I went to Frankfurt for two months to live with the family of the English head of Imperial Chemical Industries in Germany to give some home tutoring to his two sons, aged 14 and 16.

I would describe the two boys as being ‘bolshie’ – they were uncooperative when I first arrived, but I got on very well with them both (and with the whole family) and they came to see learning through different eyes after a couple of months. We swam a lot together and played a lot of tennis and I found them much changed when I left – they were much more focused on everything and took everything much more seriously. UK schools place a strong emphasis on extra-curricular activities such as sports, music, drama and community services, which develop their skills and interests and attitudes toward their studies.

I fitted into the family very well. They went on holiday for two weeks while I was there, taking a villa above Cannes; it had a lovely swimming pool and tennis court and we fell into a fixed discipline every day and the two boys easily took to it. Two hours studying every morning, swimming before lunch and the afternoon playing tennis. In Frankfurt we had done two hours studying in the morning and two hours in the afternoon with lunch and tennis or swimming in between. The boys did not complain about doing the two hours work every morning on holiday; in fact they said that they looked forward to it. I really believe that I changed their attitude to work – and to their tennis and swimming; they took all three things more seriously and seemed to enjoy them more.

I understand from their father that their housemaster’s report from Eton the following term said that he found the two of them had radically changed their attitude to their work and their sports. I was very pleased. PL