• Privacy policy
  • Translator – ProZ.com Pro member
  • About

Learning and teaching English in the Netherlands

~ A fine WordPress.com site

Learning and teaching English in the Netherlands

Tag Archives: education in the netherlands

Intercultural life in the Netherlands

06 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by ZJShen-PSimon in child development, Dutch culture, education, immigration, intercultural learning, Netherlands

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

appreciation of variety, cultural variety, education, education in the netherlands, intercultural festival, Netherlands, primary school

cl_043_ 001I’ve almost begun this post as most of my Chinese students back then in China began most of their (almost always very optimistic) papers: “In our highly developed, modern society …” But before I completely change my mind, let me begin by saying that in our societies in Europe, it’s more important than before that our children appreciate variety in the world, learn to understand and live alongside various other cultures than their own immediate background. When knives and guns are aimed from left and right at people that others think are ‘different’, meaning ‘strange’, ‘dangerous’, ‘threatening’ and this feeling is sometimes enhanced by the reality that others may actually be that, what can we do? When we think of ‘us’ v. ‘others’, let’s not forget that in such equations, we are ‘others’ to them just like that. And when we think that ‘others’ are dangerous, it means we are dangerous too and then how can we stay alive?

In today’s Europe this question is debated all over. What I was surprised to hear a few month back was that the largest country of the EU, which also has been having probably the largest imported work force, from Turkey, for that matter, has always forgotten about language teaching to those working for them. Thanks to improved understanding and policy, Germany may soon start teaching their language to those who have come and worked in Germany.

Great move. Hopefully not too late. But here in the Netherlands, such policies have long been in place and contributed to the peaceful living together of millions of people from all over the world, lots of whom are not only from former colonies, and lots of whom are muslims, or at least non-Christians.

P1120868I’ve already praised the language teaching system that allows immigrating adults to learn Dutch almost free of charge, or at least very cheaply and efficiently. Now I’ve just witnessed workings of a perhaps even more important ground for future peace: a primary school. The bigger kid of the Chinese partner to this post has already been going to school for a year. I’ve often seen kids coming or going to that school and already known that it lies in a ‘mixed nationality’ area of town. This means that probably all nationalities are represented at school, form Moroccans and Turks through Chinese, Indonesians, Thai, Surinamese and Syrians to Somalis and other black Africans. These can be very well seen in the area, but let’s add a probably huge number of Polish and some Hungarian people and we have a real cauldron.

So far I’ve found kids after school very interesting because most of them are so little that they have to be picked up by parents at the end of the day. Then I can see they talk their own languages to their parents but happily talk Dutch to all their friends to say good-bye. Nice. And of course the language of instruction inside is Dutch. The common denominator is important for understanding the society around us and to integrate into it.

P1120858Now, the school finds the original cultures of their kinds also important. We can’t deny that these exist: those parents (or their parents earlier) have come from somewhere else and it’s just natural that mother speaks her mother tongue to her children. The great thing is that the school understands the values embedded in such diversity. Instead of pointing at each others with grins, they are given the opportunity to first take everything around them at face value and accept it – no kid even realizes that some of them have very dark skins, others very white, yet again others different eyes or something – and then at the end of the school year, the school organizes a little festival to bring out the values inherent in the population of the school. This is what I’m going to show you parts below.

P1120861First, it was interesting to hear that the leader of the event found it important to wear a clothes and a piece of jewellery from Somalia. And to tell the kids about it too, and proudly at that.

As kids start going to school at age 4 in the Netherlands, no wonder the whole things was sometimes quite noisy, yet, it was apparently to all kids’ interests and they took part in chorus singing with obvious enthusiasm.

At the beginning there was Turkish dancing for everybody’s delight – even some teachers joined towards the end.

Most of the event contained singing and as parents were also invited not only to attend but also to take part, the co-writer of this blog decided to contribute as well.

The following are the recordings I took of her performing two Chinese songs. Her first performance started with inviting kids to help her play out the scene in the lullaby, thereby making the foreign text somewhat understandable to the very young audience. For those who find the Dutch introduction too long, the song starts at 5′ into the video. What I find important here is the children’s enthusiasm to join the ranks on the stage.

With the next song, teachers were asked to participate, again to great cheers. Children of all nationalities were chanting their favourite teacher’s names to make them join a song they knew they would not understand. Here the song starts rolling at 4′ into the recording.

