Best of both worlds: learning Dutch online AND offline
This sponsored article was produced on behalf of NedLes, where new language courses start on an ongoing basis.
If you want to learn Dutch, you have to choose either online or offline classes, right? Not anymore! At NedLes, the language school in Amsterdam-Oost with years of experience in offering both online and offline classes, they have created a new course: the hybrid Dutch course. Two intensive offline weekends and twelve online classes (one class per week) allowing you to reach A2- level within three months. In this course, you learn Dutch with the popular and very effective Delft Method.
Former students of NedLes all agree: online classes are very convenient and can be just as fun and just as effective as offline classes. It is easy to combine online classes with a busy work schedule. But students also emphasise how nice it is to meet fellow students in person, and to have a chat over a real cup of coffee before or after class.
Besides this, one of the biggest advantages of the Delft Method is that students get confidence speaking after just a few lessons. To ensure that this important first step - having a basic conversation with ease from the very beginning - can be achieved straight away NedLes added the two intensive weekends to this specific course. This way students can meet each other and take some big steps forward right at the beginning before the course takes on a bit slower pace, with one online class per week.
"Our new hybrid Dutch course to A2- is therefore the best of both worlds!" said Renske, one of NedLes’ directors and a very experienced Dutch teacher herself. Her enthusiasm about the new course is very clear. "Another big advantage is that it is possible to combine this course with a full time job. The offline weekends are intensive, with two classes on Saturday and two on Sunday, to give your Dutch a boost at the start and at the end. But the weekly one hour online class with preparation time of two to the hours, spread throughout the week, will probably fit even very busy work schedules."
The Delft Method is, as the name shows, a language learning method developed at the Delft University of Technology. Students study texts at home, by reading and listening to it multiple times, and by learning new words. In the one hour speaking classes, students bring the new words directly into practice. It is a very effective method to learn to speak Dutch from the beginning.
Before you know it, you’re able to have conversations in Dutch, just as Tanmay, from India, who says, "When I walk the dog, other dog owners often start chatting and now I can answer them in Dutch!"
And if it sounds a bit scary to speak Dutch from day one: the teachers guarantee an environment where you can practise and make mistakes. As Giorgia, from Italy, highlights, "It was such a nice atmosphere in the classes! It was like working with friends. You don’t feel the pressure, but you learn a lot."
The downside of the Delft Method? It demands quite a lot of effort and time to study the texts thoroughly. Most courses using this method are therefore intensive or semi-intensive courses that are not particularly easy to combine with a demanding full time job.
That’s different now: This hybrid course continues for 12 weeks, with one online class per week, in the evening. At the start and at the end of the course, there is a weekend with two days of offline classes, at the NedLes school. The perfect opportunity to meet your fellow students in person, and perhaps to discover the nice neighbourhood of Amsterdam-Oost together after working hard!
Do you want to experience the Delft Method, both online and offline? NedLes’ hybrid course to A2- starts on the 27th of January. Check nedles.com if you want to join!
