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.

    Devon, 17, is used to paying her own cell phone and car expenses. But lately it's been harder. The family she baby-sits for hasn't been calling as much as usual and she couldn't find a job over the summer. Devon's dad said it's a sign of the tough economy. He told her he's feeling the pinch too and that he had to use her college fund to pay the loan(货款).

    This kind of money troubles isn't strange to common families these days. In fact, it's hard to avoid news about the economy on the screen of the TV or the computers recently. It can seem a bit worry and some families are hit really hard.

    For most people, the big problem is that things cost more at a time when they have less money to spend. But higher prices aren't the only problem. Many people are having a tough time making payments on some types of home loans.

    Therefore, some families are cutting back on what they spend.  For example, eating out less, staying home instead of going on vacation, moving to a less expensive house and so on.

    However, as discouraging as things may seem now, the good news is that the economy always gets back on track after a while. Jobs may be hard to find, but the slow economy can open up new opportunities. The couple Devon babysat for might cut back on evening's out, but they could be interested in hiring her for after-school care. Perhaps it's time to sell her old toys and baby gear (设备)in the basement(地下室) or help others sell these items online if she is good at it. She could charge them a fee to sell their old stuff(东西).

    A Song of Ice and Fire is a seven-part series of fantasy written for adults. George R. R. Martin writes each chapter from the perspective of a specific character, providing a limited point of view for each section. The reader is able to understand the inner workings of the individual, but the reader is barred from a whole understanding of the text. The world he has created has magic, but there is much more than that. While magic exists, it exists on the edge, and the inner unrest of the characters is much more important.

    His work also has a level of realness that is astonishing in a work of fantasy. Characters are imperfect, and many make questionable moral choices. In the end, however, Martin shows that both good and bad happen to both the people of high moral standard and the corrupt. He has made it clear that any character can die at any point, which has led to a lot of heartbreak from readers.

    In 2011, A Song of Ice and Fire became a television series titled Game of Thrones. Martin has been closely involved with the production. It has currently run for seven seasons, and viewers anxiously await the eighth season to answer their questions from the season seven finale.

    His fans are also waiting for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, the next books in the series, to answer the questions Martin and the television show have not yet addressed. Martin, however, has no plans to rush. He has made it clear that he will continue to write the books while working on the television show and writing other novels.

    But how will the story continue? What is going to happen in Westeros, and more importantly: when are we going to find out? Martinis skill as a writer has kept readers and viewers spellbound. Many hope he will finish the next book before the next season of the show begins, but no one knows with Martin. He always keeps his readers guessing.

    Dodder is an unusual and unwanted plant that attacks other plants. Except for its flowers, the plant looks like spaghetti, a kind of noodles in the shape of long thin pieces that look like string when they are cooked. It's almost leafless, thread-like stems hang down on top of other plants that dodder needs to stay alive. Dodder does not produce its own food. Instead, it steals food from other plants. It feeds by sucking juices from the plant which is wrapped around, often making its host very weak or even killing it.

    Dodder can find other plants by their smell. When a young dodder plant starts growing, it follows the smell of plants it prefers, like tomato plants, potato plants, or other farm crops. Unlike most plants that usually grow in the direction of light or warmth, a dodder plant will grow in the direction of, for example, tomato smell—if a tomato happens to be growing nearby.

    However, a young dodder plant must find a host plant quickly. It no longer needs its root once it is attached to the host and wrapped around it. If it cannot catch a smell of a potential host within a few days, it will dry up and vanish even if there is plenty of water around. Once it finds a host, the young dodder plant will attach itself to it and start growing faster. At that point the dodder plant will drop its root.

    Dodder is thus a difficult weed to manage and a real headache for farmers. When it does get out of hand, dodder can greatly reduce a farmer's harvest or even destroy crops completely. Before sowing their produce, especially farmers in warm parts of the world often check to make sure no unwanted dodder seeds have mixed with their crop seeds. This is a good way to stop dodder plants from making their way to a crop field secretly.

    Where can you find a nice place to relax on holiday for both you and your children? Well, I suggest you try the beautiful and green Isle of Wight (IOW). The Isle of Wight is one of the main tourist attractions. Here is some information on a few of the attractions on the IOW.

    Dinosaur Isle

    It is located in Sandown, a seaside town on the southeast coast. It's a large, lovely museum, both fun and educational. Here you can see a large fossil collection of all kinds of dinosaurs, as well as a gift shop. You can walk into the past and then the future, learning about the history and the development of the civilization of dinosaurs that lived 120 million years ago.

    Robin Hill Country Park

    The park is in the beautiful countryside, and is suitable for children's parties and games. It has five new gardens, and offers great opportunities to see and take pictures of the rare red squirrels.

    The West of the Wight

    Here we have the Marine Aquarium, the Archaeology Exhibition and the Model Railway. They offer another opportunity to combine fun with learning. This is a great place to see ancient boats crossing the narrow strait between the island and the mainland.

    The Wight Bus Museum

    This museum is run completely by unpaid volunteers. It has a bus collection stored in what was once a warehouse(仓库). Most of the buses in the museum date back to around the 1910's.

    With all of these choices, what are you waiting for? IOW Tourism welcomes you!

    As the weekend approaches, perhaps you're looking forward to a meal out or sitting in front of the TV with a takeaway. But as you settle down to enjoy that comforting plate of beef or start spooning that fragrant lamb curry over the rice, will you be worrying about whether you are really eating what was written on the menu?

    Yesterday it was revealed by the Food Standards Agency that more than a fifth of the 665 meat samples tested last year contained DNA from animals not listed on the label. Of the 145 problem samples, 73 came from supermarkets, while 22 came from processing plants. The remaining 50 all came from restaurants.

    I have no doubt that over the next few years, the percentage of meal coming from dubious origins will continue to rise unless something drastic is done. Why? There are two main reasons. First, too many businesses are willing to boost their profits by adulterating their products in the meat industry. I believe there is a systemic problem within the meat industry that makes it particularly attractive to unscrupulous characters who are really nothing more than criminals，the second is the complexity and length of the meat supply chain. If you buy a chicken-based ready meal from a supermarket, as you might imagine, that chicken will pass through many hands before it ends up on your plate here. Worse still, the meat will often he partially processed somewhere along that chain—usually with salt and water added to boost flavour and volume—which is quite legal.

    Obviously, it is impossible for consumers to be detectives about every piece of meal they eat.

    However, what you can do is to avoid processed foods and never buy ready meals. Stay away from burgers made in factories. Don't go to chain restaurants. Instead, go to local, independent restaurants where it is more likely the chef and owner—often the same person—cares about where the meat comes from, and will be happy to tell you. So, try to buy your meat from a good local butcher.

    And no, what I am suggesting is not going to hurt your purse or wallet. The essence, then, is to buy meat that has had as small a journey from field to fork as possible, because that is the only way you can he sure of what you eat. It's that simple.