Guidance for hosts

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Guidance for host families

The information below is for guidance purposes only. The suggestions we make are based on experience and best practise, they are not binding and cannot be enforced.

However, we recommend that where possible you apply these guidlines / standards to ensure that both parties are happy.

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YOUR INTRODUCTION TO XILFEE

Thank you for choosing Xilfee. Accepting a student into your home and offering them the opportunity to be part of your home and family life can be a fun and exciting way of learning new cultures and making new friends.

The site is designed so that you can find and approach students overseas who wish to come and visit your country, either on an informal cultural exchange or a more formal language learning course. The basic idea is that the student stays for 13 nights, during which time you agree to either teach them your language, and / or help them discover more about your country.

With regard to language courses, students often opt for these One-to-One full emersion style courses to take advantage of the increased exposure they will get to the language, speeding up the process of learning. They are often more interesting than group learning in a classroom too. They provide an opportunity to develop a relationship with the culture and form new friends.

Your guest expects their errors will be corrected in a friendly, personalised way, and that your time and knowledge will be utilized to their best advantage. Individual attention and full immersion in the target language is of course very attractive and conducive to excellent results.

In all cases, Xilfee gives parents the opportunity to get to know the family which their student are staying before they actually leave home. You can find out about your guest too. A willingness to share your home and offer hospitality is also central to the success of the visit.

If you choose to tutor as well as hosting the student, you have a key role to play in both respects of their stay with you. This experience requires a readiness to prepare lessons carefully, taking into account the individual needs of the student and a commitment to a professional approach to teaching. Most home tutors have had the experience in teaching in Primary or Secondary schools or in Further education and are familiar with the requirements involved. You should have a TEFL certificate at the very least.If you have pre-school children, it is important for them to be cared for during lesson times.

We hope that the following pages will answer any questions you may have. Help is always at hand to help you in your task as a host teacher, and our range of books & resources are available on the website which is continually being resourced and updated.

We hope your hosting and teaching a student will be a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

Sincerely

Xilfee

STANDARDS OF ACCOMMODATION

Xilfee would expect that a good level of accommodation should be provided in a clean & tidy home. A basic guideline would be the following: -

A clean and tidy home in good repair, warm and well ventilated.
A bedroom with drawers and wardrobe space, a desk/table with chair. If the room is to be shared it should be with a child of the same sex and roughly similar ages, and this should be made clear to your student prior to their visit.
Students should have a proper bed - not a blow up bed or mattress on the floor or lilo etc.
Bunk beds should be avoided for over 16's.
Use of a bathroom/showroom.
Full board accommodation for the duration of the stay (3 meals per day MUST be provided).
Family meals together, especially the evening meal.
Bed linen and towels and clean replacements once a week.
Provision of laundry facilities.
A quiet room with a table to work on (such as a dining room) which is suitable to conduct the lessons.
A pleasant and welcoming environment in which the student can mix and relax with your family.
A bin. This is particularly important for girls. Please show them where to put used sanitary towels etc.
The language the student wishes to learn should be used as much as possible.
This is not a service for finding au-pairs or cleaners - DO NOT expect your student to do your housework.

Where students / hosts wish to deviate from this, it should be discussed & agreed with the other party.

Try to find out what your student likes to eat at each meal time. One meal per day should be taken as a family, and the diet should be balanced. If packed lunches are required please include fruit, a drink, sandwiches and a cake.

ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR STUDENT

Apart from tutoring your student you may consider what else you can do with them. Any trips to places of interest or participation in sports / activites are at your discretion. You may choose to discuss any such plans with your student & their guardian prior to the students trip. This will ensure that you don't plan to do anything which the student or their guardians do not want to do or find unacceptable.

Your student should be covered by his or her own insurance (it is within your interests to obtain a copy of this), you will see what the student is covered for from this information and whether or not the activity you have in mind, is included.

Generally, students will be covered for a range of activities on their insurance apart from certain activities such as ‘dangerous sports’. Provided you take adequate and sensible precautions and/or use a bona fide place for the activity, you will be covered. Think of it as your child going to a foreign country and what would you expect from the host.

Remember, students are taken at your own risk, you may be responsible for an accident if it can be proved that you are negligent intentional or otherwise. It is essential then, that you are covered by accident insurance.

CANCELLATION OF A BOOKING

Host
If a host cancels and the student has paid a deposit or for transport of a flight, the host should reimburse the cost of the transport (at cost) and send the full deposit back. This should be done within 7 days of the host cancelling. If you do not return monies within 7 days, we reserve the right to take your details off the database without a refund and will not necessarily allow you to resubmit in the future.

