Hosting Foreign Students

[SPARKLER1]

Just had a leaflet dropped through my door. Local International School are seeking families to host German teenagers for 10 or 11 nights in April.

2 STUDENTS PER FAMILY (TWIN ROOMS) £80 PER WEEK EACH STUDENT
HOST FAMILY PAYMENT FOR TEN NIGHT STAY £228.57 (2 STUDENTS SHARING A TWIN ROOM)

Expected to provide good homely and friendly accomodation with breakfast/picnic for lunch and evening dinner. School starts at 9am and day finishes 5.30pm/6pm Activities are arranged over easter weekend.

I'm tempted. Would you? Not easy I know.

I assume that the school will probaly meet you to give you more information if you are interested? My parents frequently had teenagers to stay when we were kids (usually through Rotary as opposed to a school thing). Sometimes it was good - sometimes it was awful - a teenage female volleyball team were a complete nightmare!. Some kids wanted to have complete run of the house - including teh fridge - all the time - others were very polite and friendly.

Thanks Scotlou - thought there would be more people on here with students.

and yes the school have said that they would visit us at home if interested.

I used to work for schools in bournemouth and my advice is look in the yellow pages and phone round and see which schools cover your area . They all pay different rates and expect different hings, e.g some you have to provide a packed lunch for. Alos ask about ages as there are different restrictions for different ages, e.g the younger ones cant go out in the evening if the school hasnt organised anything. I'll have a think and see if I can come up with any more tips.

yes we used to have students and to honest the younger ones were easier as trhey took them out all day on sightseeing trips then they`d come home for dinner and be out again with the school to theatres etc..we hardly saw them..ask whether you have to drop them off and pick them up from a certain place? as that can cut into your day sometimes .we also had older foreign students..the best were japanese and germans .they were polite.tidy,and lovely generally .. hope this info helps ask anything else if you want more info

Sparkler, as Lucy5 says, look in the YP as there are lots of schools. A lot of them do short stays for mature business students too and most of them pay the same sort of rate. Older ones tend to go out most nights so hardly at home (from what i've heard). I'd definately consider it for a bit of extra cash but like you probably only a couple of weeks at a time, maybe a month. Hoping for a mature Italian

Sparkler, as Lucy5 says, look in the YP as there are lots of schools. A lot of them do short stays for mature business students too and most of them pay the same sort of rate. Older ones tend to go out most nights so hardly at home (from what i've heard). I'd definately consider it for a bit of extra cash but like you probably only a couple of weeks at a time, maybe a month. Hoping for a mature Italian

Theres a school in westbourne, i cant remember the name, its on the corner opposite oxfam. There is eurocentres,kings,richards and loads more . Some in Charminster too. Etc in central bournemouth. Ef in westbourne too. Thats all I can remember off the top of my head.

just showed dh the form and he said it works out about £22 ish a day. By the time you take out food, electric, hot water etc not making much. One of the positive things we thought though was that it would be good for dds to meet someone from another country.
Thing that idea will be going out the window.

My Mum used to do this allllll the time when we were growing up it was not unusual to have several different nationalities staying with us during the summer months. She only ever had trouble with one Italian girl that came over and the school removed her straight away.

My Mum then went on to qualify to teach English as a foreign language and started teaching the students in the home as well as housing them and earnt a fortune doing it.

*They also used to bring fantastic presents over with them for the host family.

a friend of mine has done this for a while, she has got into having mature students who pay a bit more (but maybe expect a bit more ie more privacy). Several of them have become real family friends, taking over the cooking (Italian), sending presents from home, even babysitting. Her children are 2 and 5, think myself I would want my kids to be a bit older before having strangers sleeping in the house. She also commented that the money is not great once you take out expenses, you would be inhibited from having a beer or something because you would have to offer them round (obviously if older guests) and that is £1.00 down the drain, and so on.
What facilities have you got, eg would you all be sharing 1 bathroom and trying to get ready in the mornings? All sitting on the same sofa watching TV together in the evenings?
Must admit if I were at home more ( I work long hours part-time atm) my main reason for holding back would be that I think my cooking wouldn't cut it and they would all be complaining.