Chinahomestay

[YellowTina]

I wanted some of your more seasoned opinions on living with a family to practice Chinese. I attend BLCU and am staying in the dorms. 4 of my classmates are doing homestays with a

company called chinahomestay.org . They are really happy with the arrangement and these 4 students are well ahead of the rest of the class and I think it's probably because they have alot more chances to speak. I seem to have made friends with all Americans (even though this wasn't my intent). Can anybody please offer some advice on what it is like living with a Chinese host family? Thanks and the website if anybody wants to check it out and give their opinion is chinahomestay.org .

[roddy]

Well Tina, given that you seem to have registered using the email address of someone actually employed by Chinahomestay.org, why don't you ask that person. Unless, of course, you are said person and are currently pretending to be a prospective customer in the hope of generating some interest in your service. But I'm sure that's not the case.

And when you are speaking to said person, don't forget to mention the opportunities for paid advertising on this particular site. And perhaps also ask what said person thinks about underhand marketing techniques, and what that says about an organization's trustworthiness.

Roddy

PS Hotmail.com - free, anonymous email addresses. You know it makes sense

[mpallard]

Busted!

That was hilarious, I love it.

[mpallard]

chinahomestay.org is a scam. When I looked on their website last year the Chinese version was completely different from the English version (when I looked just now I couldn't find the link to the Chinese page).

Basically they were telling the host family that you were there to provide them with a good English learning "environment". There was no mention of the fact that the foreigner was in China to learn Chinese.

I can't imagine how anyone could have had a good experience from dealing with this group.

[imron]

You can find the chinese version here. To be fair to them, they do mention in both the English and the Chinese version that the foreigner has to spend a minimum of 4 hours a week "exchanging language and culture" with the host family.

However I agree it's a bit underhanded not to fully disclose that they are recruiting host families by saying they'll get a live-in foreign tutor, and I think they should make it much clearer what obligations the guest has in this situation.

[roddy]

The Chinese page I think you are referring to is here.

Chinese page

而我们为您提供的居家式外教可以使您在家中便能够体验到纯英语的生活环境，使您在不得不使用英语及其思维方式与居家外教进行日常交流和沟通。

To be fair I can't see anything on the English pages that suggest the homestay will be any good for your Chinese, it's just offering 'free' accomodation for the price of a placement fee and teaching English to the host family.

Edit: Beaten to it!

[imron]

Also, if you're happy to be the family's English gimp for 4 hours a week, the placement fee works out far cheaper than most rents. $500USD for 1 year works out to 300-400 RMB a month.

[stephanhodges]

But, given your google rankings (generally), doesn't her post still give her a higher hit rate on google in general?

Since she has a link in the text, I would think it would automatically get her a lot higher rating than otherwise.

[roddy]

Also, if you're happy to be the family's English gimp for 4 hours a week, the placement fee works out far cheaper than most rents. $500USD for 1 year works out to 300-400 RMB a month.

True, but if on the other hand you take the English teaching time into account at 150Y per hour (which I think is an achievable rate in Beijing) then you're doing 2400Y's worth of work per month - much more than the average rent for a shared apartment.

I think arrangements like this could work out well, but most people on here would be looking for as Chinese an environment as possible. I fail to see how that would work when the hosts are looking for that 纯英语的生活环境.

But, given your google rankings (generally), doesn't her post still give her a higher hit rate on google in general?

Marginally. I'm betting the fact that this very page is currently on the front page for Google searches for Chinahomestay.org and chinahomestay will cancel out that benefit.

Going to email them now and see if they want to come along and make any comment.

[imron]

Perhaps yes, but talking in English for 30min each night over dinner (which it says the host will provide) makes for 3 1/2 hours per week and is almost enough to fill the quota, or, you could fill the time by letting them watch DVDs with you So even though you could be earning 150Y per hour teaching class, casual language and culture exchange throughout the week is much easier than preparing lessons and delivering a class, plus it doesn't necessarily take time out from your otherwise normal schedule. You've also got to factor in that the host family is supposed to pay for all utility bills and internet.

Still, I agree though, this is not the best way to do things, because promoting it as two different things to the two different parties is surely a recipe for miscommunication/misunderstanding and general unhappiness.

[badr]

fair disclosure: "my business partner for the bootcamps also presides over a homestay/cultural exchange company (insightchina.cn for those interested)"

I've seen plenty of cases where homestay work out great for people who want to learn Chinese when they're really immersed and in sync with the family. usually, the child is studying English but the parents can mostly communicate in Chinese. If there is a good connection, they are more than willing to sit with their guest for a few hours a day going over a textbook and practicing pronunciation. Add to that the number of people you end up interacting with from family, friends, etc... the opportunities are there.

