Foreign student for a week - what to do ?

A French friend has asked us if he can send his 13 year old for a week during the Feb holidays to learn English. We are delighted to have her, but are at a loss as to what she can do every day when we are both at work.

Does anybody have any ideas ? Do you think a local secondary school might let her sit in for a week ? Or are there any activities we could organize for her (Clare/Galway region) ?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

jrewing said:

A French friend has asked us if he can send his 13 year old for a week during the Feb holidays to learn English. We are delighted to have her, but are at a loss as to what she can do every day when we are both at work.

(Clare/Galway region)

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Maybe clean your house? Seriously though, who is going to look after her?

Can't see a secondary school taking on a babysitting role ... insurance implications etc.

If you are both at work I can't see how you could take on the responsibility. Even if you get somebody to look after her you'd be ultimately responsible if something happens. Do you want that? What if the child got sick ... could you get off work to pick her up? You need to consider all implications.

Even taking her to your work places is probably out of the question ... insurance again ... and she's too young to be on 'work placement' .... and 'work placement' has its own insurance implications.

You would need to be available if you take the child in .... one option you could consider is taking time off work to show her the sights etc.

Other than that I have no practical solution to offer.

Is there a chance that the week coincides with a break in your local schools? If it does, perhaps you know the parents of neighbouring children of the same age, and can work something out with them.

Maybe you have family that could take her around - shopping, cinemas, bowling etc

If you are not there during the day, you should not take on the responsibility of minding the child. It would be unreasonable of any foreign friend/parent to send over a child into those conditions.

I should have clarified - Mrs Ewing works from home, so she won't be left home alone.

As suggested, I think insurance etc would cause a problem for sending her to a local school. We will do our best to organize some evening activities for her in the local youth club etc.