LanguageOne was interviewed for an article in Discover Benelux. The theme of this inflight & business magazine was Top Dutch Education, Building a Bright Future! The article can be downloaded here. You can view the complete issue here.
The Dutch language school without borders
When moving abroad, there are 1,001 things for you to think about. For example, how will you continue your children’s education in their mother tongue? At its language hubs all around the world, LanguageOne improves your children’s Dutch in a fun and constructive way.
The importance of mastering your mother tongue cannot be overestimated. Not only does it make it easier to study other subjects such as mathematics and science, but it also gives you a major advantage while learning foreign languages: a skill most vital when living abroad. “Nonetheless, the biggest benefit to our students is that they can return home again more confidently ,” says Deidre Jakobs, managing director at LanguageOne. “Most families only move abroad for an assignment of a few years. On return, they want their kids to easily be able to re-enter Dutch education. But after a few months without Dutch classes, they will already lag behind the Dutch schools’ expectations. Continuing their Dutch classes abroad is therefore paramount.”
LanguageOne was founded 35 years ago when Shell wanted to provide quality mother tongue education to the families of its employees abroad. Over the years, LanguageOne became a Dutch Language and Culture school in nine different cities in Asia, the Middle-East and Australia. “In most of those places, our students come to us once a week for a session of three hours after day-school. Yet, in some international schools, there are so many Dutch children, that the school asks us to offer Dutch on a daily basis during school hours.” And even if you do not live near a LanguageOne school, you can still enrol to their long-distance programme. With a weekly, private Skype lesson and some self-study, students develop their Dutch language skills in a flexible and contemporary manner.” For families who are about to leave back home, LanguageOne even offers boost programmes to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.
Letting your children study an extra language on top of going to school all week might seem intense, yet, LanguageOne gives it their all to make the classes as interactive and fun as possible. “Although the majority of our programme focuses on the language, we also discuss Dutch and Flemish culture. We even celebrate King’s Day in class. For most of our students, the time they spend with us is a weekly trip to their home country. They talk, play, and learn with other Dutch and Flemish children, after which they return to their tropical reality.”
LanguageOne in facts
LanguageOne has schools in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, Perth, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Suzhou, and operates a distance learning school. All LanguageOne schools are accredited for the Dutch language programmes by the Dutch Ministry of Education. Current market demand led to LanguageOne offering English to repat children wanting to maintain a (high) level of English upon return to the Dutch school system.