Bart de Pau Language Courses offers a Dutch language acquisition programme aimed at higher educated expats who want improve their knowledge of Dutch for their professional careers. Two options: virtual classrooms or offline intensive courses.

This programme differs from traditional civic integration (inburgering) programmes:
– the learning pace is high
– the course is aimed at higher educated learners
– who have a strong motivation to learn the language (and are not forced to)
– we use an instruction language (English) in the e-learning materials (in class we try to speak as much as possible in Dutch)

While learning the language, we cover practical and cultural job related issues in our curriculum, such as (but not limited):
– reading a job listing
– writing an application letter
– conducting a job interview
– how to negotiate in Dutch
– how to complete forms
– how to make a purchase
– how to file a complaint
– how to give instructions
– how to answer the phone
– how to manage a conflict situation
– informal communication with colleagues (small talk at the coffee machine)
– the regulations for ‘kennismigranten’
– hierarchy in Dutch organisations
– decision making in Dutch organisations and ‘polderen’
– other aspects of Dutch culture on the work floor

The above mentioned topics are each covered in the corresponding level of language acquisition. For example: answering the phone and giving simple instructions are taught at level 1, the job interview at level 3, and complicated conversation topics about hierarchy in organisations are covered at level 5.

Materials used in this course:
– Het Lesboek – the book that we use in class, based on ‘flipping the classroom’
– ‘Heb je zin?’: a soap opera that covers the story of two Dutch people and two higher educated expats. The story deals with typical issues that foreigners experience when they come from abroad to work in the Netherlands.
– The self study materials of #dutchgrammar
– Additional course materials that address work related situations