GeoVisions Tutor English to a Host Family in France

Here is the bottomline of my experiences with the GeoVisions Tutor a Family in France program.
- I wanted to spend three months in France to experience this wonderful and tutor in english for the first time to see if I enjoyed tutoring and teaching. Initially things started out fine with GeoVisions.
- It turned out I wasn't a good fit for GeoVisions and they couldn't find a suitable family for me. They did persuade a family to take me though, but it was a bad fit from the get go and it was apparent that I wasn't wanted.
- The family confessed this to me along with a local rep also telling me they couldn't find a family for me. GeoVisions did not tell me any of this though as I can only surmise they wanted to keep my fee.
- When things got to a point where a change needed to be made for several reasons, GeoVisions had very little help to offer. They did find a retired couple with no children and no english ( I also came to France to learn the language and told GeoVisions I was a beginner), in a tiny, remote and isolated village. This was not acceptable in any way but I visited the place anyway while nothing convinced me in the least to change my mind so I turned it down. GeoVisions had nothing else to offer so my choices were 1) stay where I was and where I wasn't wanted and was endangering my health (I told them at the beginning that I was allergic to cats. They told me the cats wouldn't be in or at the house but they were. This was far from the only issue). Or 2) Go to this other family which met none of a small list of things I initially wanted ( french language school nearby, a chance to tutor in english), or 3) leave the program.
I left the program after one month (of three I paid for).
You find out a lot about people and organizations when there is a issue or problem. Anyone can be nice and pleasant early on and at least until the check clears. I am a very flexible person and usually can make a situation work. I don't know if I could have culled things out of GeoVisions in the initial stages and avoided this, but I sure wish I tried harder and didn't too easily get caught up in the dreams and fantasies that often occurs in travel. GeoVisions failed in their job. Don't believe their marketing and hype.

I just arrived home last Thursday as I spent a month in Spain after leaving France.

GeoVisions did a superb job matching a French family and a Canadian English instructor!!! Thank You for being the liaison in connecting us. Besides having 4 wonderful children to work with I also had access to the countryside for daily walks with their chocolate lab dog. Living with and meeting friends and relatives of my host family was an excellent way for me to experience the French culture, and partake in French cuisine daily. My relationship with the family shall continue.

I believe it is a plus that the application process with Geovisions allows for candidates to look at the family resumes and see if they would be comfortable living with the family and vice versa. Access to a Geovisions staff member is readily available, another plus!

I would certainly recommend Geovisions to anyone wishing to share their English skills in exchange for experiencing a new culture.

Thanks for providing opportunities for enhancing one's life.