When you’re travelling abroad to another country to learn English, one of the most important things is your accommodation. English course with host family accommodation is the most common combination of booking that we have at EC Cambridge. We have all heard horror stories and rumours regarding English host families so here we try to look at some of the expectations and realities of host family accommodation.
First of all, what makes a host family? Some of our families our typical families, a mother, father and children. Some families have pets as in English culture, pets are a big part of the family. Everything from Cats and Dogs to Tropical Fish, Rabbits and Guinea Pigs. If you have allergies to any animals or fur, its important to let us know about this at the time of booking. Some of our families may consist of one parent and children or even parents, grandparents and children. After all family is family!
In England, houses and bedrooms are generally quite small especially compared to some of our European neighbours. However when we inspect our host families, we ensure that students have everything they need.
At EC Cambridge we aim to help students succeed in a Global community and when it comes to host families this is no different. Some of our host families may be second or third generation immigrants. This means that although they may look foreign, they have lived in the UK all their lives and have a British Passport. English is their first language.
One of the most common requests we receive for host family, is that the family lives close to the school. Of course we try and help students with this but it is not always possible. EC Cambridge is the most centrally located English Language School in Cambridge. You can find anything you might need within a five minute walk. The school is surrounded by Cambridge University, shops, businesses and student accommodation. Host families don’t live in the city centre as there are no houses to buy. Therefore the average journey time to school is 25-35 minutes. This may seem like a long time but compared to some other UK cities, this is actually not a long journey at all.
We endeavour to check our host families regularly and we also rely on student feedback to help us make sure our host families continue to provide a great service. If indeed you do choose EC Cambridge as your destination for English studies then we hope you are happy with your host family. If there are any problems, then come and speak to Matthew our Accommodation Officer so he can look to resolve any issues as soon as possible.