Enrich your Au Pair experience
Of course, as an au pair, you are here only for one year. And almost everyone speaks English. So why bother to learn Dutch?
Well, you will see your experience living here will definitely change when you do actually speak Dutch. Besides understanding your host families children better, in your daily life you will feel a lot more at home and more integrated in the country. Besides that, it is just a very fun and rewarding process to learn, and you’ll make friends along the way as well!
You don’t need Dutch to survive, but learning it will make you thrive
Our unique method
This doesn’t mean you have to spend hours and hours studying grammar or spend many evening in boring classrooms.
At the Dutch Language Cafe, we offer a more interesting way to learn. Our ultimate goal is to get you to learn Dutch while doing the things you already do in your daily life, such as taking care of the kids, interacting with your host family, while getting a coffee or buying something at a market, while doing your sport or hobby or interacting with friends.
If you combine your Dutch learning with things you already do, it doesn’t take extra time, and you learn the things that are really important to you!
Of course, it’s not so simple to just start speaking Dutch in your daily life. You first have to learn some basics, and then you have to get confident at having actual conversations. We help you through these steps through our courses and community events!
What do the lessons look like?
We usually start with a check-in. How has everyone’s week been? We try to answer this mostly in Dutch.
Then we do a few Dutch practice activities. They are usually very fun activities, such as creating a funny story together, talking about pictures on our phones, playing a ‘true or false’ guessing game, making drawings, playing simple games, listening to a song or reading a book together, and so on. We laugh a lot during the sessions and often classmates end up as friends as well.
During these activities the teacher will speak Dutch, but in a very simple, slow way, so that everyone understands. This way you will learn Dutch naturally, by getting lots input. No grammar book in sight!
Of course, you get to practice speaking too. Your teacher will coach you on the five ‘speaking skills’. These are skills that help you go from ‘knowing some words’ to having real conversations. For example, you learn what to do if you want to say something but don’t know the Dutch word, or if someone speaks Dutch to you and you are completely lost.
We also encourage self-study: We provide a book with self-study options, coach you on what you can do outside of the sessions, and you also get a bingo-card with fun challenges to do at home.
We follow the general format of our other courses, but our activities are adapted to au pairs. And of course, all your classmates will be au pairs!
In addition, we highly recommend combining the course with our community events. Together with other Dutch learners and Dutch native speakers, you’ll do fun activities such as board game night, pub quiz, art club, museum visit, barbecues, outings and so on. Check out our calendar for details of the events. During these activities you practice Dutch in a friendly setting. Especially for au pairs a great way to make friends outside of the au pair circle!
Meet Your Teacher
Myrna
My name is Myrna. I lived in Ecuador for one year and I know the importance of speaking the language. I really enjoy sharing my knowledge of my native language with people who want to learn Dutch. I use a method that helps people acquire the language in a fun and natural way. I am happy to be a teacher at DLC!
Sofie
Hoi! My name is Sofie. I really love languages, both learning them and teaching them. I love focusing on what language makes possible, instead of only focusing on grammar and vocabulary. That’s why I really connect with the teaching method of DLC. I’m looking forward to meeting you at the cafe!
Arne
After a long time abroad, I am now back in the Netherlands. So I know what it is like to try to find your place in a foreign country, and I would like to help others with this! Furthermore, I love padel! See you soon!
Practical Details
In-person courses:
If you choose for a full in-person course, all sessions will take place in our café, Herengracht 13A, 2511EG, The Hague (5 min walk from The Hague Central Station). All sessions will be 2 hours. See the sign up form for a list of available dates.
Hybrid online courses:
If you choose for a hybrid course, 50% of sessions will be in-person, and 50% will be online. The 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th and 10th session will be in person, and the other sessions will be online. The in-person sessions are 2.75 hours with a break in the middle, and the online sessions will be 1 hour. See the sign up form for a list of available dates.
Our cozy cafe in the city center
Materials:
Our course book is included. No need to bring or buy anything.
Homework:
There is no mandatory homework, however, if you want to reach the goal of being able to have basic conversations with confidence at the end of the course, about 2 to 4 hours of self-study per week is required. We provide you with a range of recommended self-study options through our self-study guide.
Community access
The course comes with two months of community membership so you can use what you learned and further practice to get confident with speaking. The community events are optional and at different times throughout the week (see the community event calendar). Please look for the blue events, that are suitable for beginners. You teacher will recommend which events would be good for you.
The details: Upon registration you will receive a discount code that makes your first two months of membership free, except for €0.50 activation costs. Your membership will then continue automatically, so don’t forget to cancel if you only want to use your two months of free membership. You can of course also try our events without activating a membership by paying the event entry fees.
Group size
We work with SMALL FOCUSED GROUPS of between 5 and 10 au pairs.
English
Some parts of the course will be in English (introductions and more complex explanations), so a basic English level of participants is assumed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What about grammar? Don’t you need to study grammar to learn a language?
During the course, we focus on acquiring grammar naturally through extensive comprehensible input. Over time, correct grammar will feel instinctive, without knowing the exact rules. This approach is more effective than memorizing complex grammar rules, which can hinder your ability to speak fluently in real conversations, as in real conversations you don’t have time to think about these rules, you just have to speak!
We are not the only ones who believe this is an effective way to learn. Research supports learning through comprehensible input. If you want to read more about it, see for example this page.
We encourage you to experience our method firsthand. If you still feel the need to study grammar, we provide a discount code to the ‘Dutchies to Be Premium Beginners Course’ where basic grammar is explained.
What happens if I miss a session?
We recommend to be available for most sessions for maximum results. However, if you miss one or two sessions, you can still get a lot of value out of the course. Missed sessions are in principle non refundable. However, if you miss a session, contact us and we will look for solutions. Usually you can retake a session in another group, or alternatively, you can join an extra community event instead.
What drinks are included?
During the course you’ll get free unlimited coffee, tea and water. We also provide some small snacks like cookies. Other food and drinks are for sale at our bar during opening times of the café.
I’ve finished the course, now what?
Of course you’re welcome to join any of our other regular courses. Likely you’ll want to continue with Basics 2. You can also choose to just keep attending community events as well!
Costs
Price: 395 euro
Includes:
✔ Ten class sessions in a small focused group of 5-10 au pairs
✔ Our reader with theory and techniques and our self-study guide
✔ Two months of community membership