UK 2019 Host-family Handbook

Language Travel

Host Family Handbook www.ef.com

Dear Host,

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This handbook provides information about the EF Homestay programme.

A member of the EF team is available to answer any questions you may have to enjoy this enlightening experience.

Your EF Accommodation Team

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Contents An introduction to EF 04 What is EF? 04 What is an EF Language Travel course?

Life with a student 06 Cultural differences 06 Common situations 06 What does my student expect from me?

08 Meals 10 Safety 12 What happens next?

13 Student arrival 14 Payments 15 Frequently asked questions 19 Ice breakers 21 Host family evening 22 Host family checklist

www.ef.com/hostfamily

An introduction to EF 4 What is EF? EF stands for Education First. The company was founded in Sweden in 1965 to bridge cultural gaps and break down barriers of language and geography by promoting educational travel, intercultural exchange and language learning.

We began by taking Swedish high school students to the South Coast of England to learn English.

More than 50 years later, EF is a multinational company consisting of 16 companies and nonprofit organisations. EF has offices in over 50 countries and has provided education services to over 3.5 million people.

What is an EF Language Travel course?

An EF Language Travel course consists of a group of students aged between 10 to 18 years old.

It is common for two or three friends to travel together, although the majority of students will meet for the first time at the departure point at the beginning of their journey. There are two course types, General or International.

Students on a General course study and live with students of the same nationality. Most of our students are on International courses, which means they study and live with students of mixed nationalities.

The office in the student’s home country will assign one or two ‘course leaders’ to travel with the group.

Course leaders are responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly from the moment they meet the students at the departure point, to the point they hand them back to their parents at the end of the trip.

EF staff in local offices make all the arrangements in the local town/city. This includes the provision of a ‘local leader’ who has local knowledge of the destination. They will work alongside the course leaders to ensure the smooth running of all aspects of the course.

An EF Language Travel course includes -- Travel to and from the course town in the UK and Ireland -- Accommodation with host families -- Tuition - Monday-Friday -- Excursions -- Study materials -- A full programme of leisure activities, sports and discos

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www.ef.com/hostfamily

Life with a student 6

Our students travel with us to improve their English and to learn about our culture and way of life. The most important part of this experience is their involvement in your home life.

Talk to them; ask them about their families, their country and their way of life. Compare different aspects of life in the UK and Ireland with that of their own country. Please ensure English is spoken at all times when the students are present in the home.

Cultural Differences Hosting students can be a very rewarding experience. Exploring the cultural differences between you both makes for an interesting cultural exchange. Students take great interest in hearing about our traditions and learning about the history of the UK and Ireland. EF works with students from over 30 countries, so we have a variety of nationalities you could host, which means you can get to learn about many different traditions and cultures.

Common Situations Expressing gratitude: We expect our guests to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Other nationalities might express their gratitude differently. Please don’t be offended if students do not verbalize their gratitude every time they should. You may even want to teach them the polite/formal way to do so.

Shy students: Please note that some students can sometimes be quite shy initially or extremely polite and consider it rude to comment if they don’t like their food. So please ask a couple of times if they are enjoying their meals rather than expect them to tell you.

Showers: With some nationalities it is the norm to have a shower just before they go to bed (which can be late at night) or take a shower for an extended length of time. It is recommended that you point out a time for the student to shower that is convenient for you and your family.

Pets: Some students are surprised to find that household pets are allowed in all areas of the house. Many nationalities would only keep pets outside or would not allow them into the kitchen or bedrooms. If your student is uncomfortable with pets, please reassure them that they can close the door of their bedroom so that your pet does not go in, but that the pet is part of your family and therefore, allowed in the other areas.

Cleanliness: Concepts of cleanliness and standards of home decor can vary hugely between different cultures. After visiting your home, the Accommodation Manager will either confirm that we are happy with the cleanliness of your home or ask you to improve on certain areas. Once at a satisfactory level, we would expect that this standard is maintained whilst you are hosting EF students.

Insects: Some students are not used to coming into contact with insects (e.g. spiders) within a home and may find them scary.

What does my student expect from me?

The host family should supply: -- Towels and bed linen, which must be changed weekly.

-- Escort the student to school/meeting point on the first day or arrange suitable transportation. As the students have never traveled to the school before, this is extremely important.