Of course, there may be occasions whereby the cancellation is unavoidable and you may wish to move the course date and rearrange. This is strictly at the discretion of the student and it is up to you and the student to arrive at a mutual agreement. We take cancellations by the host very seriously as this undermines the spirit and viability of the website. If we think the student has been treated unfairly, we may get involved and costs may be charged to the host family or tutor if they are shown to have been acting with negligence, fraudulence or inappropriately.

Student
If a student cancels and the student has paid a deposit, it is normal to take 25% of the fee (or the deposit paid) and if the cancellation is made within 7 days or less of the start of the course, then the full 100% of the course is owed.

COURSE CONTENT & COMPOSITION

Where you have agreed to provide tuition for the student, the tutor is expected to provide the following: -

A tailored individual course of high quality.
Lessons conducted in a structured, professional manner & on a one-to-one basis.
Lessons to take place in a quiet distraction free environment, and between normal 9am - 5pm working hours.
Tuition hours should NOT include time spent on informal conversations - i.e. whilst visiting a supermarket, or watching the television
Discuss with the student which area of your language they wish to improve in and what level of ability they feel they have. They may also have ideas about what they want to do, and can start to prepare for your lessons.
Measure your students progress by carrying out Ability Assessments at the beginning & end of your course - it will allow you to plan your lessons effectively and demonstrate progress.
Plan your lessons carefully, taking into account the students wishes on where they want / need to improve, and their ability.
Carefully choose your teaching materials, subjects and texts for duscussion, and prepare any exercises you have in mind.
Materials such as pens, pencils, paper & folders for the student to use.
Finally, make your course fun & memorable

Remember your student will be looking to improve in one (or several) of the following topics: -

Conversational fluency.
Better comprehension.
Improved pronunciation.
Wider vocabulary.
Topics for a specific exam.
For communication in business.
For an English partner.
Improved job prospects.
Because their parents have sent them.
Because they are struggling with English at school.

Useful teaching material comes in many forms, consider using some of the following to build up your own collection: -

A good comprehensive Grammar handbook is essential.
Grammar exercises.
Examples of Prepositions.
Examples of Tenses.
Examples of Structure.
There are many useful websites where you can obtain and print off complete lessons.
Text books.
Newspapers.
Tapes.
Specialist text books for specialist subjects (Law, IT, Science, Business etc).

A typical day of teaching could include: -

Written work - Exercises, short essays, keeping a list of new words in their context. This should all go into the daily diary, also include what they have learned during their visit, including highlights and weaknesses. This will also show the student how much they have improved when you both look back over the diary before departure.
Multiple-choice questions to develop systematic grammar skills on a daily basis.
Dictation - reading aloud from newspapers or magazines, correcting pronunciation mistakes and extending vocabulary. This is an excellent way of improving vocabulary, pronunciation and confidence all in one. Choose material the student is familiar with or interested in. You will be amazed how your student improves over his or her stay from two sessions of ten minutes of reading out aloud each day.
Use of grammar and tenses - taken from written material or derived from informal conversation with the student. From your day-to-day conversation, you should be able to quickly spot what your student’s weak areas are; you should gently correct them, even if lesson time is officially over! This will enforce what you have studied during the day.
Conversation guided by the topic of the day/grammar lesson.
Completion of a diary.

Here are some useful websites: -

www.onestopenglish.com
www.handoutsonline.com
www.hltmag.co.uk
www.usingenglish.com
www.child-reading-tips.com
www.talklanguages.net
www.lessonplanspage.com

We recommend that your student keeps a diary, this is a great reminder to how much fun they have had during your lessons and is also a good guide for their parents. The diary can include postcards of visits, local maps, and bus pass/ tickets.

When speaking to your student, ensure that you speak slowly and clearly at the beginning of the stay, and be sure that your student has fully understood you; they may be too embarrassed to admit that they do not understand you.

HEALTH & WELFARE

Health
Occasionally, students fall ill and so it is important that immediately on arrival (but preferably before arrival), you take contact details of who should be informed should you student fall ill or become injured or go missing. European students should carry an E111 with them; make sure you have it ideally before visiting a doctor or the hospital. We strongly recommend that all students take out an insurance before departure from their own country. It would be wise also, for you to insist upon this to your student and ask for them to provide you with a copy before arrival. Otherwise, as a worse case scenario, you may be left for some time, a sick or ill student with no immediate means of support. Always plan for the worse case scenario, it very rarely happens but you will be totally sure that you are covered should anything happen.

