“Homestay tuition is a concept where you can combine hosting a foreign student with teaching them in your own home,” explains Norman Renshaw, managing director of Intuition Languages, a London-based agency which places students with teachers. Most of Intuition’s teachers are in their early 40s or older and around 30 per cent have just completed their first teaching qualification. “Because teachers have to have a comfortable home, they tend to be older, ” explains Mr Renshaw. “More and more schools are employing teachers on a freelance basis so it’s a logical development.”

The growth in homestay tuition has led the British Council to develop a scheme for accrediting this area of the industry.