Home Tuition Holidays: Would you let a stranger come to stay?

This summer I opened my home to two people I had never met before for a homestay language-tuition experience. Under this arrangement, I provided thirty hours of tuition over two weeks, plus a room, meals and some simple excursions. For my trouble I was paid £700 a week ($930 USD), plus add-ons. My question is: would do the same and, if not, why not?

For most of my colleagues, the idea of having a stranger to stay strikes horror, and it’s true – if you balk at the thought of hosting a dinner party and don’t generally have people over, then this is not for you. But if you do have people to stay and you have a space you can call a guest room, homestays are can be lucrative income stream.

Why homestays?

So why did I put myself through the inconvenience of hosting a stranger? Well, for me the pros outweighed the cons. Let me explain.

As I (mostly) work for myself as an independent ESL teacher, I must cope with a variable income as student activations wax and wane through the academic year. Homestays guarantee a chunk of earnings for those weeks, allowing me forecast my pay months in advance and even plan some time off.

In addition, as homestay tuition part only takes place in the morning, I am free to do my other work in the afternoon, meaning that during those weeks I earn almost double the amount I normally do as an online tutor. Finally, homestays provide another opportunity to meet students who could potentially take up online classes with me later.

These factors I had already considered when I made the decision to host, however, I discovered the final benefit only after the first student arrived and that is, it’s fun.

The hosting experience and what I learned from it

I hosted two students this summer in my Edinburgh home; 17-year-old from France and a 19-year-old from Italy.

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