!44: How to Set Up a Homestay Student's Room Before Their Arrival

!±8± How to Set Up a Homestay Student's Room Before Their Arrival

When starting a Homestay most ESL schools will ask you to setup your Homestay Student's room to be comfortable. How do you define comfortable without breaking the bank?

Another thing to be concerned about is how to make the room compliment the rest of your decor in the home. I live in a condo with 2 bedrooms and most of the decor within the suite is fairly modern. If I were to design the students room the same way it would surely cost a fair bit and my concern was that the student may not respect the furniture as much as I would.

Items needed to furnish Student's room

After speaking to other homestay families and friends I managed to come up with a comprehensive list of items that are a basic-must in any ESL Student's homestay room:

Bed and mattress Pillow Bedsheets Lamp A plant Glass Top Table Chair Cloth hangars Laundry bag Curtains A Power cord Wall art

Some of these items may seem questionable but allow me to explain. I've chosen to go with a glass top table because I want to open up the room. Condos in downtown Toronto are fairly small and this became a requirement. My cost for the glass table was Body (read on).

A laundry bag is important so that the student has a place to put their clothes into rather than all over the floor. It also minimizes the number of times laundry is done per week. In my household we do laundry only once a week.

Finally a power cord is crucial as most students now days are traveling with laptops, wireless routers, voip phones and other electronics.

Where to get items?

Here are some ideas on where to get the above items to make your International ESL Student's Homestay room a comfortable one.

Family and Friends

This is always my first stop. I usually send out a quick email to family and friends and tell them about any furniture I am looking for and that if they were planning on throwing it away or willing to sell on the cheap that i would take it. This is how I found my glass top table for Body.

Garage Sales

My next stop would be Garage sales where there are amazing deals to be found usually in great condition. Going on a garage sale mission can be both fun and rewarding when you find that great piece and use your negotiating skills to bring it down to a price you can boast to your friends about.

Ikea

My final stop will be to the local Ikea store. Items in Ikea are very affordable but I usually find that the quality lacks. Your students room is going to have lots of wear and tear and I find that the products usually don't hold up past a few months. When shopping here purchase items that don't require the student to sit or sleep on. You can get some real fashionable table lamps here as well wall art.

With the above items your students room can be furnished for about 0 and last for a few years. Your student will appreciate the effort and will feel more at ease in a new environment.