| • Connecting expats with citizens | ||||||||||||||
| • Dutch Language courses British School | ||||||||||||||
| • Integration course | ||||||||||||||
| • Dutch lessons foreign women | ||||||||||||||
| • Individual language institutes | ||||||||||||||
| • Bilingual education at Hofstad Lyceum | ||||||||||||||
| • Dutch comic Fokke & Sukke in English | ||||||||||||||
| • Helpful publications | ||||||||||||||
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Connecting expats with citizens A project entiltled “De Haagse Brug” (The Hague Bridge), inspired by the Dutch saying “een brug slaan” was launched by Mayor Jozias van Aartsen at a press conference, organized by students, at The Hague Montessori Lyceum. The project intends to create a bridge between the city’s large international community and its citizens. During the coming two years the city will be working with neighbourhood organizations, schools and other international institutes on a number of activities. “We will be going into the neighbourhoods, rather than just staying in City Hall", said America-expert and journalist Willem Post “but there is still a long way to go.” A long overdue but welcome initiative (see our series of Bridging the Gap articles) that intends to organize activities ranging from musical performances to lectures. Presenters of the TV West international programme will be promoting the campaign and expect "de Haagse Brug to provide a 'surge' for the relations between expats and locals." Sources: kleine Posthoorn 24 April 2009 and The Hague Online. |
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| Integration course
In The Hague 1 in 5 residents are of non-Dutch origin, and in the Archipel/Willemspark 1 in 3! To be able to fully participate in the Dutch way of life and to make the most of your time in the Netherlands, it is important to make an effort to integrate to some degree. Just such a naturalization course (inburgeringscursus), supported by the Municipal Council of The Hague, is transmitted on the local TV station: TV West, several times a week in cooperation with etvhaaglanden (educative television). For a virtual Dutch lesson click here |
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Dutch language lessons for foreign women You live in The Hague but do not speak the Dutch language adequately. You would like to learn Dutch, in order to be able to use it in everyday situations like buying groceries, going to the doctor or speaking to your child's school teacher.. What can Stichting Ontmoeting met Buitenlandse Vrouwen (Foundation for Meeting Foreign Women) offer you? The OBV can tell you about ways for you to learn Dutch. French version; Moroccan version; Turkish version. The OBV offers language courses at home or at locations close to your home. They can also advise you about finding another language organisation more suitable to your situation. |
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Individual language institutes
Feedback Talen
Are you looking to survive in Holland? Feedback Talen has been giving crash courses in Dutch for expats for almost 20 years. So, they should know how to help expats make it, at least language-wise. Contact person: Mrs. T. Shannon, Office Manager
Kickstart School info@kickstartschool.nl
Contact person : Josien Deknatel-Brandt Also see article under Direct Talk (Local Directory) ITA Talencentrum info@ita-talencentrum.nl
Taal Select info@taalselect.nl Taal Select is a small-scale company based on expertise in the Dutch and English language. Taal Select focuses on training / coaching and expands on knowledge of the language concerning various subjects targeted towards the clients' wishes. Tureluurlaan 35, 2496, The Hague, 015 361 46 89, 06 156 46 3 95 language-unites@planet.nl British School The British School in The Netherlands (BSN) Language Centre provides quality Dutch and English language courses for both adults and children. Levels are available from beginners up to advanced. The full programmes start in February and September.
Courses for adults and children. The Learn Dutch website is a resource for Distance Learners who like to excercise their mind with a difficult-to-learn language. The online Dutch language course is used in 117 countries. A language school for expatriates and their families living in the Netherlands. All the teachers are native Dutch speakers and are all fully qualified language teachers. They all have broad experience as expatriates themselves. They know what it is to be new in a country, to get settled and to start to understand the things happening around you and to participate in the cultural life of your host country! Unfortunately for Archipel&Willemspark, as of 1 September 2009 the language school Dutch for Expats will no longer give lessons on the Women’s Business Initiative premises, Laan Copes van Cattenburch 86 as it will be moving to its new premises in the schoolbuilding at Adriaan Pauwstraat 41a (close to the Gemeentemuseum) in the Statenkwartier. The team of 13 teachers is active throughout the city of The Hague and will continue offering private lessons to individuals and groups as well as in-company courses in Dutch for Expats outside the Statenkwartier, including the Archipel district. For more information: www.dutchforexpats.nl
There are three different courses - a beginners course, an intensive beginners course and an advanced course. The beginners course is designed for people who have very little or no knowledge of the Dutch language at all. The advanced course is for people who have already completed the beginners course (or another). The intensive beginners course is for people who have lived in the Netherlands for at least a year.
Courses for professional use and daily life
You can decide on a tailor-made training or participate in one of the group conversation courses. Various locations possible, even at your own kitchen table. Open courses start in September 2010. |
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| Hofstad Lyceum The Hague
- TTO education
In Dutch "TTO" stands for Tweetalig Onderwijs and which translates as bilingual education. This means that a number of subjects are taught in English. Not only English lessons, but also history, geography, maths, physics, biology, chemistry, economics, ICT, arts, music, physical education and the mentor class are all taught in English. Contact: Ms Joke Hengefeld |
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| Dutch comic Fokke & Sukke in English
Fokke & Sukke Introduce Themselves, Reid, Geleijnse and Van Tol, 2004; Uitgeverij De Harmonie – ISBN 9061696828, was published in August 2005 and has 80 pages and costs €8.15. Apparently some of the English translations are even funnier than the original Dutch. The translators are Alex Burrough and his wife Jacqueline, who are both great fans and grew up ‘bilingually’ in the Netherlands. Other links: |
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Kickstart's courses were developed to enable expatriate spouses to learn Dutch phrases that are essential for adequate participation and integration into Dutch society.
It has been said that one way to learn Dutch is read every- and anything in Dutch. Another way may be to read examples of popular Dutch ‘literature’ translated into English and hopefully at the same time get an insight into how the Dutch tick. Certainly one way to begin to understand their sense of humour is to buy the first album in English of the comic(al) duo Fokke & Sukke, the cartoon strip featuring a duck and a canary familiar and cherished by just about the whole of the Dutch nation.
Manners in the Netherlands