7 -- A reasonable amount of laundry with your family’s weekly wash. Please note host families should never charge students for laundry. If you feel the student is asking for too much laundry to be done please contact the accommodation office.

-- One bed per student (bunk beds are acceptable).

-- Double beds should be used as a single bed.

A student should never be expected to share a bed with another student or be roomed with the opposite sex.

-- The room must be shared with students’ within an age gap of 3 years and of a different mother tongue unless the student has requested otherwise, or your student is on a junior course.

-- Ideally you should provide your student with a key. However, if you feel uncomfortable about this then please ensure that somebody is home so that the student has access to your house at dinner time, at curfew times and during the weekend.

-- You should not be hosting students from any other providers at the time you are hosting students with EF. A student’s room should: -- be clean and comfortable, with space to unpack clothes and store their personal possessions.

-- be adequately ventilated, warm and have sufficient lighting for reading purposes.

-- have a window that can be opened and shut and a door that can be closed.

-- have adequate living space according to the number of occupants.

-- be within the family home.

Host family evening: Usually the students will have a busy activity schedule and will be out, both during the day and evenings. At least once a week the students will have a host family evening in their

schedule, which means that they will stay at home for the night after dinner. This will give them the chance to spend more time with you.

Find host family evening ideas on page 21.

House rules: We suggest that on the first day you should run through a list of your house rules. You may also want to have a written version of your rules in case of any language difficulties – some students’ reading level is higher than their listening ability. This will give the student a better idea of how to behave in your home.

A telephone for incoming calls only should be accessible to the student so that their parents can contact them, please explain clearly if there are any rules regarding use of the telephone and/or the Internet.

Students may need to catch up with their studies or complete their homework, so they need access to a table and chair either in their bedroom or else be allowed to use the dining room or kitchen table.

Please never lend the student money. The student should be responsible for having enough money on them at all times. If the student has a problem with money they need to talk to their course leader, whose number can be found on the arrival and departure card.

We are confident that you will find the whole experience of hosting EF students extremely rewarding. If you have any queries regarding any cultural differences, please do not hesitate to contact us.

www.ef.com/hostfamily

Meals 8 What students like and dislike Try to keep the menu as varied as possible. In general, we are finding that students are asking for healthier meals more often with every year that passes. Please bear this in mind when you are thinking about what to prepare. You can use the ‘You and Your Students’ form to find out what food your students like and dislike.

Students generally don’t like ready meals, tinned food, flavoured crisps or white sliced bread. They tend to prefer home cooked meals, pastas, salads, vegetables, brown bread or baguette, ready salted crisps and fresh fruit.

Having a conversation about food culture, likes and dislikes, is a nice way of getting to know your student better and to find out more about their culture. Or, why not have a host family night where you let the students cook you something from their country?

Exceptions of when you don’t have to prepare food for your students Occasionally, students will go out for dinner as a group activity in the evening. Please remind your student to find out when this will happen and ask them to let you know in advance so you do not prepare any dinner for them that day.

Sometimes the student will have an activity where they will be later than usual for their dinner or may need to eat slightly earlier in order to make an activity. This does not happen often, but please communicate with your student when they will be home so you can plan accordingly.

On page 18 you will find a sample activity chart which gives you an idea of what the students’ week looks like.

On occasion students may also need a double packed lunch if their evening activity starts earlier.

Close communication with your student is essential. You can find your students’ actual activity chart on My EF. Simply login to hostfamily.ef.com

Special diet Some students have special dietary requirements, you will receive details about this on the students’ contract. In each instance please re-confirm with the individual student what they can/cannot eat. It is a good idea to go through the ‘You and Your Student’ form to find this out. A supplement is added to the nightly rate for the diets below. If a student has a special diet that you did not know about please contact the accommodation office as soon as possible.

Gluten Free – A diet for coeliacs and those intolerant to wheat and gluten. Coeliacs are sensitive to a protein called gluten, which is found in wheat and to similar proteins that are found in rye, barley and oats. So they should avoid bread, pasta, rolls, buns, cakes, biscuits, gravy, sausages, sauces and puddings. The following is free of gluten and is ok to be eaten – potato flour or rice flour, all fresh and frozen meat, milk, cheese, yoghurt, fresh and canned vegetables and fruit juices.

Milk Free – The student may be able to eat small quantities of lactose products or may have to avoid lactose products all together so find out from the student how sensitive they are. Some alternatives to lactose products are goats milk, soya milk, goats cheese and soya spread.

