jjoensuu

Hi

I wanted to ask about how the public schools work in Netherlands for children who do not speak dutch - are there special classes for them and will they be expected to learn dutch to a certain degree within a certain time period?

I have received a job offer from a company in Netherlands but we do not speak any dutch in the family (finnish, swedish, and english). We have an 11-year old daughter who would likely have start in a public school.

If anyone has experience of a similar situation I would appreciate hearing about how it was to start in a public school in Netherlands. Are the teachers supportive and willing to communicate with the parents in english, for example?

Thanks in advance,

brummie girl

teachers will be suppportive and able to communicate in english, no problem

Schools receive extra government subsidy if they have taken on children who do not speak dutch. Your child will follow an extra language program (NT2)

Depending on the school they might decide to keep her a year longer at primary school until she is ready to go to secondary school.

furkew

I cant help with experiences of going to a Dutch school without speaking the language, because we actually lived in Holland and moved to Australia 2 years ago. I myself am English, but we always spoke Dutch in the house, and I was always working, that I never took the time to teach them English at home either.

My 2 boys (9 & 12 at the time of migrating) arrived in Australia with almost no English at all. 2 months later they were speaking it pretty well, and now 2 years down the road, they are above average in English at school, and have terrible Aussie accents

Kids are sponges and will pick up the language very quickly. If they are already multilingual, that will only make matters easier.

As mentioned the teachers all speak good English, and most of the kids at that age will be starting English lessons as well. Hope this helps a little.

jjoensuu

Thank you for your replies brummie girl and furkew