Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.

What to Expect

    The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week. You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.

Accommodation Zones

    Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4 of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential(居住的). Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowded area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.

Meal Plans Available

◇ Continental Breakfast

◇ Breakfast and Dinner

◇ Breakfast,  Packed Lunch and Dinner

    It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal, bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.

Friends

    If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.

Self-Catering (自助的)Accommodation in Private Homes

    Accommodation on a room only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room. This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practice English at home quite as much.

    All Alice Waters wanted was bread, jam and lettuce that tasted real, with a cup of good coffee or a glass of wine on the side. The founder of Chez Panisse, the California restaurant famous for launching the farm-to-table movement, certainly didn't plan to start a revolution.

    Returning to the United States in 1965 after studying in France, Waters missed the delicious food and community of the little cafes where she spent most of her time. “The United States was a land of frozen food, so eating even just fresh bread and jam was an extremely pleasant surprise to me,” says Waters. “And spending time in restaurants with friends… it was very important to me.”

    One day, an idea struck Waters that maybe her cooking and sense of community could help her make some money. Believing they could do anything, she and a group of friends raised money, found a house in Berkeley and opened a little restaurant called Chez Panisse in 1971.

    Most ingredients Waters could find were from industrial farms. They tasted totally different from the ones her parents planted during World War II and the ones she had enjoyed in France. Thus she began a search for suppliers who would grow good ingredients.

    “I was looking for taste. And I couldn't find taste until I met the local organic farmers who were growing vegetables for flavor,” Waters recalls. “I realized that I would be dependent on them for the success of my restaurant.”

At first, the finances were a disaster. If any of the ingredients didn't taste right, chefs threw them out. Staff had to taste the wine to sell it. That meant thousands of dollars of wine disappeared on a regular basis. People who offered ingredients were given meals in trade.

    But Chez Panisse had lines out of the front door from the very first night. Waters' sense of taste and her dedication to making the best food possible kept people coming back. It didn't take long for Chez Panisse to catch the attention of foodies (“吃货”). Throughout its existence, the restaurant has earned the highest praise of many critics. It has sometimes been called the best restaurant in America.

    Now 72, Waters is not content with staying at home and cooking in her kitchen. Last September, she flew to Washington D. C., to meet members of Congress to discuss the benefits of free lunch for all schoolchildren.

    Many people have called Waters unrealistic over the course of her 45-year fight for good food. Nevertheless, her single-mindedness ended up sparking a farm-to-table movement. “She didn't start Chez Panisse to change the world,” said Marion Nestle, a New York University nutrition professor. “But what she did was absolutely revolutionary. She's a force and deserves every bit of recognition that comes her way.”

    We all know that exercise is good for your health. But some kinds of exercise may be better than others.

    Running, for example, may help to protect against heart disease and other health problems. Running may also help you live longer. Researchers say it is not important how far you run. It also does not matter how fast or even how often you run. As advertisements for the running shoes Nike say, “Just Do It.”

    Recently researchers studied more than 55,000 adults. About one-fourth of the adults reported running regularly. The study found these runners were considerably less likely than non-runners to die of any form of disease, including heart disease. In fact, the runners lived, on average, three years longer than the non-runners.

    This study lasted 15 years. During that time, more than 3,400 of the individuals died. About 1.200 of the deaths were linked to heart disease, hear, attack or stroke.

    One of the researchers is a man named D.C. Lee, a professor of Iowa State University Compared to non-runners, he said, runners showed a much lower risk of dying from some diseases. “Compared to non-runners, runners showed 30 percent lower risk of death by any causes, including heart attack, stroke and cancer. Also, runners compared to non-runners showed 45 percent lower risk of death by cardiovascular diseases（心血管疾病）, including heart attack and stroke.”

    D. C. Lee and the other researchers found that speed, distance and how often one runs made little difference in reducing the risk of death. The runners in the study averaged between 10 and 16 kilometers per hour. Mr Lee said slower runners and those who only ran once or twice a week were helped nearly as much as those who ran faster and further. “And also we looked at the inning over time and we found that persistent runners（over six years）showed the biggest benefits, as well.”

