English language homestay in London

If you have limited time and need to improve your English quickly and effectively then as a qualified EFL teacher I would have to say the answer to this question is "No!" Why? For two main reasons.

Firstly, many of the home stay programmes in London require a fair amount of travelling between the home and the school. This means a lot of time is lost, not to mention the increased cost of having to pay London's extremely high travel costs. (Even if you can claim it on expenses!)

Secondly, in London (and Edinburgh, and many south coast locations) there are always so many people of all nationalities that there is too much temptation for a student to speak their own language. If a student is going to make the most of their learning experience in England they should avoid this.

The alternative? A homestay programme where the student lives with the teachers rather than a host family, and where the classes take place at the same site. This way the total immersion that a homestay programme should provide is truly met. It is this complete saturation in English that will help a student to learn to speak and use English naturally and in genuine situations far more rapidly.

The other advantage of this type of programme is that ALL of their time is spent with teachers, so even in social situations like mealtimes, trips to the supermarket or the pub, the people they are spending their time with are qualified to help them learn and to correct their mistakes constructively.

Host families are usually great people but they are often not qualified EFL/ESL teachers. This means that the degree to which they are willing or able to correct and instruct students will vary considerably. Spending all the time with teachers intensifies the learning opportunities.
Isn't that all a bit too intense? I hear you ask. No, not really. Spending all the time with teachers doesn't mean sitting in front of a whiteboard 24/7. Good homestay programmes will offer lots of tourist type trips and "ordinary" social trips/activities on top of the 3-5 hours of formal classes. By "ordinary" social trips, I mean things like watching a match at the local pub, going shopping for clothes, food, whatever. These things are integral to life and should therefore be integral to an intensive homestay programme too. Too often with host family type homestays, the family aren't always keen on taking their lodgers shopping or out with their friends. That's not a criticism of these families who do a great job of looking after foreign students but for a truly INTENSIVE learning experience which will make the most of the limited time many business people have then the whole package must be aimed at improving the skills of the student.

Choosing where is another matter. Homestays in London, the south of England, etc tend to be full of people learning English in belfast so I would recommend an out of the way homestay in Belfast, Northen Ireland or any bigger city in Scotland - except Glasgow!