Thousands of British expats living in France have an opportunity to turn their spare bedrooms into a source of income.
The opportunity comes in the shape of French students under the age of 18 who are learning English. Many are willing to pay to stay in the home of a native English speaker to improve their language skills intensively.
Host families charge for food and accommodation. Optional extras, such as tuition, day trips and sports activities, are priced accordingly. Qualified English teachers charge a premium for structured lessons.
Growing demand
Demand for this immersive language-learning experience is growing all the time, says Peter Goldstein. He is the British owner of Lingoo, the language exchange and homestay website.
Peter says, “Every week, people across France conduct thousands of searches on our site for British Lingoo homestay members offering a paid-for stay in their home – particularly for those living in France. The search volumes are far greater than the number of weeks available. So we need more English-speaking host families.”
Peter and his French wife Ann established Lingoo.com in 2008. Since then they have been astonished by the levels of demand from members seeking an authentic, immersive English-language and cultural experience.
The idea for Lingoo.com began about 20 years ago. The couple spent more than a decade living and working in London, Milan and Paris while raising their own bilingual family. Over the years, friends had asked them to help find exchange families so they could send their children overseas to improve their language skills.
Lingoo.com is born
“It worked quite well and over time we developed a network of like-minded families who could offer this supportive service regularly,” says Peter.
“As the internet and social media developed, we saw it as an opportunity to help other families develop networks of exchange families who could support their children’s language skills development. That’s how Lingoo.com was created,” he adds.
Demand from French students looking to improve their English far outstrips the number of British families currently offering the service. So Lingoo is actively recruiting appropriate hosts.
British families living in France are in particular demand. The opportunity to speak English all day by staying with a British family - without leaving France - is highly attractive to students.
For English-speaking expats in France, not only is it an opportunity to earn extra income but also to give back to the local community.