There was also a very nice, colourful act with pairs of little ones parading clothes worn in their (or rather, their parents’) country of origin, again to great cheering from the audience.

The even practically closed with a Dutch song. The kids’ performance itself was not of the most outstanding quality but they had all volunteered in the first place, like the others, but what is here very important is that this is a Dutch song in front of a very multi-cultural audience, of which the most enthusiastic co-singers were ….

I hope my dear visitor also enjoyed the above and understands what I mean without me going on ranting about it. I just wish the world had a lot more similar institutions, events and joy about our differences and we can see more and proud wearers of such fabulous clothes and singers of such enchanting songs like on that day.

by Z.J.S. and P.S.

Advertisement

Send Dutch applicants … no. 2

13 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by ZJShen-PSimon in education, foreign language teaching, Netherlands, work in Dutch education

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

education in the netherlands, European Union, Teaching English as a foreign language

I’ve just received a very derogatory message to my earlier post which may or may not be right. However, this coincided with a few calls I also received these days from a few job agencies and schools enquiring about my availability, although I stopped applying or advertising myself as a teacher of English more than a year ago. I’ve amassed perhaps 250 refusals over the six years I’ve been living here, how could I go on living on teaching without teaching? Yet, this remark bills my earlier post as judgemental, probably meaning biassed, and based on stereotypes.

As to judging the Dutch education system as a whole, I can’t have anything to say. I have no overall picture. It seems to work and do its job. As to working for me as a teacher, it clearly is judgemental, i.e., biassed against anyone not yet having experience working in it. I have worked in it once for a small project. However, when I told the job agency person that my experience was with a military facility, she clearly changed her mind and didn’t come back to me about the open post she may have had for me. That wouldn’t count for a school job was the meaning.

So, after teaching English in two other countries for 30 years counts nothing in this country. If it doesn’t, if being a top professional means nothing in the Netherlands, I can only say the system is biassed against everybody from outside here. They say, “Have you experience in the Dutch education system? No? Then you won’t ever have it. Bye-bye!”

It’s not my stereotype, not my judgement. If the Chinese can accept that an expert teacher may not be from an English-speaking country, but this country can’t, that’s a judgement against foreigners, based on the stereotype: only English people can teach English! Right? Then which English people? A poor under-educated chap from Detroit? Or Glasgow? Someone who couldn’t even get his or her GCSE? So: wrong!

The other part of my criticism in the above-mentioned post was to claim that if this is the opinion of the system about foreign experts, then they should not advise anyone to employ Dutch people abroad. How dare they? They aren’t willing to employ anyone here without Dutch experience, so how could Dutch work abroad without having any experience working abroad? It’s simply the other side of the same coin. Nonsense. Their practice is against EU laws about free movement of workers claiming a possible exemption in educational matters. They should be exempted in the same way when trying to get employed outside. They should let others with experience there work there. Or even those without it. Or allow others to work here as they are meant to instead of wasting the talent they have to offer them.

by P. S.

Life is looking up at long last

04 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by ZJShen-PSimon in English teaching, foreign language teaching, language teaching, work in Dutch education

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

adult teaching, education in the netherlands, English as a foreign or second language, English language, grammar-translation method, Teaching English as a foreign language

For the sake of those friends who have been following my blog regularly and may be in the same shoes, I’d like to let known that I suddenly got a freelancer’s job to teach for money. It is adult teaching, which suits me really fine.

I have also got into a fruitful relationship with a translation agency outside the Netherlands, and the two kinds of work combined give me enough to do, enough to live on and stop me feeling frustrated. With the teaching I also hope that, whatever happens, next time nobody comes back to me saying that I have no experience in this country and I haven’t been teaching for a long time. I’m doing it, and it’s good.

by P.S.

The System of the Dutch State Language Examination – part 1

24 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by ZJShen-PSimon in education, language learning, language testing, learning Dutch, Netherlands

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, Dutch, Dutch as a foreign language, education in the netherlands, Rote learning, tests

In this post, we’d like to shed some light on this system for the sake of those only considering taking to studying the language at the time of reading and later planning to take an exam. The system is described in detail on the English version of the DUO web-site, but instead of repeating some tedious details, we’d like to outline some of the facts more from the perspective of the student and his/her needs.