Safety
Should your student go out on their own (obviously they need to be of a suitable age) make sure they know where you live (a map downloaded from the computer is an excellent start) and if they are to catch the bus, go with them first at least once so that they know where to get on and off. Point out landmarks so that if they do lose their bearings, they can look out for a familiar house or shop etc. Remember, they probably don’t speak English very well and even if they had the courage to ask someone, they might not be understood.

Arrange a time for them to arrive home and write it down so that you both understand you are talking about the same time. Point out that you will come looking for them if they don’t arrive home at the appointed time.

Make sure you have exchanged mobile numbers and your student also has your landline number. Check yourself that there is credit on their ‘phone and that it is charged and that they have brought a charger with them.

Many students will nod and say yes. It doesn’t always mean ‘yes’, it could mean they don’t understand and don’t want to upset you by not letting you know they don’t understand a word you are saying. It could be because they always say yes so as to not lost face because of their inability to speak or understand English. It may be that they think they understand what you are saying but think it means something totally different. The bottom line is, if your student gets lost and you have not taken adequate precautions or made 100% sure your student understood you, you now have to decide what to do, how long to wait before going out to look for them, raising the alarm, calling their parents etc.

It is a good idea to write useful numbers in biro on the students hand and your address. It may sound extreme, but it is effective. You would be amazed how many students get lost, lose their map, mobile etc, just from a simple bus trip into the local town. Again, think of the worse case scenario and cover all eventualities.

INSURANCE

You must ensure you are covered for Public Liability Insurance in case of a student having an accident (falling through a step on a wooden stair which you did not know was rotten etc) and making a claim against you. Likewise, car accidents, please tell your car insurance company what you intend to do and as an added safety precaution, we suggest you put this in writing to your insurance company, keeping a copy yourselves and sending by registered mail.

Do keep your home clean & tidy during the students stay, note that most students have mobile phones with cameras and will use them to send home evidence of dirty bathrooms etc . A tidy home reduces the possibilities of accidents, improves productivity and makes the whole experience more pleasurable.

Always use a mattress protector with younger children. For young students, this may well be the very first time they have visited another country or even been away from their parents. Bed wetting is occasionally a problem for a child, even if they have no history before of bed wetting and so it is wise to take the precaution of a mattress protector.

PAYMENT & FEES

What to charge
It is up to the individual host or tutor to set a scale of fees. When deciding what to charge it is sensible to take into consideration several factors including: -

Your experience; if tutoring.
How much demand there will be for your services.
The subjects you specialise in.
What area you live in, is it; interesting; naturally beautiful; an interesting city; by the coast.
You have a particular interest i.e. horses and horse riding.
You have children who will make a particular effort to welcome a shy or nervous student of a similar age.
You are retired and will spend every waking moment taking your student to places of interest, far beyond the 20 hours of tuition you are requesting payment for.
The type of accommodation.
What the students plan to do with their study; i.e. if you teach teenage students basic language skills you will not be able to command the rates of a tutor of medical English.
Consider the type of students you wish to attract; mature couples, young children who are visiting overseas for the first time, teenage students who like to go out at night, people who you will build and instant rapport with (those who are interested in your taste in music, dance, computers, politics etc) and then build your profile around this.
Start with a slightly lower fee to attract viewers and some bookings. Once you have some positive feedback on your profile, you will be able to increase your tariff slightly and so on.

Deposit
Speak to your student on the telephone several times before expecting a deposit. We suggest taking a deposit upon the student booking. This may be from 10% up to the full amount depending on how close to the date of the stay the booking is made. Don’t be frightened to ask for a deposit, it shows good business sense and that you are serious. However, you will have to show good ratings on your profile before you start to ask for a large percentage of deposit. Good ratings show that you are established and are not going to take a deposit and then disappear.

The remainder of the balance can be paid one month before or later, some hosts take the balance on the arrival of the student. Remember, if the student does not arrive, it will be very difficult for you to retrieve your money and too late to book another student to take his or her place. You may have expenses too, such as the food you have bought in, stationary, organising a child minder on some days if you have young children at home. One way to be sure of a successful arrival is to remain in frequent contact throughout the booking and ensure that you both have the correct dates and collection time and place etc.

Tax & National Insurance Tutors are self employed and responsible for their own National Insurance and tax. National insurance is subject to each countries own rules, UK's regulations.