Nut Allergy – This can range from a mild intolerance to a very severe allergy, so it is a good idea to find out from the student how sensitive they are to nut products. Please check all food contents as many products contain nuts or traces of nuts.

Halal – Avoid non-halal meats. Seafood is halal.

Vegan – Avoid anything derived from an animal including all fish, meat, eggs, milk etc.

Vegetarian – Avoid meat and meat derivatives (in some cases avoid fish too).

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Light Breakfast

Cereal or muesli, toast + juice, tea, coffee or hot chocolate

Hot Evening Meal

Packed Lunch

Lunch should include a drink + two filled wraps/ sandwiches or a hot/cold meal + healthy snacks

Cooked dinner + dessert

Check out our Crave Kitchten for a variety of recipies. Go to My EF hostfamily.ef.com

EF tips -- Check with your students what they like so you won’t end up stocking your shelves with food unnecessarily!

-- How about last night’s dinner for lunch? Ask your student, some would love the idea!

-- Buy food in bulk for the week to come; it is cheaper!

-- The students should eat with you and your family at the table. Not only is this an important time for them to practice their English, but it also makes them feel at home.

-- Need ideas for dinner? Go to your My EF page and check out our dinner tips under Crave. hostfamily.ef.com

www.ef.com/hostfamily

Safety 10 Gas safety regulations Host families providing accommodation are classified as landlords/ladies under the Gas Safety Regulations (Installation and Use) 1994 along with current amendments. These regulations were introduced to ensure that gas appliances in rented premises were modern and safe for tenants use. The regulations define a landlord as someone who ‘leases relevant premises for less than 7 years and relevant premises or any part of premises occupied for residential purposes’. Therefore by renting a room in your home can be described as a lease.

In order to work with the regulations, you need to ensure that all boilers and central heating systems are installed and serviced under contract with ‘competent persons’ only. Such work can only be done by businesses that are members of the Gas Safety Register (formally know as Confederation of Registered Gas Installers (CORGI)). You can find a Gas Safety engineer in your area on gassaferegister.co.uk or British Gas operates a certification system whereby your gas appliances are inspected annually by one of their engineers.

For more information use their website: www.britishgas.co.uk.

We would like to remind you that it is your responsibility to conform to the regulations and obtain a certificate. Failure to do so would be breaking the law and result in EF removing your students or not allocating students until all the required paperwork is in place.

Smoke detectors Homestay providers are also expected to have smoke detectors fitted throughout their homes and ensure that these are checked regularly.

Argos sells a number of smoke detectors priced from approximately £6.

See www.argos.co.uk

Carbon Monoxide detectors If you have any kind of gas appliance in your home, then we recommend the use of a Carbon Monoxide detector, also available from Argos and other household stores.

See: www.argos.co.uk Insurance Hosts providing accommodation to students from overseas are required to inform their household insurers that they have students staying with them. Failure to inform your insurers may well have repercussions. We do urge you to think about your circumstances and if you have not done so, to get in touch with an insurance broker or insurance company.

11 Risk assessment It is a legal requirement for providers of accommodation to carry out fire risk assessments. To assist you with this we have an EF Fire Risk Assessment form that you should complete and go through with your students on arrival. We will also go through the Fire Risk Assessment when we visit so please consider this at the time of the visit. EF completes risk assessments for all our buildings and student activities and we also consider any risks our students may encounter traveling to/from their host family. Please inform us if you live in an area which, for example, may have poor lighting after dark or is close to a road which can be particularly busy at certain times.

House of Multiple Occupation Is your home defined as an HMO (House of Multiple Occupation)? If your home is defined as an HMO you may be required to comply with additional regulations, for example relating to fire precautions. You can get more information about HMOs from your council. HMOs will be the responsibility of the section of the council dealing with private housing management or environmental health. Check your council’s website or call their offices to find out. Please also note the following government website: www.gov.uk/private-renting/houses-in-multipleoccupation

DBS We strongly encourage every household that hosts students to complete a DBS (main account holder). EF will walk you through the process and submit the form to the appropriate office. By completing this process, it will allow you the opportunity to host more students (when available). If you are hosting Under 18 students EF will support you through the DBS check of your household to comply with our agreement. eSafety Offline or online it is our duty to try to prevent our students from coming into contact with any kind of risks in their day to day life. Online dangers can present themselves in many ways and we need to remind our students of some basic safety rules such as, not talking with strangers online and avoiding certain websites.

