PLEASE HELP ME! A QUESTIONAIRE FOR A PROJECT ABOUT AU-PAIRS

Hello, everybody!

I would like to ask all of you for help. I am doing a project for my English conversation class at school, and I choose the topic 'Going Abroad as an Au-pair' - I want to put together what you have to do to become an au-pair, and aslo find out whether is it beneficial for you to become an au-pair or not. )

Usually, people give questionaires to ask about the something for their project, but I think that putting a questionaire here, would be more useful.




SO COULD ALL OF YOU PLEASE HELP ME AND FILL IN THIS QUESTIONAIRE? (wich is awfully long)

Please copy the whole questionaire into the reply window, and answer the questions. I will do that too, so you will know something about the person which is questioning you )




If you are too shy to put it on the web, please send it to me in a private message. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone )




If you have any other ideas for questions, let me know.




Name:



Age:




Gender:




Where are you from?




Are you an au-pair/nanny/housekeeper?




Which town, region and country are you in as an au-pair?




For how long?




Is it your first time as an au-pair?




If not, write where everywhere you have been, and for how long.




What is your occupation? What did you do before you came? What will you do when you return?




Why did you become an au-pair? (to improve your English/other language, to travel, to earn money, ...)




How did you find your host family? (by yourself or with an agency? please explain how much you had to do, to get there - some agencies do everything for you, and some just give you a contact and don't care further.)




If you came with an agency, does it somehow 'care' for you? (au-pair meetings, sightseeing trips, you can call them if you have trouble with your family and they will find you another one, ...)




How many children are in your host family + their ages and gender?




Do you take care of all of them?




Is it a one or two parent family?




What's the parents' occupation?




Do they have any pets?




Do you look after the pets, too?




Do you do housework? Do you do more housework or childcare?




How many working hours do you have in one week? How much money do you get? (you don't have to answer about the money, if you don't want)




Do you work at weekends? Do you have a routine, or do your working hours change?




What are your duties?




Do you have the possibility to work extra hours and earn extra money?




Do you have a part time job?




Where?




What area does your family live in? (country/small town/city)




Is there a lot to do (places to visit, sport centre, theatre, cinema, pubs, music clubs, ...)




If you live in the country, how far is the nearest town? How often do you go there?




Is the area type a lot different from your home? (e.g country x city, mountains x lowlands)




If so, do you like it?




Did you make a lot of friends? Do you meet other au-pairs? Regularly?




Where did you meet them, how did you find about them?




Do you spend your free time with your family?




Did they welcome you warmly? Do you feel at home, or are you homesick?




Do you eat together (at least dinner)?




Do they take you with them somewhere? (holidays, to cinema, restaurant,...)




Do you understand each other well, or do you have a lot of trouble and arguing?




Do you have simillar hobbies? What are they?




Do they help you with your English (or other language, of course, if you are not in an English speaking country)? Do you talk to you a lot, do they correct your mistakes and teach new words?




How long did you learn English before you came? (if it's not your mother tongue)




Did you improve your English? What did you improve most - speaking, listening, writing, reading, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary?






What helped you most?


Do you go to English courses?




How often?




Do you pay for them? How much?




Do you think it helped your English?




Do you travel a lot? Where?




Do you travel for sightseeing, shopping, or for other reasons?




Do you travel alone/with your family/with friends?




Did you save some money, or do you spend it all?




Do you think that your au-pair stay was a good experience?




Do you want to be an au-pair again?






Do you want to return to your family? (either as an au-pair, or just to see them)





THANK YOU VERY MUCH, IF YOU HAVE SPEND YOUR TIME ANSWERING THIS QUESTIONAIRE, I KNOW IT'S LONG AND BORING. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Name: Jirina




Age: 18




Gender: female




Where are you from?

the Czech Republic


Are you an au-pair/nanny/housekeeper?

housekeeper, most of the time

Which town, region and country are you in as an au-pair?

Stonton Wyville, Leicestershire, England, United Kingdom

For how long?

only 6 weeks during summer 2007

Is it your first time as an au-pair?

yes


If not, write where everywhere you have been, and for how long.




What is your occupation? What did you do before you came? What will you do when you return?

a secondary grammar school student, I am taking my leaving exams this year

Why did you become an au-pair? (to improve your English/other language, to travel, to earn money, ...)

improving English was my first intention. and I wanted to see England, too.

