想要到中國旅游，經濟又不太寬裕的老外們注意了：中國部分家庭從上月起開始提供英語課程換免費住宿服務，只要每天能夠保證至少兩小時的英語交流時間，來中國旅游的老外便可以在提供該服務的中國家庭免費住宿。推出此項服務的是中國一個叫“老友記”的非盈利性組織。他們指出，目前國內英語課程的學費日漸看漲，而同時各大城市，尤其在上海，旅游業住宿的費用也隨著上海世博會的召開而逐漸升溫，提供這樣的服務既可以滿足外國游客的需求，同時也能為普通中國家庭找到純正的生活英語學習環境。據該組織創始人介紹，此項服務推出一個月來，已經有5000個中國家庭申請加入。除免費住宿外，申請此服務的外國游客還可享受機場接送及一日兩餐的服務，另外還可用英語課程換取導游或者中國烹飪課程等服務。
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Travelers can choose to exchange their language for free accommodation, tour guiding or even Chinese cooking lessons.
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Visitors seeking to see China on a budget would do well to brush up their English language skills to take advantage of a scheme that offers free lodging in Chinese homes in exchange for English tutoring.
With the cost of one hour of English tuition costing up to 500 yuan ($73.26) -- unaffordable for the vast majority of Chinese -- a not-for-profit Chinese organization called Tourboarding launched the initiative last month.
Lodgers must speak at least two hours of English a day in return for their keep while their Chinese hosts can learn for free from a resident live-in English teacher.
"In the past 30 days, 5,000 Chinese families have signed up," said Ken Chen, 38, one of the founding members for Tourboarding.
Chen said the aim of the company, which is run online (www.tourboarding.com/), is not to make money but to provide opportunity for the millions of Chinese keen to learn English.
Tourboarding hopes to tap into foreign demand for cheap accommodation in China, particularly in Shanghai, as hotel prices have soared since the start of the World Expo in May.
"Travel industry hates us, people love us," is the motto on its website, which prides itself on offering travelers airport pick-up and drop off, free accommodation with a family and two meals a day.
Travelers can choose to exchange their language for free accommodation, tour guiding or even Chinese cooking lessons.
Yang Yang, 16, a female student in Shanghai advertises her home on the Tourboarding website to prospective travelers: "The house is next to a lake, green is good. We can offer single rooms for you to live. My parents want me to invite a woman."
Chen said Yang is just one example of a rising number of Chinese opening their homes to foreigners in the hope of improving their English.
"We accept travelers from all over the world. In the future we will copy this model to imitate in new, booming countries such as Russia, Brazil and Vietnam," said Chen.
Chen who quit his job at Nike Sports China, joined forces with Nuno Zhang, 28, an ex-Google employee to create the Tourboarding concept. The company started up in April.
He added that the website would rely on donations from travelers until volume traffic increases.
"In the future we will bring in advertising to make the service sustainable but we will not charge hosts at all as they are from a developing country," Chen added.
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(Agencies)
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
