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<< Cultural Homestay International

Travel to Italy on a Budget

World Explorers is the the ideal program for adventure travelers, a gap year or traveling on a budget. You receive a private room and three daily meals in exchange of teaching English for 15 hours weekly to your host family.

The rest of the time is yours to explore as you wish!

Neither degree nor experience is required. You also don’t need to speak the local language. 
Your Destination

Italy

Famous City
Turin
Popular Dish
Pasta
Main Tourist Attraction
Canals of Venice
Currency
$1 buys $0.92 European Euro

Are you tired of using the expression, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do?” Stop saying it and just do it! Join World Explorers in Italy and experience the country as a local. Italy is famous not only its delicious cuisine and rich history, but also for its extravagant architecture and gorgeous landscape. Italy is a long peninsula shaped like a boot, surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula’s backbone, and the Alps line its northern boundary. There are also several islands that belong to Italy, the largest and most famous being Sicily and Sardinia. It is adjacent to France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia but remains quite culturally distinct from its neighbors.

Your number one priority is to spend quality time with your Italian hosts, and to practice English with them for 15 hours per week. Your goal will be to help your hosts gain confidence speaking English with you, and ideally you will also want to practice speaking Italian with them. Family is perhaps the most important aspect of Italian culture. Italians have frequent family gatherings and enjoy spending time with those in their family. Family gatherings are often centered around food. For Italians, food isn’t just nourishment – it’s life. When you aren’t tutoring your host family in English, you may be learning how to make the world’s best pasta!

CHI works with trusted partners in Italy to find the best host families possible for you. We can guarantee placements near the city center in Turin. Turin is the capital city of Piedmont in northern Italy, known for its refined architecture and cuisine. There is a major university in Turin and you will find many young people hanging out in cafes. Ski trips to the Alps are also popular. Many of our host families in Turin have high school aged children. Placements may be available in other parts of Italy, but we ask that you are flexible with your location. Recent placements have been near Florence, Rome and Bologna.

This program is ideal for Italian language learners. Immersing yourself into the culture is the best way to become fluent in Italian. You can also attend Italian classes for an additional cost. Your local coordinator can help you find an Italian language school. This is also a great way to meet other people learning Italian in Italy.

World Explores is an independent travel program. You need to be a self-starter to make sure you find things to do in your free while your host parents are at work and your host brothers and sisters are at school. You will have a local coordinator that can give you advice about things to do, but you are ultimately responsible to keep yourself busy. We can give you ideas about how to make friends in Italy and how you can get involved with the local community.

Yes! You are welcome to do some traveling before, during our after your homestay program in Italy. Take a weekend trip to see the Colosseum in Rome, cruise the canals of Venice or climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Past participants have also taken advantage of visiting other European countries thanks to affordable airlines serving Italy.

We offer an exciting opportunity to gain teaching experience in a local middle school in the Turin region through our longtime partner agency, a leader in the student exchange industry. As a Teacher’s Assistant in Italy, you will help out in an English class 15-18 hours per week. You will live with a host family near the school where you will be working. This is a wonderful hands-on opportunity for participants studying to be a teacher. It also fills your days so that you have a daily routine during your stay in Italy. The program runs twice per year, in the fall and spring semesters. The start dates are at the end of September and at the end of January.

Other fun travel programs in Italy include:

  • Working at a summer camp for kids as a Camp Counselor
  • Working as an Au Pair Abroad

Contact a WE customer care specialist for more information.

Some of the overseas partner agencies we work with place restrictions on age. We recommend this destination for travelers ages 18-50+. Some older candidates may be considered, but we cannot guarantee it.

REQUIREMENTS

In order to teach English in Italy you must:

Be at least 18 years old

Be a high school graduate

Be flexible and adaptable to a different culture

Be respectful of your host family’s rules

Be a fluent English speaker *

* from the United States, Canada, UK, Australia or New Zealand. Residents from other countries may only be considered if they are completely fluent in English
Travel options from 30 to 90 days

Program Costs

CHI is a non-profit organization, but we still have fixed costs that are necessary for running the program. Our overseas partners are actually for-profit, and we must take that into consideration as well. Our partners do the work to find and screen excellent host families that match your interests and needs!

30 days

$60

$50

per day

$1499

total

60 days

$45

$27

per day

$1599

total

90 days

$30

$19

per day

$1699

total

Compare World Explorers with hostels and budget hotels

A great way to travel on a budget

Live as a local, being hosted by locals. It is cheaper and you learn valuable insights about their culture and way of life.

Hostel

$5607
total

Budget Hotel

$6489
total
Best Choice

World Explorers

$2099

$1699
total

Experiences abroad

This was my great adventure. In truth, as I arrived in Rome, I felt right at home. My host family was better than I expected. The hospitality was second to none. They gave me my own room. They taught me how to cook delicious Italian dishes. They took into Rome's city center numerous times and showed me all the historic sites. The hospitality even reached beyond the immediate family and extended to the grandparents' and family friends.
World Explorer in Italy
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World Explorers in Italy?

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