We recommend that you bring some information about yourself, family and home life to help generate and stimulate conversation with your teacher. For example:
Telephone
Please do not use your host family’s telephone without asking. If you do need to use the telephone, you should offer to pay for the cost of the call. If you are calling internationally, you may find it cheaper to buy a ‘pre-paid’ calling card before you leave home. This should allow you to access a free-phone number in the UK to make international calls.
Washing
Your host family will usually do washing once or twice a week. Your host family will ask you at the end of the week if you have clothes that you need to add to the wash. Make sure that you separate any white items from coloured items!
Meal times
Your host family will let you know their meal times. If you are not sure, please ask. Most families will have breakfast between 07:00 - 08:00 so that you are ready to start lessons at 09:00 or 09:30. Lunch will be around 12:30 - 13:30. Dinner is between 18:00 and 20:00, earlier than many Europeans may be used to eating. Most families will go to bed around 23:00.
British food
British food does not have the best international reputation. However we can assure you that British home cooking is better than you expect! Please let us know at the time of your booking of you have any special food likes and dislikes. Your host family will usually ask you again on arrival if there are any foods that you do not like. If your host family do not ask you, please make it clear to them if there are foods that you really cannot eat!
Breakfast
Most people have a simple breakfast such as cereal (cornflakes etc) with milk, toast with jam or marmalade and coffee or tea and fruit juice. Some people may have eggs for breakfast (boiled, scrambled or poached). The traditional English breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding and bread is rarely eaten at home as most people are too conscious about their health to enjoy this!
Lunch
Lunch is often simple for example sandwiches, soup or salads.
Dinner
Dinner will usually be a main course and dessert, followed by coffee or tea. The British diet is quite varied and your meals will be a variety of pasta dishes, meat dishes (pork, beef or lamb), fish, along with salads and vegetables.