Note, students may also use the internet inappropriately and we recommend that you warn them on their first day against illegal internet practices, such as downloading music or movies from non-authorized websites (ie.

Torrent sites, etc).

A good way to secure a safe online environment for your students is to contact your internet provider in order to block or regulate access to illegal or sensitive sites. You can also set a password to prevent access to certain sites.

Transporting students Do you drive your students anywhere? If you, or a family member, provide lifts or take students on trips then we require the driver and car to have appropriate insurance and a valid MOT certificate. We should be informed of any driving bans or points on the license.

www.ef.com/hostfamily

What happens next?

12 1. Planner What is it? The planner (blue card) will list the details of the provisional dates of the students we plan to send you.

Important to remember: It is very important that if you can’t host these students anymore that you tell us as soon as possible so we can find the students a new host family.

When? Sent out by your local office between February and March.

What happens next? Your students will receive your contact details two weeks prior to their arrival. As a result the student may ring or email you using the contact details we have on file.

The student may ring or email you to introduce themselves and this is a good opportunity to get to know each other. When making contact with a student prior to arrival, please make sure that anything shared online is age sensitive.

What should you do? Please confirm your acceptance by signing and returning the form to us. If you cannot host students during the proposed dates, please contact your local office to see if they can change this for you.

2. Student Contract What is it? The student contract (green card) will contain specific details of your student, including name, age, nationality, any special requests and course dates.

When? Sent out by your local office between March and June. Different nationalities book their courses at different times of the year, so you will not receive all of the student contracts at once.

What should you do? If you are happy with these student allocations, please confirm your acceptance by signing and returning the bottom half of the contract within 7 days.

Possible changes: Sometimes the student may cancel their trip or rebook to a different destination. If this happens we will endeavour to send you a contract for a replacement student as soon as possible.

3. Arrival & Departure Card What is it? The arrival and departure card (yellow card) will show the date, time and place of the arrival and departure of each student. It also has the details of the meeting point on the first full day as well as the contact details of the course leader.

When? Sent out by your local EF office 7-10 days before the student arrives.

What should you do? Please bring the arrival and departure card with you when you go to meet your students at the arrival point.

1. Contract Planner

Receive, sign and return

2. Student Contracts

Receive, sign and return

3. Arrival and Departure Card

Receive and bring to arrival point

4. Payment Receive

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Student arrival 13

All students travel together to the course town, after which they are met by the host families at an arrival event.

What happens at the arrival event?

-- Please take the yellow arrival card(s) with you.

-- At the arrival point, look out for EF staff in uniform -- EF staff will introduce you to your students.

-- Ensure your student has the correct luggage before taking them home.

If possible, meet your students personally to ensure a warm welcome. If this is not possible, or if you do not have any transport please contact your local EF office. In the case of not having transport available, a taxi can be arranged by EF. However, it is the host family’s responsibility to pay for the taxi. If the arrival time is between midnight and 6:00, EF will provide taxis to bring the student directly to your home. This will be at EF’s expense.

First impressions The first impression is an important factor in making the student feel at home. Your students will probably be very nervous – for many it will be their first time away from home. Please do your best to make them feel welcome.

‘You and Your Student’ form -- You will receive a ‘You and Your Student’ form with your arrival and departure card or will be made available to you at the arrival.

-- This is an excellent ice breaker tool and a good opportunity to discuss what food they like and dislike.

-- Please also check if they have an allergy that they may not have mentioned to the office.

-- Please use it to swap important contact details with the students in case of an emergency (i.e. phone numbers, addresses).

First day at school -- Please accompany your students on their first day at school or make suitable alternative arrangements with your local office.

-- Your student will have the opportunity to buy a travel pass for the duration of their stay.

This means they will travel independently throughout their stay.

-- Students will receive a map either at arrival or on their first day. Please have a look at this with your student and explain how they need to get back and forth to school and town centre.

-- Students will make their own way back to the house after their first day. Please bear in mind that there may be some delays in their return home. If they are still not home after some time, please call them or their course leader directly.

Cancellations Students may have to cancel or postpone their course due to visa, work or family issues. Should this happen we will endeavour to find a suitable replacement. However, should no replacement be available, unfortunately EF can not provide financial compensation. Similarly, in the unusual circumstance that a student needs to return home earlier than planned, EF regrettably cannot give financial compensation but will offer you a replacement student as soon as possible.

