Thank you for your interest in hosting for English Naturally!
Lots of students due in 2023/4 - our busiest hosts earn £1000s tax-free - join us!
Put that spare room to use!
Be part of the UK's export drive!
English Naturally was founded in 1999. In our first year we had one - yes, just ONE - student! Since then we have dealt with countless thousands of students who, once they have visited, realise that England, and especially our beautiful part of it, is an amazing place. Because our students all come/pay us from abroad, what we do is part of the UK's export trade, and we are very proud of this.
The information below is a useful summary of what hosting for us involves. Please click here to register with us, or call us if you'd like to talk it through on 01962 859700 or send us a quick email to accomm@english-naturally.com
Why become a host family?
- Offering hospitality to students from other countries can be a very rewarding experience - both for you and them!
- By welcoming foreign students into your home, you and your family can make lifelong friends from other countries.
- If you have children, it should be great fun for them - and they should gain greatly from the experience, expanding their horizons.
- Money earned from hosting is tax-free (up to around £7500 - please check latest threshold on the HMRC website) under the "rent-a-room" scheme, so it is a great way of earning extra money from a spare bedroom. You do not have to declare the relevant income provided you do not exceed the threshold.
How much is paid for hosting?
- Most people host because they find it enjoyable and interesting to have students and they find the income useful. If your only priority is to maximise your return from spare rooms, it may not be for you! The rates we pay will be provided to you if you sign up, when we arrange the home visit. As a general guideline, hosting foreign students is paid at rates similar to what you would expect from a lodger, but considerably less than what you would expect for short-stay B+B/airnbnb or similar. If you can take 3 or 4 or even 5 students, the income is greater, of course! . We can sometimes supply extra beds (good quality fold-ups) to help you take more students, provided that you have the room space.
Our hosts provide short stay accommodation for different types of students, as outlined below:
Group students - i) School Groups ("mini-stays") September-June. Winchester & area | Romsey & area | Petersfield & area | Salisbury & area | Lymington & area | Christchurch/E Southbourne or ii) Summer School students, late June-early August in Winchester, Petersfield and Lymington
Students are out all day having group lessons at a central location in the mornings and then either work experience or excursions in the afternoons. They usually have full day excursions at the weekend although some groups have Sunday free to spend with the host family. We pay higher rates for summer schools students than school groups visiting in low-season, as the latter are generally on very limited budgets.
How many students do I host?
Most groups are housed in 2s and 3s but you can take more if you have the space, depending on what sort of course they are on. Students can share a room. Sometimes girls who are friends are happy to share a bed, if you have a double room. When we are busy, we can sometimes supply a good quality, comfortable fold-up bed as long as you have room to fit one in. Students do not necessarily require their own bathroom. Some groups are housed individually. You can have students from another country staying at the same time as long as they speak a different language but not from the same country. They are here to speak English!
What does the host family do?
Host families offer a friendly, caring environment for their group students during their stay. They provide breakfast - cereal, toast, yoghurt, not cooked - packed lunch and evening meal. Hosts should eat their evening meal with the students as this is the student’s opportunity to practise their English.
What do you expect from hosts?
Host families should be above all friendly and caring and willing to welcome students into their home.
Do I need to collect/drop off students and provide transport at other times?
The host family must collect their student(s) on arrival (any time at weekends but not until 1700-1800 on weekdays) from a central location advised by us and drop them on departure (usually around 0830).
At other times, the following rules apply, depending on your location:
If you live within walking distance of the town centre, students should walk. Evening events do not finish very late
If you live on a bus/train route, students will be given a travel pass and should use this whenever possible. You will be asked to help with transport (we will help you organise car-sharing with hosts who live close to you, whenever this is an option) when services are not available - eg late evening, Sundays (some services)
If you live somewhere where public transport is not an option, we will ask you to ferry students at all times.
Who can host?
We use the catch-all expression "Host Families" to encompass all sorts of private homestay accommodation with one or more residents who are able to look after students. This will include people living alone, couples of whatever type with or without children. We do not have any view on what sort of household you are, as long as you are caring and friendly towards our students.
We do not put students into any sort of self-catering accommodation.
Full immersion students (Adults in Winchester, Juniors in Winchester & area (including Petersfield)
Full immersion students come individually or sometimes in 2s. They will have lessons with a teacher (usually 1:1) in your home for 3-6 hours every day and then spend the rest of their time (including weekends) with the family. They can be adults or children. As some of these students are as young as 11 years old, they need more supervision than group students. We always try to carefully match these students to their hosts, especially junior students, whom we place with families with similar aged children with similar interests. Like group students, they need 3 meals a day and their own room. There should not be any foreign students staying in the house at the same time as a full immersion student. Acting as a full-immersion host is more demanding than having groups students and our rates reflect this.
School year/term students
We sometimes organise accommodation for students studying at secondary schools. They require a room and possibly some meals, depending on what the school provides.
Covid
We are now regarding the pandemic as over and are taking no special precautions in relation to Covid, nor are we providing any vaccination status information about students to hosts or vice-versa. If you have any concerns about this, please contact info@english-naturally.com
So would you like to register?
Please click here, and once we have received your registration form we will be in touch. You are not making any sort of commitment to host by registering, and you can let us know any time if you decide against.
We inspect all of our hosts prior to placing students with them. Once we have accepted you as a host, we will contact you from time to time – usually by email or text – with details of students we need to place. There is never any obligation to accept students, but once you have accepted a booking we ask you please to honour that commitment, unless you have a major problem that makes hosting impossible.
We now have two inspection methods:
1 - online. As long as you have sufficient tech to show us around and outside your house, this is a good, efficient option. We do not make any charge/deduction. Our Accommodation Officer will need to talk to you via video (zoom, whatsapp etc) so that you can get to know one another a little, and then we will need to see the outside of your house/flat and the room(s) you can potentially offer students along with the other rooms, including the bathroom(s) to which students would have access.
2 - in person. If you don't have the necessary tech or feel happier meeting one of our staff in person, we can organise an in-person visit. Because of the costs involved, we will make a deduction of £30 from your first booking. That means that if we do not offer you or you do not accept any students, the visit is free of charge.
Unlike airbnb or similar platforms, we do not take any commission from fees paid to you for hosting. What you see on our rates sheet is what you receive and, as mentioned above, it is tax-free (subject to limit)
We look forward to having you host for us!