The comforts of home are all par for the course

needs of foreign students.

DOING Bed & Breakfast for tourists provides an income for many Scots

but less well known is the summer harvest of kids. Thousands of foreign

teenagers flock here to learn English each summer, and since their aim

is to live like the natives accommodation needn't be five star.

You don't need en suite loos, matching china or napkins on the

breakfast table. You don't need to cook bacon and eggs. And you can put

complete strangers in a double room (it's better for their English if

they don't speak each other's language). For these services you should

receive upwards of #70 a week half board -- tax free as long as your

total income from letting doesn't exceed #3250.

Teaching English As A Foreign Language (TEFL) is Britain's sixth

largest invisible export according to Margot Huggins, principal of the

Edinburgh School of English. Her school also has centres in Aberdeen and

Dundee and she places more than 1000 students with host families each

year, the high season being July and August.

Students include EC nationals, Poles, Bulgarians, Japanese and Arabs.

I asked if host families could specify nationality with a view to

improving their own children's languages and Huggins grew a shade

defensive: ''We would try but couldn't guarantee it. The object is not

to help the family's children although I know there are spin-offs.''

Families can specify a minimum age for students: ''Most are in the

15-17 range but we have had them as young as ten,'' says Huggins. ''In

that case I normally suggest a residential course but if a ten-year old

chose to stay with a family he or she would have to be able to travel by

bus to the school.''

Interestingly, host families don't always have children themselves.

''It's impossible to find enough families with children in the right age

bracket. Most of our hosts are parents with small children or people

whose families have grown up and left them with a spare room. Often

these are best because they have time to chat to students.''

Accommodation is inspected once a year and rooms should include a desk

and chair. From the family's point of view it's wise to check that

students will be out all day, especially if they are minors and you are

out at work yourself.

The question of who holds responsibility for children -- the host

family or the school -- is a sticky one and Huggins likes to think of it

as ''joint responsibility''. A 24-hour answering service and contact

number are provided in case of emergency.

Providers of B&B don't have such a weight of responsibility but one

thing they do have in common with host families is the irregular and

often impromptu nature of bookings. Students may decide to go on a

course or drop out at the last minute and cancellation fees are small.

Laura, a mother of three, who was for a while dependent on the income,

coped by registering with several schools and taking three students at a

time.

Providing a balanced diet for them was a challenge she finally gave up

on. ''Being kids they were faddy anyway. But I used to get annoyed at

cooking a good dinner then discovering they'd already filled up on a

Wimpy. You can't expect them to adapt in a short period. It's hard for a

Spaniard to eat at six if in Spain it's ten. And Italians are used to

huge lunches.''

A little mothering can complement the catering though. Mary remembers

going out of her way to provide prunes for a 17-year-old Italian

hypochondriac who was concerned that his bowels hadn't moved since his

arrival in Scotland.

On another level the concept of ''joint responsibility'' can lead to

moral dilemmas. If you suspect a 17-year-old Greek is spending her free

evenings in the pub do you tackle her about it or turn a blind eye? And

what about sex? ''I once let an 18-year-old German stay out beyond the

school curfew of 10pm,'' says Laura. ''But I went to bed early and she

sneaked a boy from her group into the house for the night. Frankly, at

18, I don't care whether she had sex or not but it wasn't good manners

and it earned me a black mark with the school director when the boy's

family reported he hadn't returned.''

Course organisers generally have their ideas of national types well

formed. Sarah Atkinson, Administrative Assistant for TEFL courses at

Jordanhill College in Glasgow says: ''Germans are easy going; Spanish

and Italian females tend to be insecure -- if they don't like a place in

the first five minutes, that's it; the Japanese love everything.''

Glasgow is a relative newcomer to the host family business and

Atkinson mainly places students of 18 or over, although Jordanhill does

run English courses for children. ''We have a group of 40 from the

Barcelona area this summer but thankfully I'm not arranging their

accommodation. They'll be at ''home stays'' in Stirling.

''I organised host families for children for the first time last year

. . . Spaniards, Italians and Saudis. If a landlady is prepared to take

a child I offer more money -- say, #130 full board compared to #90 half

board for an adult. You have to take into account trips to the zoo,

snacks and the added responsibility.''

Her youngest client, a nine-year-old Libyan boy, shared a room with

the host's children -- aged nine and seven. ''I think he enjoyed it,''

says the father of the family. ''To a certain extent he was the typical

poor little rich kid. He went to school in Rome and his father did

business internationally.''

And how does a stream of foreign visitors affect the host's own

children? ''They don't learn another language but they get an awareness

of difference -- that people can be different colours, come from

different cultures. It breaks down any potential 'attitude'. And

children are curious. They ask students about where they're from . . .

what it's like there. I think we all learn a great deal.''

* Margaret Huggins can be contacted at Edinburgh School of English,

271 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BQ (031 557 9200).