There are three kinds of exams in the system. The first is the so-called “inburghering” exam, which, from the language point of view, corresponds to level A2 of the Common European Framework. Above this is the NT2 Staatsexamen Niveau 1, which corresponds to B1 level, and then the same at Niveau 2, which corresponds, on paper, to the higher B2 level.

The first sort is actually necessary for those from outside the EU wishing to stay in the Netherlands for a longer period and get Dutch nationality, that is, “inburghering”, to become Dutch citizens. Until now, in order to pass, the candidate has had to, among others, choose the correct response in various more-or-less official situations, which necessitates knowledge of some laws and a lot of customs in the country. Another part involved choosing the correct responses in small everyday situation. Sadly, preparatory courses to prepare for such tasks take the form of rote-learning contests and the winners remember the most of the necessary reactions well to be able to make the correct choices on screen. From the student’s point of view, teaching is a nightmare.

Another part of the exam has been to record the opposites of words read out in the head-phone on the computer. We consider this to be very far from language use as well, still, it demands a bit more active participation than clicking choices. Preparation for such tasks is also a nightmare. Not very much better was a part where the candidate was required to re-tell and record a small story read out to him/her by the computer. This task seems to require active participation, but actually, its point is to instantly memorize and regurgitate things heard. Tiring and very testing on concentration, but not very realistic either.

Besides three central parts, this exam included a practical portfolio as well, which the candidate had to fill in with the results of actual conversations with people, often at offices of the police, or a lawyer, or in a shop, and this is where it made sense. This was the only really valuable part, except that it was sometimes possible to cheat, and preparation for it was rather half-hearted.

This system has now been changed into a five-part central test. Besides the usual four basic skills, knowledge of the Dutch society still forms a part. We must point out that preparatory courses on this level teach very little of the language, there is little language practice during lessons, so there is very little room even to understand basic Dutch grammar there. Hopefully, the new, more skill-based exam engenders more language teaching instead of rote-learning, yet, at least until this becomes the norm, perhaps within a number of years, those starting to learn Dutch from scraps are well advised to first follow a good Dutch course in their own country and learn the basic necessities, and then undertake an “inburgheringscursus”. For those with other, deeper interests, understanding and learning from a spouse is always a better option.

For those who do not need to get nationalized, but wish to learn the language and take exams, we strongly advise to avoid such courses here. Instead, they had better bring up their level to A2 in other ways and then follow a B1-level course. After sudden changes and economic downturns in the country, there is now very little state subsidy coming in the way of the participant, so you have to look carefully what you pay for. Besides, the cost of the examinations have doubled for this year, so now expect to have to pay €180 for a full NT2 exam on both levels. And that after a course already cost you a thousand or two. On the other hand, exam courses may sometimes well serve you to get you acquainted with the demands and required techniques of each part of the state exam. After you’ve already learned the language well.

For nationalization, you are not required to raise your language level above A2, that is, after the “inburghering” exam, you can simply stop and become a housewife. NT2 exams are necessary, however, if you want to follow studies. Level 1 is needed for you to follow secondary courses, to become a nurse, or cook, or the like, or to get a simple job; level 2 is necessary if you want to go to university. We are not saying that those exams are enough for those purposes, but that the paper about them are prerequisites. Institutions and work-places retain their rights to individually look at what the applicant’s language is like. But don’t worry – if you are capable of obtaining one or the other diploma, the studies you follow will take care of the further development of your language. Just do not expect anyone to teach you the language when you already follow school or university courses – you have to have a sufficient basis to succeed on your own. We have to add that, on the job market, in certain industries where there is a real shortage of highly skilled manpower, like it is with ICT turners, reasonable levels of speaking English, or German are enough to get a well-paid job.

As our experience with Level 1 is more than a year old, we are not going into details about that. That and Level 2 of NT2 is now renewed and is still in the process in that it is not yet fully computerized, but it is going to be until the end of 2013. Besides, there are only a few small differences between the tests at Level 1 and Level 2, the difference being mostly of quality and level, not of kind. However, more recent experience of others also indicate that there is a thematic difference between the two levels: on Level 1, the candidate has to switch roles or react to situations more in everyday life, simple work tasks and the like, like talk to a neighbour, or give instructions about using office equipment, or give directions somewhere; whereas on Level 2, the candidate has to read, or write about, or react to tasks and roles that require interests in higher education, like work procedures of a physiotherapist, manager of a national park, or an entrepreneur in commerce or art.

