Forget the bedroom tax – spare rooms across the UK are being turned into earning opportunities by a new generation of language exchange enthusiasts. Thanks to the web and the world’s need and desire to learn English from an early age, British families are earning up to £650 a week hosting foreign children in their homes for educational visits.
Exchange students from overseas are attracted by the unique, immersive educational opportunity of staying in a family home setting to improve their English. Not only do they experience British daily life but also day trips, formal or informal language tuition and social activities. Host families are able to charge for food and accommodation with optional extras such as tuition, day trips and sports activities included as extra. The host decides what they can offer. Retired journalist Chris Williamson and his wife Vicky, a schoolteacher, have been providing immersive language-learning opportunities to children from the age of 11 and older since 2001. Since starting, they have hosted more than 200 children with many repeat visits over the years. Most students have come from Europe but some have travelled from as far afield as China and Chile.
Chris remembers fondly why he and his wife started hosting foreign students, “We home-schooled our own children and I still have contact with the chap who did a language exchange with me when I was a boy almost 50 years ago.” Chris has become a qualified TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) teacher since hosting. He and his wife offer lessons in the morning and sightseeing trips later in the day. By the end of January this year, more than half of their hosting slots for the summer were already booked through Lingoo.com. Flexibility is a key reason why so many people see hosting as an income source. Some choose to host 50 weeks of the year while others host for just a couple of weeks in the summer.
Essex couple Kerry and Camelia Flitter run a photographic studio. They have been juggling the demands of running their family business with hosting since 2001. Kerry says, “I’ve travelled a lot and really like meeting foreign people.” He adds, “It’s been a great thing to do. Our eight-year old son is our only child and we take boys aged 14 to 17 and he loves their company. It’s like having a big brother. We’ve always kept in touch with the families who send their children to us and they’ve become our friends.” Kerry and Camelia host only during school holidays. Last year, they hosted five children, mainly from France. This year, they have booked at least six children to stay.
Some families gain their own educational benefits from hosting. In Lincolnshire, Lizzie Foulon and her husband have been hosting language students for seven years. Their daughter Emily, now 19, has benefitted while studying three European languages. “It’s been ideal for Emily as she is language mad. She keeps in touch with the girls we have hosted as they’ve become great friends. She enjoyed teaching them English while they were here and she improves her own foreign language skills in the process,” says Lizzie. Through websites like Lingoo, an increasing number of British families are finding that a fresh take on the traditional language exchange is offering not only educational and cultural benefits, but also financial attractions.
Read more about becoming a host family or teacher on Lingoo.