I am often asked ‘how do I become a homestay language tutor, do I have the right qualifications?’
You don’t need any qualifications just to be able to take students to host. All you need is a nice clean and comfortable house and enjoy having guests. You need to be prepared to cook and talk to your students but you don’t need any qualifications.
Hosting is a good way of deciding whether or not to go the next step and become a tutor as well.
To become a language homestay tutor you will ideally, be either a teacher already and looking for either a change of direction or extra money while not working ie. holidays or if you only teach part time, to fill in the gaps.
If you don’t have a teaching qualification then you need to consider taking a TEFL certificate.
TEFL certificates can be taken either over a weekend and if you already hold a degree and have teaching experience, this can be sufficient to begin with. To take a longer TEFL course means a considerable investment but should pay off long term as you will be more confident and professional. Longer courses will dig much deeper into the language and not just go over the practicalities of TEFL as a weekend course does.
Tutors and teachers who have a greater understanding of their language will also be able to command higher fees per hour.
