Life@Kaplan: My Stay in Salisbury with My Host Family
This is the fifth of a five-part monthly series of blog posts written by students in Kaplan Salisbury. Read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.
It is very common for students who are studying English in Salisbury in the UK. There are a lot of advantages to staying with host family to study English. I would like to talk about the advantages of staying with them.
First, it is very useful to learn their culture. They always try to show their interest in the students who are staying in their house.
Then, if the students do not know their culture, they try to teach about their own culture. I did not know that having a runny nose was a little bit rude and I should blow my nose, so my host family taught me their culture in a friendly way.
Secondly, they are helpful in studying English. Because they are native speakers, they can notice our mistakes, although they do not know of the grammar. For example, I always make mistakes when I am talking with them, so they would like to fix them in friendly ways.
Furthermore, they try to help me to improve my English. For instance, when they and I are watching TV, I sometimes can not understand what they say in TV programs, thus, they summarize the text and make me understand that. For these reasons, I think it is good for students to learn English with their host family.
Finally, they are like a real family. I sometimes feel lonely when I miss my family and my friends in Korea. My host family always show their interest in me to stop me feeling lonely. Because of them, I try to smile and think positively even though I feel ill or lonely.
Some people say there are some disadvantages to living with a host family. However, in my opinion, they can teach us their own culture, fix our English mistakes in a friendly way and be a real family. Thus, I think it is the most useful way to learn English and English culture in Salisbury, in the UK.