Host families needed

A North Vancouver company is looking for Burnaby families willing to host international students.

Muskoka Language International is an educational tourism agency that primarily connects homestay families with foreign teens studying English in Canada.

"We're looking for families with very strong English at home. That seems to be a critical component," said Brad Fisher, Muskoka's homestay coordinator for Burnaby. "Every year, we are getting more and more students interested in Burnaby."

According to Fisher, applicants should be family oriented people, preferably with kids of their own and interactive home environments. English doesn't have to be the first spoken language, but homestay families should be fluent.

"These international students are being submersed in the English speaking environment,"

Fisher said.

Host families also have to feed the students and be their "home away from home."

"This is their surrogate family if you will," Fisher said.

In return, Muskoka pays the homestay families $800 a month.

The agency is hosting two Burnaby workshops on what it takes to be a homestay family: Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Bonsor Recreation Complex, and Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Confederation Community Centre. Both are from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Contact Fisher at 604-988-9477 or email [email protected] to RSVP for the workshop or for more information on becoming a homestay family, or check out the website at mliesl.com.