Taking in foreign exchange students... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

monik

hi
in what town are your host families ? how can i get in touch with you ?
monik

PasturesNew wrote: »

I organised a lot of these host families last year.

6 trips. French kids, aged 13-18. One French "organiser", one French driver, 3-4 teachers.

Each coach came from a single school, so the kids knew each other and had chosen which of their mates they were going to be with in the host homes.

Kids had to be placed in 2s or 3s. It was not possible to ever take a single child.

As for the adults, the teachers could not stay at the same address as the children. The organiser and driver should be separate from the teachers. If the organiser and driver were the same sex they could share a room.

So if you aren't keen on putting up kids, then when you see adverts for host families, check out if you can take in the adults. However, there are a few extra things to think about if you're taking in the adults.

e.g. As the organiser, I liked it best when the driver/organiser/teachers could walk to the bus from where they were staying. This meant they weren't reliant on getting a lift from the host family. It also meant they were all first on the bus and last off - I thought "good for kid control" .... but I hadn't banked on French kids being like they are.... they were perfectly behaved. And polite. They'd greet each other with a handshake. Not like Brit kids, all scruffy, kicking each other, shouting and running around. None of that!

The "pay" was about £13/night for kids. About £15.50/night for adults.
Trips were usually 4 nights long. So "earnings" would be:

kids: £13x4x3 - four nights, three kids = £156
adults: £15x4x3 - four nights, three adults = £180

For that you had to provide:
Breakfast, with a hot drink
Packed lunch of: 2 filled rolls, piece of fruit, chocolate bar/cake, soft drink
Evening meal: 2 courses
Lift to/from the coach pick up point each morning/evening (walking up to 1 mile was acceptable). Coaches left by 8.20 and got back about 7pm

So ... it's worthwhile looking into this if you can. Find out what the rules/deal is in your local area. I even had people driving up to 15 miles to pick up the kids and drop them off each day - for them it wasn't about the money - it was about their own kids mixing with French kids.

If you've only got one single bedroom ... then still phone if you think you could offer a bed to one of the adults. You never know what needs the host organiser has - and it's different each trip. I had one where I had one male teacher and 3 female teachers. Always tricky placing one male teacher as he couldn't share (by the rules I was using) with the driver/organiser.

Every school is different. There are long and short trips. Every trip organiser company work to completely different rules, with different nationalities, requirements and expectations. So give the adverts a call and see what their deal is!

Bmth100

I'm on the other side of the fence - an ESL teacher at a top language school. As awful as this May sound, these generalisations are usually accurate:

If you want a quiet life, take on Japanese, Chinese or Saudi students.
If you want hell on earth, host for the Swiss teens.

Cha-chi

I see this pop up every now and then.

Hosting is easy – lots of High School programmes out there,both short and long term (so no feeling like on a bed-hop rotation!).

I am an Area Manager for one of them and we are alwayslooking for lovely host families, all over the UK, not just the South East.

Put :

“host high school exchange student uk”

into your search engine….hopefully you will find us!

C-C:j

PS - I should add that I have been doing this for quiet a while and for a few different companies...I moved companies a couple of years ago and the diversity of opportunities is much greater with who I'm with now.....also we do Ireland and Scotland....yes to Edinburgh

:-)

becks20

Hello,

We are interested in hosting to try and boost my income whilst I am on maternity leave. We are a couple (25 & 27 with an 8 week old).

We live just outside Preston in Lancashire. Not sure what the demand would be for foreign exchange students up here.

Could anyone recommend any particular websites? I have searched online but there are a lot to choose from.

Thanks,

Becks

Blue_Monkey

We're in Essex and this is something we'd consider doing in the future (not right now as dd2 is only a week old!).

Where do we even start?!

Canucksfan

Hi there! We have been hosting students on and off for the past six years and not wanting to pour cold water on it, but this job can be really hard work!
Nat2luv already gave a very accurate description about the reality of looking after kids (in my case they are aged 13-23 years) who are often away from home for the first time. There is no such thing as 'money for nothing' and you will find yourself stressed out at times! I had some students stagger home with a friend who had suffered a head injury and thought they would bring him back to mine as I am a nurse...I took one look at him and he was heading to the hospital with HIS host family within minutes!!! They are not your kids and will not have your kids innate common sense or an understanding of how the house runs.
We enjoy the work, but I rarely break even by the time you tally up the washing machine breakage, them nicking my daughter's nail varnish, the cost of petrol when you have to dash out and collect them because they left without a street map or warm clothing and it is now dark and raining etc etc
Please look into this carefully and speak to others who have done it! We love it and the profit goes towards treats for the kids. DH and I both work ft so it takes a bit of planning, but ultimately it is something we enjoy doing!

SBOSlayer

Just saw this and wanted to mention... Glasgow Caledonian University asks for rooms to be rented/flats when they arrive for their international inductions/views of the University; their international student presence is huge. I've seen posters advertising over £1000 a month. So idk if it's worth mentioning here... or it has already been mentioned that this comes up around about August time and with the commonwealth games it would have been sooner. Personally I would have done this if I wasn't doing my masters atm.

Biggest issue I see is moving the stuff out the house, optional of course - but, I don't fancy leaving my stuff here and know if it would be worth the hassle ^^

amc1

Anyone an idea of the generally accepted rates for this at the moment (outside of London) for B&B and also with lunch and evening meal ? £20 a night ?

jonparr

Rates range around £13-£15. Remember though it's not really B&B as they eat what they are given! Plus you aren't cleaning their room every day/ changing laundry, providing towels, paying business rates etc.

AWMedia

Hi all, I'm interested in taking in foreign exchange students for extra income, I work part-time and am based in a great East London location (Bethnal Green), I have a two bedroom flat and currently live alone.

Can anyone suggest a good company I could approach for this?

Thanks.


AWM