Opening Our Homes to European Students is Helping Our Wallets
A Plymouth business is helping local families to mix cultural benefits with financial ones. By opening their homes to European students and giving them a place to live while they’re here, more and more Plymouth families are discovering all sorts of benefits.
Almond Vocational Link is a professional company formed as a result of their experience with students from all over the world for the past twenty years. During the last three years they have been involved with programmes that give undergraduates work experience in their chosen vocation. They organise this work experience in professional companies in Plymouth, Exeter and throughout the South West.
Janet Wonnacott runs Almond Vocational Links. She says: “Our aim is to provide the best possible work experience for undergraduates within the United Kingdom. To ensure that this is the case we will only place our undergraduates in work placements with professional firms that maintain a high standard of integrity and professionalism.”
Host Families
Accommodation is also arranged as part of the package. Many local families act as hosts for the students, providing a ‘home away from home’. This has really been working well with the hosts families discovering new perspectives on other cultures. welcoming students into their homes can be financially beneficial too as host families are paid for providing accommodation. It’s arranged for students to stay with an English family.
All families are interviewed by Almond Vocational Links and the accommodation is vetted to ensure that it is to the highest standard. Students often share mealtimes with the host families and this helps them gain in confidence. This is often the the students’ first time away from home and so it can be a daunting experience, especially in a country that has a different culture; sharing a home can be a fulfilling experience for everyone.
How To Get Involved
The good news is that Almond Vocational Links are looking for host families in Plymouth. Click here to download a PDF file with more information if you’re interested in becoming a host family.