    Our most important institutions, our schools and our workplaces, are designed mostly for extroverts (性格外向者).

In the typical classroom, students are often divided into groups—four or five or more kids all facing each other. And kids are working on countless group assignments. Even in subjects like math and creative writing, which you think would depend on unaccompanied flights of thought, kids are now expected to act as committee members. As for the kids who prefer to go off by themselves or just to work alone, those kids are seen as outliers (局外人) often or, worse, as problem cases. And the vast majority of teachers believe that the ideal student is an extrovert as opposed to an introvert (性格内向者), even though introverts actually get better grades and are more knowledgeable, according to research.

The same thing is true in our workplaces. Now, most of us work in open plan offices, without walls, where we are subject to the constant noise and stare of our coworkers. And when it comes to leadership, introverts are routinely passed over for leadership positions, even though introverts tend to be very careful, much less likely to take outsize risks —which is something we might all favor nowadays. And interesting research by Adam Grant at the Wharton School has found that introverted leaders often deliver better outcomes than extroverts do, because when they are managing thoughtful employees, they're much more likely to let those employees run with their ideas.

    In fact, some of our great leaders in history have been introverts. I'll give you some examples. Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Gandhi -- all these people described themselves as quiet and soft-spoken and even shy. However, they all took the spotlight, even though every bone in their bodies was telling them not to. And this turns out to have a special power, because people could feel that these leaders were in control, not because they enjoyed directing others and not out of the pleasure of being looked at; they were there because they had no choice, because they were driven to do what they thought was right.

    Elephants might be the most well-known and well-loved animal in African wildlife. But conservation (保护) of the African elephant still faces special difficulties. While the elephant population is half of what it was 40 years ago, some areas of Africa have more elephants than populated areas can support. That's why AWF scientists are studying elephant behavior, protecting habitats and finding ways for humans to live peacefully with elephants in Africa.

    Years ago, overhunting and the ivory trade were the biggest threats to elephants' survival. Luckily, ivory bans (禁令), hunting rules and protected areas protect elephants from these dangers today.

    The 21st century brings a different challenge to elephant conservation—land-use. Elephants walk across borders and outside parks and other protected areas. So they often destroy crops, causing conflicts (冲突) between local farmers and these big animals.

    Successful conservation strategies must allow elephants to walk freely in their natural habitats while reducing conflicts between elephants and local people.

    AWF researchers are searching for a way to give both elephants and people the space they need. The AWF is collecting information on elephant habitats and behavior. The information they gather will help to develop the widest possible space for elephants.

    The AWF is helping elephants by protecting their habitats. And they also work with local farmers to improve their life in order to encourage them to protect rather than destroy elephants.

    The spine (脊柱) stands at the center of your health, providing your body with structure and support. It also contains a major collection of nerves that deliver electric signals from the rest of the body to your brain. So it's important to take care of it.

    Staying in a good position is one of the most important things to keep your spine healthy. A proper position means standing or sitting while keeping your spins straight, except for its natural bending. Positions play a vital part even when you're asleep. Stomach sleeping is far from a good idea. Many people prefer sleeping on their side, which is in the interests of their spine. Sleeping on your back has lots of benefits yet can cause lower back pain and put some pressure on your spine.

    Staying still for too long — even if your position is good — can be hard on your back. Especially if you work at a task most of the day, it's important to get up and stretch (伸展) periodically. Strength exercises with light weights like push-ups can also help by strengthening the muscles. However, don't overdo the exercise, as repeated movements can hurt the muscles around the spine, as trying to lift heavy weights with poor technique.

    Vitamins also affect the health of your spine. In particular, vitamin B and omega-3 fatty acids help keep nerves healthy. Another important part is vitamin D, which is required for strong bones. Vitamin D can come from some foods, but it's also absorbed from sunlight, so it may help to do some exercises outside. At last, many of the actions necessary to keep a spine healthy are similar to those used to protect your health in other ways. So protect your back, and the rest of the body will benefit.