Language Student Lodgers - would you?

[macfi]

A local language school is paying £1000 a month to have two students share a twin room full board, so would have to feed them and provide a pack lunch. has anyone done this, will they eat me out of house and home or leave me worried sick when they dont come home at night.

We are so broke I would never otherwise consider looking after a 16-18 year old
Help and advise appreciated

A friend did this for a Japanese student for a few months and it worked out OK. She was all prepared with house rules etc. but the girl was extremely polite and tidy. Two students might be more of a challenge, it all depends on what level of supervision you're expected to provide. What happens if you need to spend time away, for example? How about asking the language school to put you in touch with a family that already does this?

My mum did this and it worked out well. She had mature students and kept in touch with quite a few of them

She was expected to do an hour or so of conversation with them each day as well, I think

I did this and it was good, they were so busy they were hardly there, and were lovely and polite.
mine were over 18 though.

My mum did this too and it was great.. she had boys mainly - her view being they'd spend less time in the bathroom and generally be less hassle!
From memory they were mainly Italian, though I know when I was wee (many years ago we had Japanese too) all well behaved - me and 2 sisters were younger teenagers / early 20's ourselves still living at home and often during summer months we'd all have a bbq together and chat to them as they were there to learn English - sometimes some would be more friendly / engaging then others but generally it was good fun.
They certainly didn't help themselves to food, as I say, it was an evening meal with us and a packed lunch - oh and breakfast cereal etc - perhaps a cooked breakfast at a weekend.

My Mum was certainly not the only one 'cashing in' on this over the holidays particularly in our leafy West London Suburb all her friends did it too and the agency was pretty good at dealing with any less well behaved teenagers!
If I had room now I would 100% definitely go for it.

ps - I think Mum would go for the 17 year olds if possible, I think some of the younger ones can be a bit shy / awkward and I know we definitely did have one that was terribly homesick - I recall my Mum having to phone up agency over letting her phone home (I guess with mobile phones these days not an issue) and I think she was more worried that the 18 yr old ones would come back having drunk too much! Which again never happened.

I did this after I split up with my ex husband and took over the house. I had mainly African students (male) who were quite quiet, but then I had a chap from Hong Kong who was expremely loud, up all hours with the telly blaring, wanted to cook in the kitchen, invited his girlfriend to stay and smoked vile Chinese cigarettes in the bedroom (we're a non smoking household).

So, it can work out ok but it can also be quite stressful depending on who you have and if they're good at sticking to the house rules.

It got me out of a tight spot financially though.

We've done this as well with French kids. £1000 pm is only about £15 pppn, though. We were paid 25pppn, and this was 5 years ago.

My mum used to coordinate language/study trips for French teenagers and find 'host families' to put them up (which I believe were paid). One time when she had a family pull out at the last minute we had one stay with us. She was lovely, sweet and polite, really nice to me & my little sis (something like 9 and 7 at the time). She gave us all lovely presents when she left (including a 15 rated video. We were pretty damn chuffed let me tell you). We exchanged Christmas cards for ages.

I think I'd do it if I had the space.

For many years I also had foreign students who attended a local language school. There are benefits on both sides, my two children gained a lot (entente cordial) they helped the students with their homework, had long chats over dinner about customs, food, education which I think made them the well rounded sociable adults they are today. We had a lot of fun and still talk about "the ones who wanted to bake a chocolate cake and then ate it for breakfast", etc. I preferred girls, often if you get two they may already know each other and spend quite a bit of time in their room. You do have to keep them entertained on a Sunday (unless they want to meet up with friends or just lie-in watch a dvd, play a board-game, etc)

They all had to be at school every morning but were back home in the afternoon for dinner and often had something organised for the evening (mostly sitting in McDonalds I think)

Later on I organised host families for a German youth group who came every year and I put up the adult leaders. We had a lot of fun.

