Basic Info

Hosting is fun!

You get to meet lots of new people, learn about how other people live, discover things about yourself and own culture you may never have noticed before. You get to help people have a real Australian experience,  improve their English and have a good time in another country.

Host families give students a base to use as a launching pad into the Australian way of living. Its should be more like having an unknown distant relative come to stay than running a hotel. If you are thinking of hosting as a way to make money, it might not be as profitable as you hope for all the love, energy and time you will end up putting into a young person finding their way in a strange culture where their language skills may not be very good.

However, it is wonderfully rewarding and watching students learn and figure things out is great fun! If you are new to hosting, read on. If you are an old hand at this - please share your experiences and wisdom by commenting in the boxes at the bottom of the page.

This site is for host families who have students from the Education First International School of Languages in Brisbane City, Australia.

EF is an international school of languages. They teach the language of the country they are based in. You can learn Spanish in Spain, Italian in Italy and English in Brisbane!

The students go to an EF office in their country and organise where they want to go and what language they want to learn. They pay the whole tuition fee before they arrive here in Brisbane which includes an accommodation option of either a Host Family or student style accommodation (One in Mt Gravatt and one in South Bank) The upfront cost is cheaper to live with a host family, but once transport is taken into account is may break even or be more expensive, depending on how far the student has to travel each day.

The host family is emailed a host contract for each student that gives their nationality, gender, age and native language. The family returns the contract and the booking is confirmed. Brisbane EF has about 100 host families on its books and about 80% are active at any given time with one or more students.

EF has rolling starts for each class every Monday. As a general rule of thumb, your student will arrive on a Saturday or Sunday and will start school on the Monday at 8.15am They will be assessed to see what level they are in and finish school for the day at lunchtime. They often go on an orientation in the afternoon into the city with a guide to get their bearings and to purchase go-cards and sim cards. Their classes will be posted on the internet in their EF student page and they will have a time table with either an 8.15am or a 12.30pm start time. The students are required to have an 80% attendance rate in order to gain a certificate from EF.

There are three levels of English, Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced. there are a few levels within these levels and as the students progress they will move up to a new class and time table.

Hosting is open to most family configurations. It suits many family types and lifestyles. It is a really fun way to learn about different cultures and countries and through this, you can make friends for life!

The payment is $110 per student per week in a twin share room ($220 per room if both beds are full) and $140 for a single person not sharing a room. You are expected to provide a bed, linen, access to the bathroom, power, breakfast and dinner seven days a week and lunch also in the weekends. You can charge for extra such as Internet connection and international phone calls if you desire. There is more information on the costs page about this.

Students typically stay from two weeks to one year with most stays being around the 2-3 month mark. When you are offered a student, the contract will specify how many nights they will need accommodation for.

The payment goes into your bank account on a weekly basis and an invoice is emailed to you detailing the payments you received that week.