All monies earned are liable to being taxed and must be declared to the tax man. Different countries throughout the EU will have different legislation regarding taxation and how much you can earn before paying tax. UK legislation.

Other useful websites are: -
www.hmrc.gov.uk/home.htm
www.taxaid.org.uk/self_employ.cfm
www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/2000_01/tax_return/SA100.pdf
www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/ir56.pdf
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/salaries/tax.shtml

Receiving your payments
For information on transferring money internationally, speak to your own bank and compare their prices with companies such as Western Union who operate such transactions. One of the cheapest methods of payment can be via PayPal but you need to have an account set up in advance.

Remember, we don’t recommend or endorse any of these but these are companies that we have used successfully in the past.

If you are concerned about your student’s viability, you can contact us via emailing info@fromallaroundtheworld.com and for a fee (email for today’s cost) it is possible to find a little more information on the risk and viability of your student.

We continually update this list, so please refer back to it again.

REPORTS & RATINGS

Reports
Please fill in two daily time sheets, which identify what you have been working on with the student and the time of the lessons. It is extremely important that the form is signed at the end of each lesson by your student together with a comment by each of you. If you each keep a copy, at the end of the stay the you will each have a full report outlining the progress of the student during their visit. The student can show this to their parents and you can use it as evidence of your work.

In the very rare case of a dispute between student and teacher regarding hours taught, this will show an accurate & agreed record of hours, signed by both student and teacher.

Ratings
As Xilfee develops, the ratings (or feedback) section of the site will become increasingly important. Firstly it allows you to see what you are working to achieve and secondly, the more positive feedback you gain, the greater your chances of greatly increasing the amount of students applying to your profile (and allowing you to increase your fee).

Keep reviewing your feedback and striving to improve and you will reap the reward.

SCREENING STUDENTS

Don’t be too worried about choosing your students. Trust your own instincts. You will be able to weed out the unsuitable students and narrow the ones you like, down to the ‘ideal’ student. Don’t be afraid to turn a student away if you don’t feel that they are right for you or your household, this is one of the main benefits of Xilfee; you get to do the choosing, not a third party who is desperate to place as many students as possible because they have a deadline to meet.

Feel free to make contact through the Xilfee contact service with lots of students before you upgrade to premium membership. Many of them will say NO to you (don’t be downhearted, its not personal) but some will say yes and you will start to see a pattern of the type of students who are interested in you.

Once you start gaining some interest in your profile, you will need to take Premium Membership to be able to access the students directly and take bookings. Don’t wait too long, it could mean someone else who has joined, gets your booking instead.

Speak to your students before deciding whether they are suitable for you. Most families will now have access to the internet, for those users who have webcam try Eyeball Chat - it's FREE, and you can see as well as speak to your student. Otherwise you could use something like Skype, although this does carry a membership payment. There are many other providers too who will give you FREE access to conversations over the internet, its just a matter of finding what works best for you.
It is really important to LOG IN on a regular basis as this brings you to the top of the search results. Most people, students included, will only search the first few pages, then make a few applications log off and then LOG IN again later in the day. So you see it is really important to LOG IN frequently and keep yourself near the top of the search results to gain maximum exposure.

STAYING SAFE

Be sensible, if you are a single female, choose female students. If you are a mature single female you may find taking younger males to host and teach works well for you but the main thing is, stay safe. If you feel uncomfortable about taking a particular student, don’t take them, if they have booked, send them back their deposit as soon as possible so that you don’t risk your rating and explain to them. If it’s too late for that, find someone who will come and stay with you for the duration.

Don’t accept male and female students together unless they are a couple, siblings or you are absolutely confident it will work.

Whatever you do, don’t risk taking a teenage girl and boy together unless their parents request this. Remember, you are responsible for them for the duration of the stay. You would be amazed how quiet they can be and how well you sleep at night after a busy day. You are not paid to be a child minder either.

STUDENTS

Who is your student?
Xilfee is for students from 10 years old through to adult. Students have varying degrees of fluency and will have studied English for differing periods, but many have a basic knowledge of English. For the younger ones, parents know that putting their children into an English speaking household will mean they have no opportunity to speak their own language, and will not be part of a large group of foreign students. In an English homestay, children and adults alike enjoy the security of an often family environment. Many children like to stay in host-families where there are children of a similar age.

Most of the 17 to 25 year old students have already attended group language courses and now, facing examiners and job hunting, prefer the individual attention and effectiveness of a One to One course.

