Practicalities

Riding a Bike

Cambridge is a city for cyclists!

The best way to travel around Cambridge is by bike. When you come to CIO you will be given a bike if you need one. If you are from the UK and can bring your own bike that would be great.

Our host families mostly live between 15 and 30 minutes cycle from the town centre.

We do try our best to put those who can’t ride a bike in host families no more than 30 minutes walk from the centre.

Each day you will make one journey into town (in the morning) and one journey back to your host family (after the café, late at night). Occasionally you may need to cycle somewhere in the day time e.g. on an errand.

English Level

To join a CIO team you need to be confident with your English level. All the team training and Bible teaching will be in English.

You will be speaking and listening to English every day. Your English level needs to be good enough to understand seminars and Bible teaching in English, and to help the language students we are meeting with their English. As well as having good listening skills you should be confident in having conversations in English. We recommend an equivalent of at least 550 points in TOEFL or 6 in IELTS.

Please don’t come on the team if your main reason is to improve your English!

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will I stay?

Team members stay for free with local Christian families. The team fee helps to cover admin and food costs. So apart from travelling and a little money for food on Saturdays and any extra costs you might have, you shouldn't need much money extra to the team fees.

A good level of English is important to help you take part in the team, so if you can practise your English as much possible (speaking and listening) between now and the team, that would help.

Can I do more than one team?

Yes, you can do more than one team but you will need to check with us about this. It's also wise to have a discussion with the CIO leaders about how you will make sure you can get through multiple teams without being burned out.