Regarding food, I did ask them what they liked to eat for lunch (fruit, a bread roll some cheese/meat?) and noticed that some families sent them with things like cheap ham in white bread sandwiches and a packet of crisps which all got thrown away. We are the only country who eats all those flavoured crisps. The girls liked yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. If you are worried that they are not eating your food, take them to the supermarket (very educational) and they can choose (Lidl/Aldi stock a lot of things they like) You wouldn't want them to go back home thinner than when they arrived! But other than that I kept it simple, chicken/lasagne/burger with salad, pasta, spag bol. We introduced them to Sunday Roast, Toad in the Hole and Fish and Chips and I never had a problem.

I think that if you treat them as you would like your own children to be treated under the same circumstances you cant go wrong. You are their Mum for the time they are here and once they relax, it is a very enjoyable experience.

On the food front, definitely ask them what they would like: English packed lunch can be very perplexing for a Continental teenager. When I was 14 I was one of those language students and was very puzzled to find my packed lunch was:

1. Untoasted toast bread (I.e. supermarket sliced bread) with some white thing (I think mayonnaise) and unidentified bits and pieces.
2. Crisps. I did not eat these so bartered them for fruit with other kids.
3. Apple (fine, but I wondered why only apples and why only one small one)
4. Penguin bar. Found them foul, bartered them for fruit after the first day.
5. Yoghurt (fine)
6. Juice. Ok, but most days I would have preferred water.

This is just to say that if we'd been asked what we liked packed lunch might have worked out cheaper- and we would not have got fat ( most people I knew dieted before their summer weeks in England as the food was so different we all got fat and pimply)...

A colleague of mine had a pair of Russian girls for a fortnight. Apparently they were out all the time and were mostly no trouble.

The worst thing they did was to miss their stop on the bus, end up in a market town 15 miles away at midnight and tell all the taxi drivers their prices were outrageous - higher than in Moscow! A driver brought them back - for the lower price they wanted - though for reasons more connected to "what if it were my daughter in a foreign country" than business.

I don't think they've done it again though.

Other friends have just started doing it and had a total blast with a Japanese student: introducing him to Corrie and baking cakes!

We had 2 14yo French girls for 2 weeks three years ago and 4 14yo French boys for 4 nights two years ago.

We found the girls to be fairly self contained but they didn't interact with our children at all and had very limited social skills. They spent most of their time that they weren't at language school on the PC on msn messanger and so from that point of view they were 'easy'. They didn't engage with us though despite trying, even one time there was only them and me eating dinner at the table as DH and DC were out, they spoke to each other in French and ignored me. I could only make so much conversation! (We were told not to speak French to them, so at the beginning I told them I could speak French so if they had any trouble they could speak French but only then. At the end of the holiday I told them I was aware of them swearing constantly in French all their stay, not about us thankfully, and told them I actually speak fluent French, it was so amusing to see their faces!!). I don't know what I'd have done if ty'd been unpleasant about us though!!

We also found that having strangers in te house for 2 weeks was hard work. I think we were paid £400 for the two weeks for both girls. Yes you do make some money but actually the petrol and extra food ate into that. And I paid my DC some money for sharing a room for 2 weeks. We had ok girls though, one family had a nightmare 15yo who lied, smoked and stole drink and was generally awful!

The 4 boys for a shorter period was better we found. They interacted more and played with our children in the garden etc (well 2 of the 4 did), they had better social skills and the boys enjoyed their company. Pay was more pppn as it was short term but again we didn't make much really. I also paid my DC to use the spare bedrooms ( we have 2 spare bedrooms but they are a double and a single whereas my DC each have a room with bunk beds).

We didn't do it last year as DH worked abroad for the whole of July when they were coming over and I didn't want to do it on my own.

Interestingly my boys (now 11 and 8) have now asked to have foreign students again not having mentioned it at all in te last year or so. I think I must be off the mailing list now though so will get in contact. My DS1 is going to senior school this year and learning German do it would e hang to get German students over but I think they tend to be French or Spanish round here.

Do it for the experience but not so much for the money, as food and petrol/running around after them does take its toll.