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Oral tests (Or: Speaking in Dutch)
Today I had my oral test at Volksuniversiteit, to see what class I could sign up for. I wanted to go for the A2 halfbeginners course, but I needed to take an oral test to prove that my level was good...
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Dutch apps (Or: Guess Words)
This game has been added to the Dutch Apps page. Guess Words is a Hangman type app made for Dutch, English, French and German. English is the default language but you can switch to Dutch in the...
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Contact 1 (Or: My Dutch school books have arrived!)
Today Marco and I went to Paagman bookstore in The Hague to pick up the material for my class next week. Eight days from now! There actually ended up being three books to pick up — the tekstboek and...
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Studeren (Or: Contact 1 tekstbook; Nederlands voor anderstaligen)
As I have previously mentioned, in my A2 class at the Volksuniversiteit I am using the Contact 1 textbook. If my memory is correct, the A1 class finished chapters 1 through 4. My current plan is to get...
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New experiences (Or: Dutch lesson 1 of 14)
Last night was my first Dutch lesson at the Volsuniversiteit. This is the A2 level. My night started out with the bus I needed to take being 7 minutes late. This is actually not a long time considering...
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Huisfeest (Or: Dutch lesson 2 of 14)
Last night was my second Dutch class at Volksuniversiteit in The Hague. This time I acted a bit more like Niki: I answered all of the textbook questions and workbook exercises for the lesson we would...
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Seating arrangements (Or: Dutch lesson 3 of 14)
Last night was the third Dutch lesson. I still have a pretty big fear of opening my mouth and actually talking Dutch (unless you’re a friend/family member) so it makes it interesting. As usual, I did...
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Samenspraak (Or: Meetup in Den Haag Bibliotheek)
Yesterday I decided to try something new. A few months ago I had heard about Samen Spraak (speaking together), which is sponsored by Gilde Den Haag. The first Wednesday of every month they have...
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Talking about objects (Or: Dutch lesson 4 of 14)
Tuesday’s class actually had an awesome moment. We had a speaking exercise where we were paired up with our buurvrouw (neighbor, female). We had to roleplay one of us being the one asking for...
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Zij zegt dat… (Or: Dutch lesson 5 of 14)
Last night I had my 5th lesson (of 14) for Dutch level A2. This week was more review for me (versus last week when we learned about object/subject forms of “it”). There were 16 students in the class –...
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Er was eens… (Or: Dutch lesson 6 of 14)
Last night was my 6th Dutch lesson at the Volksuniversiteit in The Hague. The main topic for this lesson was learning the simple past. The title of this blog post reflects that, as Er was eens… is the...
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Dutch homework (Or: Talking about the past…)
If Marco’s wondering why he hasn’t received an email yet from me, here’s why… Two pages of Dutch writing… Wait, make that three pages of Dutch writing… They are just random exercises using the perfect...
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Speech! Speech! (Or: Dutch lesson 7 of 14)
The blog title refers to the tradition (at least in America) of a person being in front of a group of friends or family during an event (like receiving a surprise award). The audience then requests the...
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Adventures (Or: Hair salons, libraries, and birthdays)
So it has been a cool last few days. Today’s Friday! And tomorrow is my birthday with some nice things planned for the day. 30th birthday to be exact. I’ll definitely miss my 20s. But I do already feel...
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Paying attention to homework (Or: Dutch lesson 8 of 14)
Last night I had my 8th Dutch lesson at the Volkuniversiteit (A2 level). This lesson seemed a bit “off” — as in, it wasn’t that good. Neither the person to my right nor the person to my left did their...
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Studying (Or: A level of difficulty)
So a few days ago I started chapter 11, section A in Contact 1. The class is about 1-2 lessons behind. It’s hard to describe, but I think this 12 chapter book (3 sections each) finally got hard enough...
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Springtime distractions (Or: Dutch lesson 9 of 14)
The class seems to be shrinking again. Last night we only had 11, and one of those left at the break due to a headache. The weather is getting good – light jacket weather, but you didn’t even have to...
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Ghost town (Or: Dutch lesson 10 of 14)
“Ghost town” betekent ‘Er is niemand hier. Iedereen weg is.’ Soms is de plaats een dorpje, maar niet alttijd. I knew it was going to be a weird night when the other student who usually rides the bus...
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Slaapkop! (Or: Dutch lesson 11 of 14)
Slaapkop = a person who is sleepy. Or as we say in English, “sleepy head”. (My teacher called one of my classmates a slaapkop.) Today’s class had about the same number of students. There were more...
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Studying (Or: Dutch lesson 12 of 14)
Almost at the end! Next week is the big test. We spent about an hour going over what what would be on it. The problem is that we are slightly behind (4 more sections to go) so she had to quickly cover...
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