At the moment, half of the writing part of NT2 is done on paper, but it will cease to be soon, so the candidate must have ample typing skills. The timing and so the tempo of the test requires more speed than how we can type with two fingers, so be prepared to acquire this skill by all means. In both halves, there are a number of shorter tasks, like one or two sentences to be filled in an e-mail, and a couple of longer texts to be composed. As we are allowed to use dictionaries, the skills for doing that is also of importance for success. The length of each part is about one hour, so it is also a matter of perseverance.

Much more difficult is the speaking part, of which we are going to talk tomorrow along with the listening and reading part. Stay tuned if you have the interest.

By Z.J.Shen and P.S.

Related articles
  • Thinking of doing an accredited English course? (castleforbescollege.wordpress.com)

I’ve found a solution … sort of

03 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by ZJShen-PSimon in English teaching, foreign language teaching, language teaching, language testing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, education in the netherlands, Language education, Second language, teaching foreign languages

They’ve never told me about it, because they’ve never suspected it could be otherwise … I’ve never asked about it because I’ve never suspected it could be so …

But here it is. There is a possible solution to the problem of why an English teacher can’t get a job without talking superb Dutch. I’ve uncovered it through my efforts to get that elusive job, and voilá! The other day, I received a sample of the kinds of tests secondary pupils face while being tested at a VMBO-school. Here is the beginning:

Tekst 1

(1p) 1 Wat vindt Katie het engst aan de gebeurtenis die hieronder beschreven wordt?

A dat er mensen zijn die haar bang willen maken

B dat het horloge na een jaar opeens weer opduikt

C dat het kennelijk echt spookt in hun huis

D dat hun huis inbraakgevoelig blijkt te zijn

And then comes an English text to go with this item. The test goes on like this, and even when one of four choices needs to be supplied into gaps of another text, the last question is of the translation/interpretation kind:

7 Geef van elk van de volgende beweringen aan of deze juist of onjuist is op grond van de alinea’s 6 en 7. Omcirkel ‘juist’ of ‘onjuist’ in je uitwerkbijlage.

a Bij een half uur joggen verbruik je meer calorieën dan bij een half uur touwtjespringen.

b Bij touwtjespringen worden alleen de benen goed getraind.

c Touwtjespringen is volgens veel jonge mannen typisch iets voor meisjes.

d Sommige vechtsporters trainen ook door touwtje te springen.

Which means, of course, that not only do the students have to translate for themselves all the time (I’ve already written about the drawback thereof), but the teacher also has to understand and be able to explain why some answers are incorrect and others are correct.

On top of this, the final year of the lower-high and upper-high-school is a test-year, which means students are given test practice throughout the year. I can’t imagine how much drilling of grammar and translation goes on there because I’ve always worked on the principle that if the language is well-based and fluent and assured enough corresponding to the level of the applicant, the test won’t be a problem. If students converse and read and write freely on, let’s say, B2 level, passing a test on B2 level will also be easy for them with a minimum of test preparation, which I consider a very ineffective and time-consuming way of language development itself. It is necessary to give such practice for the sake of understanding what the testers want from them and how.

As far as I remember – which is more than 40 years ago, when I began to study English at grammar school – our books and tests were written by the Hungarian authors and our teacher in English. I’ve done state examination training, corrected university entrance tests and the like, but I’ve never seen a test given in the students’ mother tongue … well, perhaps there were a few in China, but as far as I remember what they showed me there, they were tests written in English. The student has to understand the task in English. This is simply a reading task, also measuring in itself the understanding of the target language, full-stop. I can imagine no reason why the Dutch have to make it extra complicated for their children by making them translate even if they have a chance of understanding it in English – and that’s the point of the test, isn’t it?

It makes me a bit more optimistic that others tell me students at the higher-level theoretical schools, like ‘gymnasium’ and the like, get tested by English-language tests. But I’ve also got insider information which suggests that that the level of English of even some HBO-groups are so shaky that students need Dutch-language instruction and testing.

My other discovery is connected to one school’s brochure, which states that

De docenten van de moderne vreemde talen van het … College hebben de afgelopen twee schooljaren gebruikt om de lessen, de toetsen en de schoolexamens aan te passen aan de kwaliteitseisen die aan het ERK zijn verbonden.