For students aged over 25 years and adults, language acquisition becomes an important career step (we have a complete cross section of occupations and professions) With little time to spare, these students often do not want to return to a school situation where they are in a classroom of students of mixed ability who are often younger. They appreciate the more personal and intensive exposure of the One to One course.

Students travel all year around. The minimum course is 13 nights; you may have students staying for longer if you wish. They will require between 10 and 50 hours of tuition per week, this is always agreed between parties beforehand. Most of the students will stay 13 nights but there is no limit to the duration.

Peak seasons are April, during the summer holidays, the October holidays and Christmas. It is up to you how many weeks during the year you are available for work but be aware that the bulk of students travel during our holiday periods.

As a company, we made a decision to take all ages from ten years and up. This is particularly to encourage bookings from mature students including business people, up to retirees arriving as a couple, as these people are able to come out of season. Please be aware of this as you fill in your profile older students may be looking to maybe hire a car and visit places of interest.

No distinction is made on the grounds of colour, race or religion. You must, at all time respect your students’ different cultural background and behave sensitively to his/her particular needs.

A responsible adult must be with your student at all times, and he / she must not be left alone at any time if aged under 18, unless permission from the parent is granted.

Unlike many other organisations, Xilfee offers potential students a choice of teachers and they will choose you from the online database available on the World Wide Web. It is very important when filling out your questionnaire that you take time to include as much information in as simple English as possible in order to sell your tuition package.

Information about your hobbies and interests and past work experience is very important. If for instance, you are now a teacher but have previous experience in accounting or engineering, this may be of much greater interest than the depth of your teaching qualifications as you will be able to use the technical English a student requires to pass exams or climb the corporate ladder in their chosen field.

Good photographs, including a group family portrait, the bedroom for use by the student and other photographs you feel particularly describe your family, are of particular interest.

Taking a work placement whilst studying
Generally, if the student is from an EU country, they are allowed to work in the UK at the same time. Some students may wish to do this to pay their tutoring fees; others will see it as a way of becoming completely immersed in the British way of life and an opportunity to improve their career prospects once back home. Generally, students who work will stay for a period of several months instead of weeks. Click for more advice on whether a student is allowed to work in this country.

Going out
The advise and wishes of the students parents should be sought during the organisation of any student visit. If in doubt about the activities of a student you can also contact their parents / guardians during the visit. The final say lies with the host.

Generally the following is accepted during a home stay visit: -

DAYTIME: If your student goes out during the day once teaching time is over, it is expected that he/she will be back for mealtime.

EVENING: By accepting a One to One student in your home, you accept to be the custodian of this student during his/ her stay. There is a certain etiquette concerning one to one stays; i.e. your student accepts the general rules of the house (make these very clear by email before your student arrives) and should abide by them.

STUDENTS UNDER 16: Going out in the evening is strictly forbidden. Please be very strict on this issue and call the students parents if this is disobeyed.
STUDENTS AGED 16 - 18: Can go out with an adult.
STUDENTS 18 - 21: You will have to decide whether or not the student can go out during the evening, providing they are back no later than 11pm.

Smoking
Your student may be a smoker, or have his / her parents’ permission to smoke, but he / she must comply with the rules of your home. If smoking is not allowed, do not hesitate to ask your guest to refrain from smoking.

Vehicles & driving
We advise that you do not allow students to operate any of your motor vehicles (including cars, motorcycles, scooters or water vehicles) even if the student is in possession of a driving license. If the students has a valid driving license then they can hire their own motor vehicle.

Contacting your student prior to their visit
Most families will now have access to the internet, for those users who have webcam try Eyeball Chat - it's FREE, and you can see as well as speak to your student. Otherwise you could use something like Skype, although this does carry a membership payment. There are many other providers too who will give you FREE access to conversations over the internet, its just a matter of finding what works best for you.

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

Planes, Trains, Boats, Coaches or Motor Cars
Are all ways of your student getting to your home. It is up to you and the Student to arrange the details but if you choose to book any of the tickets, ensure that you take the payment for this first, so you are not left with a ticket you can't use & no student.

The amount of hours the student has booked.
How far away the student arrives from your accommodation.
How long the student is staying for.
How commercial you wish your enterprise to be.

Some useful websites with regard to booking transport are: -

www.wizzair.com
www.easyjet.com
www.bmibaby.com

Things to remember: -

Be clear on the best method of getting to your home
You should both know all the details of trains / planes / coaches & ferries taken (Numbers, Departure & Arrival times etc).
You should both have contact numbers for each other in case of emergencies / changes of plan on the journey.

