Learn english in the United Kingdom with Nicola

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 raising my family. I even home-educated two of my children for two years. Recently, I have been working as a teaching assistant in local primary schools and volunteering at my daughter's democratic school, where I help in the forest school and with reading practice. I very much enjoy working with young people and I prefer teaching one-on-one or in small groups, rather than as a class teacher. In fact, I plan to train as a Montessori teacher, studying part-time over the next few years.

My husband, Michael, is a Chartered (Electrical) Engineer who works as a consulting engineer in the building industry and is currently working at The Palace of Westminster (Parliament). He works from home for the majority of the week. Our eldest 20-year-old son, Zak, is undertaking a 4-year degree apprenticeship program with Dyson and so no longer lives at home. Our second son (17y), Eddie, has left school and is undertaking a 3-year apprenticeship locally in vehicle maintenance to follow his passion of restoring and maintaining classic cars. Eddie also loves music and plays electric guitar. Our daughter, Luci (14y), is dyslexic and attends a pioneering new school called 'The New School'! She loves to draw, create art and cook, and she plays in a netball team weekly with her friends. Luci is learning German with an online tutor because languages are not offered at her school.

• Houseold:
• NICOLA (Mother )
• Michael (Father )
• Lucia (Child • 14 ans)
• Edward (Child • 17 ans)

• Reception:
• 10-18 years old (girl - boy)
• •
• 18-25 years old (girl - boy)
• •
• Adults (woman - man)
• •
• Seniors (woman - man)
• •
• Couples
• •
• Groups and families

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), and will also be inclusive of 2 half-day (usually in the afternoons) accompanied cultural trips to London to visit one or more List B type attractions. Or the student can opt for 1 cultural trip to London and 1 accompanied trip to the cinema, theatre, a concert or workshop, etc. I am not working outside of the home, so I 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 who 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 an evening meal for a small fee, as 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).

The guest room is located on the top floor and has a bunk bed (providing 2 single beds), so we can accommodate 2 students (as friends or family members). The guest bedroom has views towards Crystal Palace and central London and is just over 3m by 3m in size. It is next to our son Eddie’s bedroom and the 2nd bathroom (containing a shower over a bath). We have a moderately sized front and back garden with grass and we are situated on a relatively quiet residential street at the top of a small hill.

The house is located in Sydenham, which lies in southeast London, and we are well-connected to all of London by buses and a variety of train stations. There are plenty of small independent shops and cafes along the high street, and there are several attractive London parks nearby, such as Mayow Park, Wells Park, Crystal Palace Park, Dulwich Park, Beckenham Place Park, as well as the tranquil Sydenham Hill Woods. The Horniman Museum & Gardens in Forest Hill is a family-friendly, free-to-enter attraction, within walking distance from our home. This much-loved attraction offers various anthropology, natural history, and musical instrument galleries, and features a butterfly house, a small aquarium, and beautiful, expansive gardens to explore.