English: CEFR and ESOL examinations correspond...

English: CEFR and ESOL examinations correspondence diagram (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Which is to say that the school’s teachers of modern languages have been adjusting their classes, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for the last two years. Which is to say … two years. The first draft of CEFR came out in 1997, although it is true that the Reference Supplement came out in 2009.

I have very big doubts about the application of the CEFR in the Netherlands. Although a Dutch committee prepared the Reading/Listening Grid, I doubt that the team-leader, J. Charles Alderson of Lancaster University would really have advocated the use of the mother tongue with these items, and because the committee had members from France, Germany and Finland, I don’t think they all used their mother tongues while formulating the common reference points. Saying this, I have to admit that I haven’t read CEFR and I’m not intending to in the short term, so I could also say, anything goes. But then, why do they have CEFR? And if they do, how could anyone not speaking Dutch solve such a test? Does this conform to CEFR?

English: Map of the Council of Europe members ...

English: Map of the Council of Europe members and other European countries with their population figures. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My personal feeling is that most of the earlier tests were not re-written in the Netherlands, although some texts are said to be from sources around 2009. Also, this is how they’ve been making tests for as long as they remember … And see, even the Council of Europe deems Dutch test-makers to be worthy of preparing a large chunk, so it must be alright. Nobody thought it could be otherwise, as I pointed out above. Also, two years is not a long period, they may be waiting for what’s happening in the longer term.

In the Netherlands, testing is in the hands of the highly-regarded CITO, the Central Testing Agency, and they don’t expect any primary pupils to understand tasks in English or other respective languages, so all their all-important final exams for primary education have Dutch instructions for foreign languages. So that’s what teachers have to prepare their students for, obviously in Dutch. By extension, logic dictates that, if test solutions have to be discussed in Dutch, teachers have to explain grammar and other stuff in Dutch during preparation to tests, so the language of instruction is also Dutch. And if the system doesn’t change for secondary levels, nobody is going to complain there, right?

For me, though, Dutch foreign language education does not seem a jot better than its Chinese counterpart, as long as I can’t see it from inside. What makes the two systems very different in terms of efficiency is the social and economic system surrounding them in general, and the outside-school possibilities for learning in particular.

Some professional opinion points towards change, though, saying that in the very last few years there seems to have begun some tendency to implement target-language instruction in language classes. I dearly hope that the ‘Age of Latin’ is on the wane here too, at long last, and I may ride a wave of target-language instruction to my first teaching job in the country. Touch wood …

by P.S.

Related articles
  • Cambridge English Exams Approved for UK Tier for Student Visas (prweb.com)
  • Languages less spoken (thehindu.com)
  • Japanese highly unhappy with English education quality in the country (japandailypress.com)
  • Test Designers in USA Seek Help of Students (Education Week)

Interesting features of education – Part 2: teacher training in the Netherlands

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by ZJShen-PSimon in English teaching, language teaching, teacher training

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Dutch, education, education in the netherlands, Netherlands, Teacher

I was recently lucky to meet someone who explained the ways of becoming a language teacher in the Netherlands.

The different levels of education in the Nethe...

The different levels of education in the Netherlands (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As it happens around the world, teaching a language starts by following university courses. In the Dutch system, universities constitute the WO section of education, which stands for ‘Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs’. Those who wish to become teachers, have to do practice teaching as well as following university courses during the last two years of their studies. This is called ‘stage’, pronounced, unlike pronunciation of the English word of the same lettering, as /’sta:ʒǝ/. In general, teaching practice takes several days a week over a year, when the student visits and later conducts lessons in several hours a day, followed by ‘reflexion’, that is, discussion of what has happened, what went well and what didn’t, and what could change another time. There is also opportunity follow university studies part-time, in which case practice lengthens a couple of years and course-work formats are changed somewhat.

In theory, this system looks very good because it gives over a hundred hours of practice for the development of the trainee to become a full-blown teacher. However, as a former teacher trainer confided to me, the quality of trainees is often quite low, while trainers often neglect their trainees, cutting down on the reflexion stage, sometimes to a quarter hour per week, sometimes to nothing. In this case the whole idea of development through discussion, reflection and self-reflection suffers a deadly blow, as it happens to a friend of mine also on ‘stage’. Her practice turns out to be a full-time job without being paid. It looks like employment-lead training in Britain, except that there she would be paid a salary.