An important part of the student experience is the accommodation. Students really look forward to meeting you and may contact you before they arrive. A last minute cancellation can cause the student anxiety and affect their experience at the beginning of their course. We understand that emergencies occur that may not allow you to host a student, but please let us know about these as soon as possible. www.ef.com/hostfamily

My EF for host families 14 hostfamily.ef.com -- My EF is a useful online platform for EF host families. On My EF, you will be able to: -- check your student’s schedule -- see your bookings calendar -- view your student’s details -- check your payments -- find useful hosting information including recipe suggestions -- download important documents Your login details will be sent to you via email after we visit you and you are registered to host. Your My EF will stay active until the end of the calendar year, after which the account will close automatically. When you re-register, your account will be activated again.

Payments Payment procedure explained -- EF courses can be a 2 week course (13 nights), 3 week course (20 nights) or 4 week course (26 nights).

-- Payment is made into your bank account on a weekly basis.

-- The first payment will be on the Thursday of the student’s second week and weekly thereafter. Payment is based on the number of nights and runs from Sunday night to Saturday night.

Payments on My EF You are able to monitor all your bookings and check the history of all your payments on your personalised My EF account.

Please contact your local accommodation office for more information regarding the My EF website: hostfamily.ef.com

Mon

Tue -

Wed -

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

Night 1 Student arrives

Night 2

Night 3

Night 4

Night 5

Night 6

Night 7

Night 8

Night 9 Payday for night 1-4.

Total of 4 nights

Night 10

Night 11

Night 12

Night 13

Night 14

Night 15

Night 16 Payday for night 5-11.

Total of 7 nights

Night 17

Night 18

Night 19

Night 20

Student departs

-

-

-

Payday for night 12 - 18.

Total of 7 nights

-

-

-

-

Payday for night 19-20.

Total of 2 nights

-

-

-

Frequently Asked Questions 15 What do the students do during a typical day?

09:00 - 12:00

Lessons or activities

12:00 - 13:00

Lunch (the students remain at school or activity location)

13:00 - 16:00

Activities or lessons

16:30 - 19:00

Students come home to have dinner with the host family *

19:00 - 22:00

Evening activity

* Some of this will be travelling time depending on the distance of your home to the school or activity location

In addition to this, the students will have excursion days when they may return home for dinner slightly later. Each student will have a personal timetable which they will receive within the first few days of their course. There is an example activity chart on page 18. You will also be able to see your student’s activity chart on My EF. What happens on weekends?

There are usually no lessons during weekends.

Instead, your students will have activities.

These could be excursions or sports days. On excursion days your student is likely to leave later in the day, return in the evening and not go out again. If they have a sports day, it is likely they will have an evening activity too.

Your students still require a packed lunch at the weekend.

What time is the curfew for my student?

Junior Centres 22:00 Senior Centres

23:00

What do I do in an emergency?

We operate a 24 hour emergency line operated by local EF management so you can always contact someone if necessary. Please only call this number in an absolute emergency. In the first instance you should call your student’s course leader. This number can be found on the student’s arrival and departure card (yellow card).

What happens if my student is ill?

You should contact the course leader immediately if your student is unwell.

For free medical advice you can call the NHS helpline number: 111 (UK only). For real emergencies please call 999 (UK & Ireland) immediately and contact EF on the EF emergency number.

Who do I contact if I have a problem with my student?

If you have any problems with your student you should contact your student’s course leader.

You will find their phone number on your arrival and departure card (yellow card). The course leader will be able to talk to the student in their own language and should be able to solve any problems.

If for any reason you are unable to contact the course leader or they are unable to help you, then please call your local EF office and we will be happy to help. We would rather be made aware of all problems, no matter how small, so we can resolve them while your student is staying with you. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns that you may have.

If your student comes home later than their curfew time, please contact their course leader.

www.ef.com/hostfamily

16 My student seems unhappy, what can I do?

This might be the first time your student travels abroad, it is very normal that a student gets homesick. Some students can also feel anxious about exams or have personal problems.

office and then the course leader will collect the student from your home. We will endeavour to replace the student as soon as we can.

However, this is not always possible.

Try to engage your student in conversation first, but please feel free to contact us if you need advice.

What happens if a student damages something in my home?

