Super host

5,0 (3)

London, United Kingdom

English

Learn english in the United Kingdom with Nicola

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Stay in Sydenham, London with Nicola's Family

I worked as a geo-environmental engineer before becoming a full-time mum to my three children. My family moved to Germany when I was 10, and so I learned German in my teens and enjoyed visiting Germany in the (boarding) school holidays, and I spent my gap year working in Germany before I went to study Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. I am passionate about offering my home and teaching abilities to a student wanting to improve their English in a family homestay and full immersion environment, whatever their age!

I have learnt a lot about education while raisi...
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What makes this stay special

Language courses At home or in a language school
Private room Can be shared if you are travelling with others
Full Immersion Guaranteed No other guest speaks your language (optional add-on)
Full board Your choice: full board, half-board, bed & breakfast
Airport pick-up NICOLA picks you up at the airport
(may be a paid option)
Nearest public transport Sydenham station (or bus stops) 4 min walk.

Included in the booking with Linguifamily

Carefully vetted host family
Every host goes through a thorough selection process — only the most reliable families make the list.
Safe, flexible payment
Your money is held securely by Linguifamily until your stay begins. Pay by credit card or bank transfer
Book with confidence
Cancel within 48 hours for a full refund. If your host family cancels, you're covered too - no questions asked.
24/7 assistance
A question or an unexpected event? Our team is available before, during, and after your stay.

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About this home

Meet the family

Nicola (mother)
Michael (father)
Lucia (15 years old)
Edward (18 years old)

This home welcomes

Capacity: 2 people

10-18 years old (girl - boy)

18-25 years old (girl - boy)

Adults (woman - man)

Groups and families

Couples

In general, and during school holiday periods, the homestay shall be booked in blocks of 1 week, with arrivals happening on a Sunday (after 12 noon), and departures happening on a Saturday (by 4 pm). So 1 and 2 week stays are 6 and 13 nights, respectively.

In certain circumstances, it might be possible to vary the above, and change the arrival and departure days. This can be discussed and a suitable price reduction or increase agreed between us. Please book at least 4 nights if you are only booking a part week rather than a full week (Sunday to Saturday) during the summer months of May to August.

The full-board pension option is for any student (child or adult) and must be booked with a minimum of 10 hours of at-home lessons in week 1 and 5 hours in week 2. If the booking is being made for 2 students that know each other (e.g., siblings, friends, or parent and child) and are able to share lessons, then I will apply a 25% discount to the whole booking, which equates to the 2nd person paying 50% of the advertised rates. This full-board immersive language homestay with tuition will be inclusive of the F.I.G. (no other students speaking your language will be staying in the house). I am not working outside of the home, so will be available to spend time with the student at home, perhaps baking or playing board games, and inviting me to join them in visiting local parks, the free entry local Horniman Museum, or going swimming at the nearby pool.

Examples of activities in the local area might include: shopping trips locally, visit to a local park or nature reserve, visiting the Horniman Museum and Gardens, going swimming or indoor climbing, ice skating, a local festival or community event, cycle hire or rowing/paddle boat hire in a park, bowling, etc.

If you would like to book some additional at-home lessons (for a more intensive language learning stay) you can add up to a maximum of 20 hours per week, from the minimum required of 10 hours in week 1 and 5 hours in week 2. Furthermore, if you would like to book some tennis sessions at the local tennis club or additional half-day cultural trips into central London, you may book these as extras. Likewise, you can opt to book a favorite West End show, or Theme Park day trip.

For under 18-year-old students, the child will be accompanied at all times, if requested by the parents, and will not be left home alone at any time during the day or night. With parental permission, children may go out and travel independently if they feel confident and have a means to pay for public transport.

For students that are over 18 and not wishing to book at-home tuition or full-board pension, perhaps because they would like to take a course at a language school, or arrange for some work experience or undertake independent trips to see the sights of London, then I can offer Bed and Breakfast or half-board pensions. If choosing B&B, then it may be possible to book in for an evening meal for a small fee, as and when needed. In this case, you may like to select the F.I.G. if you would like to ensure you are not sharing the room with anyone else (I will only permit same-gender room shares, anyhow).