On Arrival

TUTORS & HOSTS

Who teaches
If there is more than one person in the house who can tutor a student, you should abide by the choice of the student in who does the tuition. There is no problem with several people being involved in the lesson plans.
Qualifications
The qualifications tutors can have vary from country to country. Whilst there is no expected qualification for our tutors, we would expect that they have at least obtained a TEFL certificate. These basic 20-30 hour weekend courses will provide a lot of help for aspiring tutors.

Host Family
All members of the host family living in the home when the student stays should be indicated on your application form. You should all work together to provide a friendly and welcoming home to your guest. Where the students request an individual bedroom, their privacy should be respected with regard to this room.
Criminal Record Bureau Checks
These are not essential, however may provide an added degree of credibility to you and peace of mind for a students parents / guardians. If you do have one of these, it should apply to whomever will be providing the tuition to the student.

Social Life
Students must be integrated as much as possible in the social life of the family. You must make your student feel welcome at all times. Give them the opportunity to mix with all members of the family. Share all family meals. Include your student in family activities, i.e. swimming, tennis, outings, shopping, walking etc. Introduce your student to your local area and all amenities. If there are other students from the same country staying in your area, we prefer them not to socialise as this is not in their best interest and deviates away from the purpose of the one to one visits. However, if you know of other suitable English students who are interested in meeting and are of a similar age and share similar interests, this is an excellent idea provided they are minded by an adult at all times.

Offering additional services
We do not recommend you offer any additional services or facilities other than those agreed with the student prior to their visit. DO NOT lend any money, or use of any motor vehicles. If you are happy for your student to use the telephone or internet it is wise that they are supervised, and you should make clear the guidelines you place on its use.

Going away while you have a student in your care
You cannot host a student if you are away on holiday for any period of a stay unless the student is over 21 and you have agreed this in writing before the student has paid a deposit. Never entrust your student to another family unless over 21, not even temporarily, unless you have in writing express permission from one of the parents of the student or if it is an extreme emergency. Remember, you have agreed to be guardian and host to this person and are contracted to follow this obligation through to completion.

Tolerance and the right to withdraw your offer
You have the right to withdraw your offer of invitation should your guest become intolerable. You must make these rules clear in your initial offer of acceptance letter. Give a verbal warning and a date for leaving should the intolerable behaviour not cease, followed by a written warning and eviction. We suggest asking a calm neighbour or friend to be with you, someone the student has not met before. No refund of monies is due from you. Please don’t be alarmed, cases such as this are extremely rare indeed and these instances are probably caused by poor behaviour of the host family.

TRAVEL VISAS

It is easy to take students within the European Economic area as EU residents may travel freely within the EU without any restrictions. Students from outside this area will require visas for entry into the UK. Be aware of the problems this may cause, and be very careful when selecting nationals from any "3rd World" country. They may not be all they appear, and you could find that they either don't arrive or "disappear" during the stay.

For further help visitUK Visawebsite, or the British Foreign Officewebsite.

There are 27 countries within the EU, these include: -

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PROFILE

It’s just as important to us as it is for you to get the best response from your profile. It’s completely free to enter your profile on our database but you will not get great results unless you put some effort into your profile.

Students are visiting for a variety of reasons but one common area is that they are all looking for English language home stay tuition. If they wanted to mix with a large group of foreign language students each day and then go out socialising in the evening, they would not choose Xilfee for English home stay.

Armed with this information, make your profile as interesting, welcoming, exciting and colourful as possible. Good photographs are very important, ideally show you, the tutor (and your children and spouse if applicable), all in at least one photograph. Show the bedroom the student will sleep in if you are able to, also the best rooms of your house, a holiday picture if you have a nice one, the garden, children with the dog etc. The more pictures you show with you on, the more likely you are to have requests from students who are suitable for you. The site allows you a maximum of six photographs, which you can change at any time via the My Account Panel.

We have put the video clip facility on the site so that you can take clips of your daily life. Students are not expecting to see a professional film but rather a clip of you, your children, your pets, rooms in your house, funny moments, family moments etc. Don’t forget that your student may not speak good English and so may not be bothered at first to read all the information available, but he or she will be looking for a family who they immediately feel comfortable with and can relate to and pictures and video are very powerful. Time spent on your profile and then continually logging in and adjusting the wording, photographs etc, will be well worth the effort.

It is extremely important for you to indicate what the benefits are of a student visiting YOU. There are many competing profiles, what makes YOU stand out? What makes YOU different? What will YOU do to make your students visit ABOVE average?

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