EF acts as an agent in making arrangements for homestay accommodation and as a mediator between a student and the homestay provider.

For this reason, we regret that EF cannot be held responsible in the unlikely event of a student causing damage or additional expense while staying with you. In the event of damage, please contact the Accommodation Officer immediately. We will endeavour to recoup your losses whilst the student is with you. We also recommend that additional coverage of personal household insurance.

How many students can I host?

You can host a maximum of three per room and four students per household at one time from EF or any other organization, providing you have adequate living space per student. If you can host more than 4 students then we may be able to use your extra beds in an emergency situation.

How does having a student affect my insurance?

EF acts as an agent in making arrangements for host family accommodation and as a mediator between the student and the host family. For this reason, we regret that EF cannot be held responsible in the unlikely event of the student causing damage or additional expense while staying with a host family.

In the event of damage, EF asks host families to contact the accommodation office immediately.

We will endeavour to recoup your losses whilst the student is staying with you. If you discover damage after the student has left please contact the accommodation office within a week of the student leaving. We also recommend additional coverage on personal household insurance.

What happens if my student moves?

Sometimes we may need to move a student from your home. This may be for a number of reasons, for example the student having an allergy we didn’t know about. If this happens you will be informed by the accommodation

Please note that you will only be paid for the nights the student stays in your home.

Should I lend my student money?

We advise you against lending money to your students or borrowing money from them.

How does EF handle my personal data?

All information given to EF will be kept private and confidential and we will only pass on appropriate information to students, sales staff and agents and inspecting bodies on request.

This information is kept in accordance with theData Protection Act. How does my host family income affect my taxes?

Tax duties depend on your own situation therefore please contact your local tax/revenue office for more information.

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www.ef.com/hostfamily

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Sample Activity Chart This chart shows you, how a student’s course may look.

Please visit My EF for the actual activity chart of your students.

Mon

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1

Morning

Wed

Thu

Placement Outdoor test and first sport lesson

Tue

Lessons

Fri

Study visit

Sat

Sun

Full day excursion

Sports in the park

Full day excursion

Sports in the park

Afternoon

Travel to Town walk & Lessons destination bus passes

Visit a local Lessons attraction

Evening

Host family Leaders pick up Choice

Disco

Disco

Games night

HF evening HF evening

Morning

Lessons

Visit a local attraction

Lessons

Outdoor sport

Lessons

Full day excursion

World Cup football

Afternoon

Indoor sport

Lessons

Study visit

Lessons

Visit a local Full day attraction excursion

World Cup football

Evening

Disco

Evening activity

Disco

Disco

Evening activity

Morning

Visit a local Lessons attraction

Outdoor sport

Lessons

Visit a local Sports attraction

Afternoon

Lessons

Half day excursion

Lessons

Study visit

Evening

Disco

Evening activity

Disco

Disco

HF evening HF evening

Final Time for test and students to graduation pack Farewell Mega party dinner/ party

Depart from destination

Ice breakers 19

When students arrive they may be a little nervous and shy at first.

For many it will be the first time they have travelled without their parents and for some, their first time abroad. Imagine you were their age and travelling abroad for the first time, what welcome would you like to receive? What would make you feel relaxed?

Welcoming touches You can apply some simple touches to make students feel extra welcome and relaxed in your home. Make sure to lay a towel out on their bed ready for them. Perhaps you could print a copy of their national flag and stick it onto their door. These little touches can make a big difference!

Conversation starters It is important (and fun) to get to know the students when they arrive and for them to get to know you and your family too! Here are some suggestions of opening questions which could help start the conversation: -- Have you ever been abroad before?

-- Where are your favourite places to go on holiday?

-- Do you have brothers and sisters at home?

-- What are you most looking forward to doing here?

-- How do you think the area will be different to your home town?

Take the time to get to know your students and let them get to know you too.

Ice breaking games If you have more time with the students why not play some simple games that will help break the ice.

Question Snap!

Each player should write down four interesting questions on pieces of paper (such as the ones previously listed). They should also draw two matching symbols on two pieces of paper and two matching symbols on two other sheets of paper (e.g. two of the papers have a star on and two have a circle). Place all the papers face down and mix them up. On each player’s turn, they choose two pieces of paper and must answer the question on the other side.

If the symbols are a pair, the player keeps the papers and gets one point. If the symbols are not a pair, they turn the paper back over and the next player must choose two to pick. The game ends when all pairs have been found.