Teaching practice takes place at schools of any kind anywhere in the system where the leadership offers opportunities to those on practice time. One looking for job opportunities most usually reads about vacancies for people with one year experience in their specific sector (VMBO/MAVO, MBO, HAVO, HBO or VWO for secondary-level applicants) followed by saying that ‘stagiaires’, those on teaching practice, are also most welcome. There are a few ads for people with several years of experience, but the stated number is usually below five years. This probably doesn’t have much to do with refusing experience, but a belief that those freshly out of WO have more dynamism, but also with a very steeply rising salary-scale until fifteen years of experience. This to me means, on the one hand, that the system believes and appreciates a fast improvement in quality with the first years of practice, but also that experience quickly becomes expensive. However, older, more experienced teachers don’t get further pay-rise, so they don’t become overly more expensive for schools to employ them instead of a 40-year-old. Hopefully, this gives chances for older people to move, but it my also be an indication that most experienced teachers don’t usually have any incentive to do so.

This system is different from the British or Hungarian systems. In Britain, for a teaching diploma, one needs a separate line of studies after the specific subject is fully completed, at which point the would-be teacher enters teaching college. Here I would need help from British teachers about the ways of how and where teaching practice is carried out, as I have no relevant experience. However, one article, listed below by Daniel, describes the author’s path to teaching and out of this article, we can safely deduce that teacher training in Britain has a great variety of forms depending most often from the training school’s own ways. As teaching requires post-grad studies in Britain, the Dutch system may only resemble this in its institutional variety.

How the – much more unified – system works in Hungary is discussed in a the following post.

by P.S.

Dutch Flag

RELATED ARTICLES
  • Gove unveils tougher tests for trainee teachers (guardian.co.uk)
  • Michael Gove’s teacher tests are a smokescreen | Darren Macey (guardian.co.uk)
  • Daniel – The training path that took me into teaching (getintoteaching.wordpress.com)
  • Michael Gove’s muddled thinking on teacher training (newstatesman.com)
  • OFFICIAL DFE STATEMENT ON NEW TOUGHER TESTS FOR TRAINEE TEACHERS (SCHOOLSIMPROVEMENT.NET)
  • Tough exams and learning by rote are the keys to success, says Michael Gove (guardian.co.uk)
  • Michael Gove’s tougher teacher tests are a smokescreen (schoolsimprovement.net)
  • Gove to highlight exam benefits (express.co.uk)
  • Being an outstanding teacher relies on more than passing harder QTS test (guardian.co.uk)
  • Tough exams and learning by rote are the keys to success, says Michael Gove (schoolsimprovement.net)
  • Teaching Methods (ivythesis.typepad.com)
  • Why I became a teacher: to show students how the world really works (guardian.co.uk)
  • Bad Teaching Practice #1: “I am Only Going to Teach Those Who Are Ready To Learn” (blogs.edweek.org)
  • Teacher quality: Investing in what matters (Education Week)
MORE Related articles
  • Michael Gove’s national curriculum reforms: where’s the creativity? (guardian.co.uk)

