At the heart of our success are our people (and one Special Lady 🐾).
Meet the crew behind your next Dutch experience:

Dama

Make no mistake about who runs this show. You may call her the Queen of the castle, but “Her majesty“ works as well 👑 She is about 5 years old and she has migrated to Rotterdam from Seville, Spain in July 2020.
Her wide range of interests covers anything between chasing balls, being cuddled and petted, eating, attacking the vacuum cleaner, eating grass, stealing balls from other dogs, looking at you while you eat, sleeping with one eye open, chasing cats (or running away from them, depends on various factors) and pulling apart anything that can be torn apart. What can we say? She’s one complicated lady…
Her Dutch is improving. Though sometimes it seems like her knowledge and understanding of the spoken language seem to be selective… 🤔

Bart

The brain and the muscle behind our school – he’s the owner, the teacher and the problem-solver around here. He’s also Dama’s very own human.
He was born in Hoevelaken (Netherlands) and lived in seven cities in three countries. As much as he loves teaching and running the school, one day he’d love to become a gardener and spend more time outside. He has also cycled from Rotterdam to London on a city bike.
He also plays football with his great team of expats when he’s not injured. Which means that, in full honesty, he doesn’t play football all that often 😉 The name of the team is hov-djscr. If you can remember the name, you can join the team. Those are the rules, we didn’t make them 🤷
Here are a few important facts about Bart we feel like you should definitely know as he fully embodies the spirit of our school (in his own words):
I hit my own head with a hammer while I was building a tree house as a kid.
I always wore my mum’s fur boots to the beach as a kid, otherwise I would hit my toes against the stone stairs over the dunes.
Me and my brothers won a BMX in a raffle as kids, I crashed it into a tree the next day.
I went from door to door asking people if I could swipe the path leading to their house. I was too small to reach the doorbell though and had to use the broom to get there.
Rotterdam's "hidden gem" from Bart to you: *Proeflokaal Faas, great bar for special beers, board games and live music. Great atmosphere, easy going and down to earth. At Zwaanshals 248, not too far from the school.*

Our teachers

Petra

Moved from Roermond to den Haag 28 years ago and settled in the North for good. Apart from being a Dutch teacher she’s also a musician (bassoon and piano). Before she was working for the Dutch Refugee Council, in order to create path of understanding between refugees and Dutch people, she has set up the department of music education at the Residentie Orkest in Den Haag. Impressive, huh?

She was born to help people spread their wings. Her enthusiasm is highly contagious – even if you feel like you can’t, she’ll convince you that you can and you will in no time! It always makes her happy to see the excited and surprised expressions on her students’ faces when they realize after just a few lessons that they can communicate in their new language.

Petra’s tip for when you’re tired with Rotterdam: Discover Den Haag! Cycle through the dunes north of the city, dive into car history in the Louwman museum (also if you don't like cars - like me - you will love this museum), and eat in one of the Indonesian restaurants.

Mariet

She was born in Bandung, Indonesia, but her parents moved to the Netherlands when she was just a small baby. Before settling in Rotterdam back in 1985, she lived in Tilburg and Breda.

She loves teaching Dutch mainly due to the fact, that she’s able to connect with people of different backgrounds and nationalities. Her own experience of living and working abroad has proven to her, that being able to communicate in the language of your new country in daily situations makes life so much easier. And you daily, mundane tasks can become much more fun!

If you need a cultural recommendation – Mariet is your “go to” person: in her spare time she plays the piano, reads books, goes to the theatre and cinema.

Rotterdam's "hidden gem" from Mariet to you: The wonderful thing about Rotterdam is that there is always something to do, some place to be. In the summer I like to go to Woodz (Langepad 9).

Tato

She was born in Kirovakan (Armenia), lived for the last 28 years all over the Netherlands. Her love for the language led her on a path to become a Dutch and Arabic teacher and a writer. It was her childhood dream to become a either a language teacher or an astronaut. Well – let’s be clear – NASA is missing out BIG TIME 😉

She’s also a successful international belly dance performer and instructor at the Bellyssima studio in Leiden. A really damn good one, judging from the videos! 🥰

But as much as she knows her moves – please be careful with your own bodily expressions around her - she’s not very good with “reading the signals”. That peculiar characteristic was tested by her ex-boyfriend, an actor, who saw her suddenly jumping on the stage in front of him, in the middle of HIS theater show, to perform. She was absolutely sure that he was giving her some “silent hints” while she was sitting in the audience, so she rushed for the rescue… 🤦‍♀️🤣

Rotterdam's "hidden gem" from Tato to you: Bij Loes restaurant in my neighborhood (historic Delfshaven), best fish soup in town, must try!

Jaimy

She’s a local – born in Capelle aan de Ijssel, living in Delfshaven for over 6 years now.

Language in general was always something she was interested in – when she became older she really wanted to do something with all the “fun facts” she knew about different languages. And soon after becoming a Dutch teacher she realized, that this job is more than teaching a language – it’s about giving people the way to navigate their new life. She’s on a mission to give people a 'voice' and help them find their own way in their new society, whether it’s about finding a job or speaking the language of their loved ones.

You might also talk to her about her cooking passion, Mimi The Cat (who came back after 1,5 years of self-imposed freedom), her adventures in Norway and Iceland and her collection of pictures of misshapen fruits and vegetables.

