing a disappearing act. They are school groups mainly so I'll be reporting any bad behaviour to the agency lady and their teachers!

hi there,just wonder if you still Hosting foreign students in crawley/horsham