ProZ.com Pro translator

Recent Posts

  • Language teaching (?) March 28, 2021
  • And the First Prize in Chinglish Goes to… July 8, 2020
  • Statistical truth about problems caused by asylum seekers in the Netherlands February 1, 2018
  • In honour of the immigrant 2 April 20, 2017
  • In honour of the immigrant 1 April 17, 2017
  • Can something, anything, be more stupid? December 14, 2016
  • Intercultural life in the Netherlands June 6, 2016
  • Good books to learn from May 22, 2016
  • Teach Dutch to refugees January 17, 2016
  • Arnhem’s cultural week and the famous Dutch railways September 12, 2015
  • Hilarious Hungarian-English mistranslation June 19, 2015
  • Cello concertos almost forgotten June 1, 2015
  • Send Dutch applicants … no. 2 March 13, 2015
  • Eastern-European views on the Netherlands November 23, 2014
  • Everywhere … October 16, 2014
  • Chinglish, or Dunglish? June 9, 2014
  • English testing issue in Hungary May 13, 2014
  • Effect of Grammar Teaching on Learners and Translators April 4, 2014
  • Neurobiologist on the brain development of children – part 3 March 28, 2014
  • Neurobiologist on the brain development of children – part 2 March 26, 2014
  • Neurobiologist on the brain development of children March 25, 2014
  • The extent translation is ‘correct’ March 14, 2014
  • Translating using translation software January 19, 2014
  • Translation problems with machine translation January 13, 2014
  • Translation difficulties January 11, 2014
  • Translation in the extreme November 16, 2013
  • Life is looking up at long last October 4, 2013
  • Summer disappointment on the Dutch job market August 2, 2013
  • Send Dutch applicants abroad back home! June 21, 2013
  • What Teacher Education Programs Don’t Tell You June 10, 2013
  • Werkloos = waardeloos, i.e., jobless = worthless? May 27, 2013
  • Grammar of the ‘grammar-translation’ method May 21, 2013
  • The System of the Dutch State Language Examination – part 2 April 26, 2013
  • The System of the Dutch State Language Examination – part 1 April 24, 2013
  • Bending immigration statistics – English version March 15, 2013
  • Bending immigration statistics March 14, 2013
  • A famous literary mistranslation between Hungarian and German February 23, 2013
  • A criticism of translation methods from the point of view of dictionaries February 22, 2013
  • IamExpat: How learning Dutch can ruin relationships February 18, 2013
  • (no title) February 18, 2013

Blogroll

  • Discuss
  • Get Polling
  • My Photoblog 2
  • My second photo site
  • My third photo site
  • My web-site with photos
  • Our web-site about Chinese visual arts and nature in China

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 55 other subscribers

Archives

Categories

  • applying for a job in the Netherlands (2)
  • child development (4)
  • child rearing (3)
  • Chinese speakers of English (1)
  • Dutch culture (4)
  • education (16)
  • English teaching (29)
  • European Union (5)
  • foreign language teaching (18)
  • Hungary (5)
  • immigration (8)
  • intercultural learning (1)
  • job application (1)
  • joblessness (2)
  • language learning (29)
  • language teaching (21)
  • language testing (5)
  • learning Dutch (4)
  • museums (1)
  • Netherlands (12)
  • refugees in Europe (4)
  • teacher training (7)
  • teaching Dutch (1)
  • translation (12)
  • university education (4)
  • work in Dutch education (6)

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog Stats

  • 20,911 hits

Spam Blocked

58,560 spam blocked by Akismet

Categories

applying for a job in the Netherlands child development child rearing Chinese speakers of English Dutch culture education English teaching European Union foreign language teaching Hungary immigration intercultural learning job application joblessness language learning language teaching language testing learning Dutch museums Netherlands refugees in Europe teacher training teaching Dutch translation university education work in Dutch education

appreciation of variety Asia Audio-lingual method British Council Bulgarian CELTA China Chinese language cognitive science Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Culture of Hungary Dutch Dutch as a foreign language Dutch dictionary Dutch people Eastern Europe education education in the netherlands English as a foreign or second language English language European Union failure of web-sites Foreign language freedom in class Frigyes Karinthy German German language grammar-translation method Grammar translation Great Britain Hearing (sense) Higher education higher education in Hungary Hungarian Hungary IELTS Immigration Jiaozi job application joblessness job market Job Search Labour economics Language Language acquisition language correction approaches Language education Learning learning to communicate limits in class mistranslations Netherlands NRC Handelsblad Romanians Rote learning Secondary education Second language Staatsexamen Standardized test Student talent Teacher Teacher education teacher training Teaching English as a foreign language teaching foreign languages Teaching qualification Test (assessment) tests Training Translation use of translation softwares Van Dale Western Europe work in the Netherlands

Top Posts & Pages

  • Language teaching (?)
  • And the First Prize in Chinglish Goes to...
  • Statistical truth about problems caused by asylum seekers in the Netherlands
  • In honour of the immigrant 2
  • In honour of the immigrant 1
  • Can something, anything, be more stupid?
  • Intercultural life in the Netherlands
  • Good books to learn from
  • Teach Dutch to refugees
  • Arnhem's cultural week and the famous Dutch railways

Protected against copying

Protected by Copyscape DMCA Takedown Notice Search Tool

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Learning and teaching English in the Netherlands
    • Join 55 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Learning and teaching English in the Netherlands
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...