The winner is the player who collected the most pairs.

Two Truths, One Lie Each player must think of three facts about themselves. Two of the facts should be true and the third will be a lie. Players take it in turns to tell their three facts. After a player tells their facts, the other players must discuss and try to guess which one is the lie. After all players have told their truths and lies, the winner is the player who was best at tricking the other players.

www.ef.com/hostfamily

Host family evening 20

In the student’s activity schedule you will see some evenings listed as ‘host family evening’. Our students really enjoy the chance to spend more time with their host families and this is a great opportunity to have a fun evening with them. This evening can be whatever you make of it. You might like to take your students out to dinner or to a local activity such as bowling. However you can also have a great evening spending time together at home. You could share one of your favourite hobbies with them, such as arts and crafts or watching a movie. It can also be great fun to play games at home. This could be any family board games you own or card games that you might know.

Otherwise, have a look at these simple games you could play: Who Am I? To play this game you will need some postit notes and a pen. Each player writes the name of a famous person onto a post-it note.

All players than pass the note to the left and stick it onto their forehead. Play starts with the youngest player. They can ask yes or no questions to try and work out which famous person they are, such as “Am I male?”, “Am I a fictional character?”, “Am I an actor?” etc.

They can ask as many questions as they like provided that the answers are “yes”. If they get a “no” answer, their go finishes and the player to their left asks questions. Play continues until a player works out who they are. The first player who guesses their name is the winner.

Heads Up! There are many social games you can find on mobile phones. Have a look on your app store for ‘Heads Up!’ This game is similar to charades and can be a lot of fun. One player chooses a category and holds the phone to their head.

The remaining players see a word and must act it out. The player with the phone must guess the word. If they guess correctly they flip their phone down and they will get a new word.

They must guess as many words as they can in one minute. See who can guess the most in one minute and get the highest score.

21 The Hat Game This is a really fun group game. First split all players into teams of 2 or 3 people. Each player should write three things on pieces of paper: a famous person, an animal and an action. All pieces of paper are then folded up and mixed in a hat. Players have one minute to describe or perform as many of the clues as they can for their team to guess in one minute. It is split into three rounds: Round 1 - Description. Players can describe the word without saying it. E.g. if the paper says ‘David Beckham’, they might say: “Footballer, played for Manchester United”.

After all of the papers have been performed, teams add up their score and then place all of the papers back in the hat for round 2.

Round 2 - Players must describe using only one word. E.g. if it was ‘David Beckham’, they might say “Football”.

Again scores are added up and papers placed back into the hat for round 3.

Round 3 - Charades. Players must act out the word. e.g. miming a footballer to demonstrate ‘David Beckham’.

At the end of all three rounds, add up all the scores and see which team was the winner.

www.ef.com/hostfamily

Host family checklist 22 Before the students arrive Have you had your host family visit?

☐ ☐ Do you have the number for your local EF

When the students arrive Is the room ready for your student? Have you read the Ice Breakers page?

☐

Language Travel office?

☐ Do you understand the procedures for the

information?

☐ Log into My EF to see the schedule for your

for your provisional student dates?

☐ Do you have the EF emergency phone

☐ Does EF have your updated contact ☐ Did you receive your planner (blue paper): ☐ Did you receive contract(s) for your

student(s) (green paper) - remember, if you are hosting more than one student, you may not get them all at the same time.

☐ Did you return the signed contracts? ☐ Did you receive your arrival cards (yellow paper)?

☐ Have you logged into My EF? (If you are missing your log-in credentials please contact your local EF office)

first day (page 4)?

students (page 13). number?

☐ Do you have the phone number for your student’s course leader?

After the students leave Have you had your end of the season feedback call with your local EF Language Travel office?

☐

☐ Have you received and returned your reregistration form for the next season?

23

www.ef.com/hostfamily

Recommend a friend to host!

We are always searching for warm and caring families, so if you know of anyone that might be interested, call your local EF office for more information.

Host Family Payments Hotline: UK +443308220019 Ireland: +35316917616 This number is very useful if you have any queries in regards to payments during June, July and August.

You can also see the complete breakdown of all your payments on MyEF for Host Families: hostfamily.ef.com For any non-payment related issues please call your local office. www.ef.co.uk/host-family

www.ef-ireland.ie/host-family

Host Family Handbook_LT.3.2.206.UK_IE_HS.v10