Available activities

Running
Arts and crafts
Board games
Playing musical instrument

Enhance your stay

Language courses 46€ per hour
Trip to local cinema, theatre, concert, etc 95€
Half day london outing (list a) 194€
Half day london outing (list b) 140€
London west end show or musical 262€
Theme park trip (chessington/thorpe park/legoland) 334€
Holiday period of christmas or new year 199€
Special needs /wk e.g. dyslexia, adhd 228€
2no. half day london outings (list b) 278€
3no. half day london outings (list b) 418€
3 no. 1h coaching sessions 311€ per stay
Transfer RETURN TRANSFERS: Gatwick, City or Heathrow airports 290€ per stay
Transfer ONE WAY TRANSFER e.g. pick up only, or drop-off 145€ per stay
Transfer Return transfer from/to St.Pancras train station ( 217€ per stay

Although I am not a certified English language teacher, I hold a Master’s Degree in Engineering, am a native speaker of English, and I am currently self-studying online for the 150 hours Advanced TEFL Course by TEFL UK.

In 2024 and 2025, I hosted 7 French teenagers (aged between 13 and 18 years) for a combined total of 11 weeks of homestay experiences with cultural trips and at-home language lessons (totaling 135 hours of 1:1 language lessons). I make use of grammar and/or vocabulary textbooks, my own children’s books and London guidebooks, as well as a subscription to the onestopenglish.com website for English teachers. All my students have rated their London homestay experience highly and have been very pleased with the progress they have made in a few short weeks.

If the student wishes to book an in-person language course in London independently, then they may do so, knowing that the journey time is likely to be between 40 and 60 minutes to a central London language school, and that they will need to pay for public transport independently, also. Examples of ‘Major London attractions/ List A’ (with high entrance fees): The London Eye, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Palace of Westminster, Madame Tussauds, The London Aquarium, The Tower of London, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Thames River Boat trip, Open-top tourist bus trip, Greenwich Observatory, Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Eltham Palace, etc.

Examples of London tourist attraction outings i.e. List B attractions (with free or low cost entrance fees): The British Museum, The V&A, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Design Museum, Tate Modern, National Gallery, Covent Garden, Camden Market, The Queen’s House and National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, walking tours in London, The Design Museum, shopping on Oxford Street, etc.

Please note that for London outings the journey time to the different venues and attractions are generally somewhere between 40 and 60 minutes each way. We would normally travel by public transport, although we do have a car to use if public transport options are not so good. We live close to the Sydenham Tennis Club and can arrange for some 1:1 tennis coaching sessions on the outdoor courts there. This will comprise 3 hours of coaching, usually as 3 no. 60-minute sessions on 3 different days.

Full Immersion Guaranteed

The host family optionally guarantees that there will be no other people speaking the same language during the stay.

Life with your host family

On a work or school day the children leave the house between 7.30-8am, but my husband is usually working from home. If the language student is having lessons with me, then we would normally undertake these starting at 9am, after breakfast. I give 1 hour lessons in the guest bedroom at the large desk, and we break in between each lesson, and also for a home-made lunch. If outings to London or the local area have been booked we usually undertake these in the afternoons, so that I can cook and serv...
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London, United Kingdom

Nearest public transport stop: Sydenham station (or bus stops) 4 min walk.

NICOLA's exact address is verified and will be provided to you once the booking is confirmed.

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Minimum stay required by NICOLA: 1 night

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5,0

3 reviews

5,0

3 reviews

Samantha

May 7, 2025

My 12-year-old daughter Olivia spent a week in London with a host family, taking 3 hours of private lessons each day and enjoying a different activity every afternoon. Everything went extremely well. The host family was warm and welcoming, and the lessons were both engaging and effective. Olivia fel...

Laura

Apr 1, 2025

I stayed at Nicola’s home for about three weeks, and it was a great experience. From the moment I arrived, she and her family were incredibly welcoming and made me feel at home. The accommodation was comfortable, and having home-cooked dinners was a wonderful bonus. Nicola creates a warm and suppor...

Elisa

Aug 28, 2024

I spent three weeks in London with Nicola's family. As a French student who is studying economics, I need a high level of English and this stay helped me a lot. I took two hours of English lessons a day. It was very helpful and really improved my grammar skills. I also did a lot of cultural activiti...