'Shortage' of families to host foreign students

The Federation of English Teaching Organisations - Malta (Feltom) has expressed concern at the shortage of families to host foreign students studying English in Malta.

Feltom yesterday said it had asked the Minister of Tourism and Culture to introduce a seasonal licence for host families at a reduced fee in order to encourage more families to offer their services.

It explained that some families who hosted students during the summer months were at a disadvantage in winter as they lived in an area that was not ideal for offering such a service.

It had therefore recommended that seasonal licences be issued to these families at a lower fee than the annual licence, which costs Lm60 in addition to a Lm20 contribution to the Malta Tourism Authority.

This issue was discussed at Feltom's recent annual general meeting.

The federation's outgoing board reported that joint advertising with the MTA is to be offered to all language schools on a voluntary basis.

Feltom's request for financial aid or fiscal concessions had also been met favourably by the MTA thanks to EU structural funds being extended to English language schools. Some of the schools were already benefiting from such grants.

The MTA has also produced a flyer outlining the positive aspects of hosting students and mailed them to 26,000 households across Malta and Gozo.

The board said it had met top officials of the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) monitoring board and discussed, among other issues, the criteria for new school licences. It expressed its concern at the increase in the number of new licences and recommended that the set criteria be reviewed soon.

John Dimech was unanimously re-elected president of Feltom during the AGM. The members of the new executive board are Rebecca Brincat, secretary, Jeremy Cassar Torreggiani, treasurer, Greg Burrel, quality director, and Paul Fenech, member.