The idea is to be in the homestay for a cultural exchange not as a cheap rent substitute. I know that when insight china started with homestays, most people applying wanted to find a family to stay with in Beijing for 6 months or more. most of them were students or teachers that wanted a cheap housing option. that doesn't work.

[toygirl]

i will be living with a chinese family for my spring semester at BLCU, however i'm doing my program with Lotus Study. They're a little bit more expensive, but they have a free homestay option that you pay $100 application fee and then $50 per week with a minimum of 10 weeks. So although it's not free, it's about what i would end up paying for a rented room anyway and at least this will give me some time to get accustomed to the city before i start looking for something with chinese roommates. of course this is all in exchange for the daily hour of english that you teach the family.

i've been going back and forth about whether to do a homestay or not, because i've heard good and bad experiences, but it seems like it'll probably be what you make of it. and if all else fails, it's only temporary!

[mpallard]

You have to pay $50 per week and teach and hour per day. If you consider that with that hour a day you could tutor someone privately and get paid for it it sounds like you're actually paying a lot. I've never lived in Beijing so I don't know what rooms are like in Beijing but that sounds expensive.

[babygodzilla]

lol... what happened to the thread starter?

[roddy]

I dropped them an email. They see no reason to comment and believe that the link helps a lot. I've therefore removed the link. The account is still open and they could comment if they wished - hell, I encourage them to.

Personally I find this a bizarre way to promote your company as a) if they'd sent me an email saying 'Hi, we're Chinahomestay and we'd like to make a one-off post introducing our services to your users' I'd have said 'Sure, go ahead.' and B) it casts doubt on any genuine posts about the company. Perhaps I am somewhat out of date.

The Chinese page we linked to earlier seems to have disappeared, incidentally. (edit - apparently it was out of date and has now been removed.)

[roddy]

i've been going back and forth about whether to do a homestay or not, because i've heard good and bad experiences, but it seems like it'll probably be what you make of it. and if all else fails, it's only temporary!

That's the right attitude to have, and while I do think it works out expensive, things are worth what people are willing to pay - if you feel you are getting value for money, go ahead and good luck.

[imron]

The Chinese page we linked to earlier seems to have disappeared, incidentally.

Haha, such a pity... however thanks to the magic of the wayback machine, you can still find a copy here. I've also updated my original post to reflect this.

[mr.stinky]

"b) it casts doubt on any genuine posts about the company."

more than that; it casts doubt upon the entire Chinahomestay.org company as a legitimate operation. given all the horror stories about teaching contracts and homestays, who in

their right mind would even consider applying with Chinahomestay.org? just consider the

deceptive advertising of Chinahomestay.org; if Chinahomestay.org begins your relationship

with a bogus posting, is there any chance that Chinahomestay.org will provide anything

other than substandard service, especially when the inevitable problems arise?

[heifeng]

Although this thread is dealing with homestays, I think it is always good (especially in China) to do a ton of research on ANY company no matter whether you are a foreigner or local Chinese. There seem to be so many questionable businesses in general, and even the "legitimate" operations can still conduct business very questionably....Never ASSUME something is legitimate until you have proof from a reliable source...

If someone wants a "homestay" they should personally meet some friends or a Chinese family before they blindly handover their cash to any homestay company..etc..I think a foreigner would have better luck just randomly getting a roommate situation through an apartment agent rather than going through a homestay..

Anyway, anyone or any company in China who is actively ADVERTISING for foreigners, it is highly likely they have some ulterior motives (probably are trying to make some fast money) no matter what business they are involved in....

In my opinion this homestay can also cross on over to the scams section...

[amandagmu]

Search my previous posts. It wasn't that Chinahomestay was so much a scam as that they were being dishonest to both parties. What they were telling the family and what they told me were two different stories. I would also like to point out that my 4 hours / week of cultural exchange ended up being the family speaking only English to me and wanting me to spend ALL my free time with them. There were many, many other problems with that particular homestay. ANYTIME you see something fishy in a contract like that -- "4 hours of cultural exchange" -- be very weary. Many families who use these services want their children growing up as fluent English speakers and will do just about anything to get it for as cheap as possible. If you are going to China and don't care much about learning Chinese, I'm sure you could do a homestay. Otherwise, I'm much more skeptical.

The only way we can truly know a credible company is by talking to other people and hearing about their experiences. The program I did this past summer -- not a homestay, but the company I went through -- is totally credible. I already posted about Adam's company, HYCC, so check them out if want a much better experience!