Rotterdam's "hidden gem" from Jaimy to you: Historisch Delfshaven, Voorhaven 16

Jacqueline

I was born in Nijmegen and I grew up in the neighbourhood of Eindhoven. Now I live in Delft, together with my two cats Bert and Ernie. My hobbies are walking, swimming, cinema and reading.

I am relatively new to teaching. I worked as a biochemist for most of my professional life, in the Netherlands and abroad. In fact, like many students at DCR, I was an expat too for 10 years! I worked in Switzerland, the UK and Denmark. During my stay in Denmark I also took a Danish language course and that turned out to be a very pleasant re-encounter with language learning after many, many years.

After moving back to the Netherlands I was keen on having a try at teaching Dutch language to expats myself, and I did so as a volunteer for three years. When my scientific career then came to an end I enrolled in an official NT2-teachers course at the Free University in Amsterdam, in order to become a professional teacher of Dutch language.

Hanna

Born and raised in Haarlem, in Rotterdam for almost five years, a joy to be around and a real ball of energy. Have you ever heard about those people, who get you excited about grammar? Well, us neither. That is until we met Hanna. Now let us tell you – her passion is contagious, her sense of humor is surprising for a grammar nerd and if you find yourself in a heated discussion about conjugations of verbs – it’s too late for you. She’s already in your head, playing her mischief and pulling you into her grammar Disneyland, from where there’s no return… In all seriousness – she is THE PERSON when it comes to grammar and fun. As crazy as it sounds. Full package.

There’s one sensitive topic though – she has very strong feelings about cats, claims that cats are the best, and is a proud human of two of them – Trui and Pixel. We try not to bring this topic up too often when Hanna and Dama are in the same room. We prefer to leave the drama behind the door over here…

Lydia

Originally from Nunspeet, she moved to Rotterdam in 2012, but she also knows what it means to live in a foreign country - she lived for a while in Morocco. She is very passionate about exploring new cultures - that's one of the reasons she became a Dutch teacher for adults, why she loves Rotterdam with its global village feel and why she's volunteering during her summer holidays in countries with cultures unfamiliar to her.

Her lessons are an amazing experience because of the sense of belonging and unity she is able to build among her students. It is one of her pride and joys when she sees her students supporting each other and helping out those who get stuck somewhere in the tall grammar grasses.

Rotterdam's "hidden gem" from Lydia to you: Little V. It's not really a ‘hidden gem’ anymore, but it is the best restaurant I know in Rotterdam. Grotekerkplein 109

Eva

She’s an amazing writer (you can read her novels in Dutch) from Amsterdam, on her journey to move to Rotterdam very soon. Together with her boyfriend they have purchased an over 100 years old dektsjalk (that’s a fancy word for a really big Dutch boat) in the museumhaven in Rotterdam to live on. They are in a process of transforming it into a house, but there’s still quite a complicated road ahead of them.

She really loves working with people, overcoming the challenges that come with teaching Dutch and infusing her lessons with humor. She loves reading novels, watching movies and has a constant urge to travel (not an easy passion to have those days, right? 🙄)

Rotterdam's "hidden gem" from Eva to you: Dektsjalk 'De hoop' in de Museumhaven, Haringvliet. It’s also a part of the museum, which is a bit strange, but alright.

Siebren

Born in Den Haag, lives in Leiden. He is absolutely obsessed with Dutch language – he’s always been interested in language, language comparison and language history. He’s living and breathing being a Dutch teacher, both to foreigners and other Dutchmen, both here and abroad. It makes him utterly happy to see his students become confident enough to communicate in Dutch.

The moment you’ll step into his classroom you’ll instantly feel at home, as relationships are the most important for him. Now let us blow your mind: he always wants to learn a basic level of the mother tongue of his students. I mean, come on! If that’s not the most genuine, heart-warming teacher you’ve ever had, than I don’t know!

Rotterdam's "hidden gem" from Siebren to you: Oude Haven

Is it you?

We're currently not hiring, but if you are a Dutch teacher and you feel like you might be a good fit for our team - please send us your CV and a short introduction to info@dutchcoursesrotterdam.com. We'd like to keep you in mind when a suitable position opens!

Karolina

After getting completely enchanted by DCR in the summer of 2020 she decided to propose her services as a marketing consultant. She is also writing this description for herself and feels truly weirded out referring to oneself in third person…

I love plants, books, most of the animals (the ones too slow to run away from my cuddles are my favourite 🥰) and lengthy political and ethical discussions most people find boring as 🦊. You will never see me on a rollercoaster. At the funfair I'll be that girl with the cotton candy standing next to the ferris wheel, contemplating why on earth do some people have a death wish... 🤷‍♀️

My hidden gem for you: Rijnhaven metro station, direction Slinge. A million dollar view ❤

Our partners

TheExpatmagazine.com is a multi-author blog for expats launched in February 2014. We write about expat life, culture abroad, travelling and everything that can be related to living abroad.

Living in another country is a fantastic adventure that will enrich your life and completely change your mind, we are a group of expats living abroad for quite some years now, and we decided to share our experience on this blog to help young expats and also, why not, seasoned ones for all kind of topics. Our focus is to help any expat to have an even better experience while living abroad.