We have been teaching our classes remotely for a while now and it seems to be going rather well from our side. But how do our students feel? So we decided to check in with them to see how they feel about our current set up and what they are hoping for in the future, and the results have been overwhelmingly positive- Our students have rated the overall quality of the remote classes at 8.8/10 and the remote skills of the teachers at a high 9.4/10!

This is what the students had to say:

"I only have 6 months of learning dutch and I already start to understand listening, writing, and start speaking a little bit. I understand this is a fear amount of progress for only 6 months. They have a great methodology to teach people and they seem to worry about everybody's progress. Also they were very resilient when the corona situation happened. I enjoyed online classes as much as in-person classes. I recommend this school with no doubt."

"Great Classes, Fun to be in. The teacher is working nice and slow through the work to make sure everyone understands what is going on."

"Thank you for making us talk a lot. I think we talk even more now than when we were in the same room (or we are just better at speaking in Dutch?)."

"Our teacher is very encouraging and very attentive. We learn a lot from her, she is excellent."

"I am very happy with my teacher. She's very helpful and makes the lesson easy and enjoyable :) "

"I really enjoy the classes a lot and it is nice that it is possible to still learn Dutch in such an interactive way considering the whole corona situation."

What about the future?

In general, most of our students want to continue their language learning during the summer (71%), especially since many summer travel plans are still so uncertain. A smaller group wants to wait until September to continue with their courses. If given the choice between resuming face to face classes with a 1.5 meter distance between the seats in class and a variety of measures put in place, half of the students would be happy to join us at our school location. The other half would rather continue remotely. We can accommodate both of these preferences, either in separate courses or as a mixed course, we have the equipment to allow both of these options and are happy to provide either.

All in all it seems that our students agree that the courses are going well in this new format and we are happy to say that remote teaching is likely here to stay- at least for the time being!

What about our teachers? Have a look below at what one of our teachers had to say about online teaching:

What’s your experience with teaching remotely?

I was rather skeptical about remote teaching, but after one lesson I had completely changed my mind. It’s a good substitute for the face-to-face options as it still provides students with a high-quality programme.

What do you like about remote teaching?

I like teaching remotely because there is still a very good interaction among students. There are still a lot of things you can do, like sharing screens, use a whiteboard, KickstartNet and the breakout rooms. There is also a great chat section where you can also communicate with all students or individual people.

Would you recommend it to everyone?

I would recommend it to everyone who is still eager to learn despite the difficult times.

What do your students think about it?

All my students are very enthusiastic about being able to receive a very good experience at learning/improving Dutch while being in the comfort of their home. Despite the lack of face-to-face contact, they are still very eager to learn and happy to carry on with this format. All in all, I would consider it a big success!

Would you like to continue teaching remotely even after the crisis?

I do like teaching on a face-to-face basis, but despite some initial reservations, you can still teach a great course remotely. So yes, I would love to continue teaching remotely.

What would you say to people who are sceptical about learning remotely?

I was a bit skeptical at first, but after the first lesson I realised how effective it can be. So, I would tell people to just do it!