How did you find your host family? (by yourself or with an agency? please explain how much you had to do, to get there - some agencies do everything for you, and some just give you a contact and don't care further.)

www.aupairworld.net for aupairs and families from all aroung the world, but it gives you only the contact and you have to do the rest by yourself

If you came with an agency, does it somehow 'care' for you? (au-pair meetings, sightseeing trips, you can call them if you have trouble with your family and they will find you another one, ...)




How many children are in your host family + their ages and gender?

3 children - 2 girls (14, 10) and a boy (13)

Do you take care of all of them?

I was more a housekeeper and had just to keep an eye on the older two and sometimes care for the youngest one

Is it a one or two parent family?

two parents

What's the parents' occupation?

they are decorators and have their office at home

Do they have any pets?

yes - a dog, a cat, 3 guinea pigs, 6 chickens, 2 ducks and doves

Do you look after the pets, too?

yes, I had to feed them, and to let the birds out of their houses every morning

Do you do housework? Do you do more housework or childcare?

I did more housework - ironing, vacuming, dusting, emptying dishwasher, cooking

How many working hours do you have in one week? How much money do you get? (you don't have to answer about the money, if you don't want)

25 hours for 55 pounds


Do you work at weekends? Do you have a routine, or do your working hours change?

I didn't have to work at weekends and I had fixed working hours every day. But I could change them a little, if I wanted to

What are your duties?

what I wrote above + taking Isla to school bus and making sure the children don't argue

Do you have the possibility to work extra hours and earn extra money?

yes

Do you have a part time job?

no, I only helped in a charity shop in town - I didn't get paid, but they paid my bus ticked

Where?




What area does your family live in? (country/small town/city)

country, a middle of nowhere, really - it takes 20 to get to the bus stop

Is there a lot to do (places to visit, sport centre, theatre, cinema, pubs, music clubs, ...)

no, there was only a post box )


If you live in the country, how far is the nearest town? How often do you go there?

Market Harborough, with ca 18 thousand inhabitans is 6 miles away - I went there once a week

Is the area type a lot different from your home? (e.g country x city, mountains x lowlands)

i live in a town, but it is not very big and close to nature

If so, do you like it?

I liked the countryside, but I couldn't live there for my whole life. and my country is a little more hilly, which i missed a little

Did you make a lot of friends? Do you meet other au-pairs? Regularly?

I didn't make much friends, because I was there only for a short time, but I met 2 other aupairs - one once and once a few times, and I have met a lot of interesting people in the shop
Where did you meet them, how did you find about them?

thanks to this website and Gumtree
Do you spend your free time with your family?

yes, sometimes


Did they welcome you warmly? Do you feel at home, or are you homesick?

they welcomed me warmly, and they are a busy family, I was never bored, so I didn't have time to miss my home

Do you eat together (at least dinner)?

yes, we ate all possible meals together

Do they take you with them somewhere? (holidays, to cinema, restaurant,...)

we didn't travel anywhere, but they took me to a restaurant a few times and to the cinema, too

Do you understand each other well, or do you have a lot of trouble and arguing?

we had a little or no arguments - we always sorted everything out well

Do you have simillar hobbies? What are they?

yes - music, drawing, baking, cooking and they also discussed topics I liked

Do they help you with your English (or other language, of course, if you are not in an English speaking country)? Do you talk to you a lot, do they correct your mistakes and teach new words?

they helped me a lot, talked to me and corrected my mistakes. and always answered my questions about English

How long did you learn English before you came? (if it's not your mother tongue)

6 years

Did you improve your English? What did you improve most - speaking, listening, writing, reading, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary?

I think I have improved speaking a lot and exercised listening and reading. but I think my grammar and writing didn't improve

What helped you most?

talking to people and asking them questions and films and radio

Do you go to English courses?

no, they are closed in summer


How often?




Do you pay for them? How much?




Do you think it helped your English?




Do you travel a lot? Where?

I went only to London, Leicester and Rockingham Castle

Do you travel for sightseeing, shopping, or for other reasons?

sightseeing


Do you travel alone/with your family/with friends?

I prefer travelling alone


Did you save some money, or do you spend it all?

yes, I am a mean person

Do you think that your au-pair stay was a good experience?

yes, it was so good

Do you want to be an au-pair again?

I would like to come for a year

Do you want to return to your family? (either as an au-pair, or just to see them)

I am not sure if I will go to the same family, but I surely want to see them again

Hi Jirina

I answered your questions and sent you an mp!

That's true it's a really long poll lool I begin it I will send you back soonly

Thanks everybody who send me an answer!!!
Now I have 23 answers from here and other forums and I'm get something out of them.

If you want to send me your answes, you have last chance now. ;o)