About Me
Are you ready to become a Zamaradi-student? to start your Dutch journey? to meet your teacher? to live the Dutch lifestyle?
The Teacher
My name is Emeraude van Deenen, and I have lost my heart to the Dutch language from the moment that I could read. As a child, I read anything and everything – at the age of eleven I had devoured most of the child and youth books from the local library and I secretly used my mother’s access card in order to read all the adult books as well.
During secondary school I got even more inspired by my talented Dutch teacher. In my last year at this school, I decided to study Dutch and Literature at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. I assumed that I would find a way to use the language in order to connect to people, which was – and still is – my other big passion.
The Company
Working for a few different language schools during my studies, it became clear to me how I could combine my love for language and my interest in people: by teaching Dutch to expats, international students and anyone else who would like to learn the Dutch language. In 2013 I founded Zamaradi Communications. Starting out as a physical language school, the corona crisis in 2020 made that the students and I started to explore the options of online teaching. This turned out to work so well, that all courses since then are provided online.
The Method
Throughout the years, I familiarized myself with different styles of teaching and different methods. When it came to teaching in groups, I experienced that maintaining a small group size has a strong positive influence on how effective the classes are. When it came to content, I felt that every method had its own strengths and weaknesses. That is why I have developed my own method, which contains all the things you need to know in order to learn Dutch fluently.
In the Beginners courses, we cover all the basic grammar and structures that exist in the Dutch language. I noticed that this fills students with confidence in the Intermediate and Advanced levels as well, because they have a solid foundation and know how the language works.
In the Intermediate courses, we start letting go of the structures step by step, so that the language becomes more natural to you. The Advanced courses are taught completely in Dutch, which will allow you to work towards fluency.
The booklets that we use for each level contain grammar explanations, examples, homework exercises and texts. The classes exist of grammar explanations that we put into practice straight away, and of supportive speaking exercises. Practicing with this in the familiar environment of the virtual classroom with your fellow-students and teacher who you see every day, in the comfort of your own home or office, will allow you to speak more easily outside the classes.
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