After you made your reservation, we sent an mail with the course confirmation.

We’ve also sent an e-mail with the subject “Your Dutch course: briefing + level test + questionnaire + online access”: the course confirmation is attached (in pdf).

We kindly ask you to check all the information, to make sure there are no misunderstandings about the course, the level, the dates, and the accommodation (if you booked a room).

If you have agreed with the course management about a change in your reservation, you should have received a new confirmation.

It is very important to check your level. ASAP!

Don’t wait till the week prior to the course!… Why?

Switching to a different level on the same course date is not always possible:
– we don’t offer every level on every course date
– other levels can be fully booked

The earlier you check your level, the better chance there is that we can offer a solution in case you signed up for the wrong level.

What to do?

1. Read the level descriptions very well!
2. Check the e-mail with subject “Your Dutch course: briefing + level test + questionnaire + online access”. There is a link to the level test and an intake form. Do the test and complete the questionnaire / intake form. 
3. You have done the level test? We’ll contact you if we think an additional oral intake is necessary. If you don’t hear from us, everything is fine.
4. If you’re sure you applied for the wrong level – then please contact us asap by e-mail! If you doubt, contact us as well.

Some remarks:

• Some people are too ambitious and apply for a higher group than their current level. Some people are very cautious and apply for a lower level. Our advise: please apply for the level that really is your level (not higher and not lower). Please think about other group members who want to be in a group with people of the same level. 
• Do you plan to study a lot prior to the course and did you apply for 1 level higher than your current level? Please check to what extent your plans are possible to realise! We quite often get messages from students 2-3 days before the course that they didn’t have the time to prepare and request a level lower. But switching so shortly prior to the course is usually not possible! Please make the right estimate and take into account that you really need a lot of hours of preparation if you want to enrol 1 level higher. For example – if you are a beginner and want to do level 2 (by completing #dutchgrammar-1 and 1000 most common words in Dutch) it will cost you 60-80 hours of self study.
• Have you participated before? And you registered for the next level? Make sure you reviewed your previous level very well! This really is required prior knowledge. If it’s 1 year ago you participated and you didn’t do anything afterwards, then you’re not ready for the next level.
• It is important to realise that this is a group course. We have identified different sublevels – within each sublevel there is a certain range. So, there will be weaker and stronger students within a group. Not everyone will have exactly the same level as you. And also, people can have the same level, but be totally different in their skills… one is better in writing and grammar, while someone else is better at speaking and listening. In a group everybody is different and the other people in the group are not ‘clones’ of each other. Nevertheless, we really think it’s important to aim at the best possible groups, because then the learning process is most efficient. Therefore, we thank you in advance for the above mentioned efforts to check you applied for the right level.
• It’s the responsibility of the student to sign up for the right level. And we help with that: we provide all the help we can to determine the right level of a student: by offering level tests, asking to complete an intake form to describe the background, and offering an oral intake upon request. We contact the students where we have doubts based on their input. We’ve sent reminders. We’ve provided access to materials that allow the students to get the right prior knowledge. Neverthless, not all students complete the form and do the level test. Sometimes they wait till the last moment (and then it’s too late to offer a solution). If a student has the right level, that is not a problem. But in the situation where the student didn’t, and didn’t do the level test upon registration, or did the level test but subscribed to a higher level than the test indicated: if the other students in the group experience a negative impact from this (slowing the lessons down, asking questions related to the lower level, not being able to do the conversation exercises), then the teacher has the right to provide ‘passive’ access to the lessons; the student may be in class without interaction in order not to slow down the other students.

We sent you an e-mail with the subject” Your Dutch course: briefing + level test + questionnaire + online access.” In this e-mail you can find a link to a questionnaire / intake form.

We kindly ask you to complete the form as soon as possible after you got this e-mail.

E-learning

You will get access to your e-learning package (1 month prior to the course).

Important: check whether your access works as soon as possible.

During the course, participants have access to the e-learning package with the courses #dutchgrammar-1, #dutchgrammar-2, #dutchgrammar-3 & extra materials to ‘Het Lesboek’.

How to login?

• Go to www.learndutch.org
• Click login in the upper right corner
• If you don’t have an account or if you lost your password:
  – Click ‘lost password’
  – Enter your e-mail (the one you used when registering for this course)
  – Reset the password
• Login and go the ‘student profile’ – you will see a list of courses
• Check if #dutchgrammar, #dutchgrammar-2, #dutchgrammar-3, ‘Het Lesboek’ are listed – if not: send an e-mail with a printscreen of your student profile

Access duration:
As mentioned on the website: access to #dutchgrammar is included during the course (and 1 month before and after). So you can use the materials to prepare and to review. Do you want to use it longer? You can purchase a year license on learndutch.org. Access duration is not cumulative: there is no extra access if you have existing licenses already.

Cancellations / early termination:
We kindly remind you of the terms and conditions as indicated on the website. If you can’t do the course, let us know as soon as possible. The earlier you cancel the higher the refund.

Changing dates:
What if you came to the conclusion that you are not yet ready for the level or there is another reason to change dates? Let us know as soon as possible!
– Switching to a different level on the same course date/location is free. But please note: this is only possible if the other level is given on that date and location, and if the other level is not fully booked.
– Switching to a different course date in the same season. The same conditions apply as the cancellation terms in the general conditions: a change of the course is the same as cancelling one course and booking a new course, however:
a. we will waive cancellation costs if you change dates more than 1 month prior to the start of the course
b. we will waive cancellation costs if your course is fully booked AND we have people on the waiting list willing to take your spot on the original date
c. take into account that if you switch to a course/room that has a higher rate at the moment of changing: the additional costs will be charged

Please note:
Our organisation makes costs and commitments upfront. We hire our teachers, we reserve the course location. If you can’t come, our organisation will still have the same costs (unless we’re fully booked and someone takes your spot). In every group, there are usually one or more people who need to cancel last minute or who can’t continue the course. Unfortunately, we cannot cover the individual risks in the lifes of our students by offering full refunds, depending on the severity of a reason to cancel or terminate the course early (this would have a significant impact on the total course price and we would like to keep our programme affordable). Our cancellation policy is in line with the conditions of the Dutch Council for Training and Education (NRTO), agreed with the consumer’s association.

Preparation / required knowledge

This is about the general preparation and required knowledge for the levels. (Apart from that – there is some homework to do to prepare for the first lesson – except level R)

• for level 1, you do not need specific knowledge; we really start from zero – but please pay attention, the learning speed is high (!) If you can’t wait to learn Dutch but also if you are a slow learner, then we’ll recommend to do at 10-20 (or more) lessons of our online course ‘1000 most common words in Dutch‘; and the first 15 lessons of online course #dutchgrammar-1 (part of the e-learning package).
• for level 2 – you need to have entry level A1. Did you score lower than A1 in our level determination test? Don’t panic. You can reach A1 with #dutchgrammar-1 from the e-learning pacakage. If you have lack of time, do lessons 1-30 + 46-50. Do the test again afterwards to see if your level has improved.. It is highly recommended to learn the words from course ‘1000 most common words in Dutch‘.
• for level 3 –  this is for people with A2 level. How to be sure you have this level and the required knowledge? Did you score lower than A2 in our level determination test? Don’t panic. Check the course content of #dutchgrammar-1 + #dutchgrammar-2; and review the subjects you think are difficult. Do the test again afterwards to see if your level has improved.
• for level 4 – you need to have at least a strong A2 level. That means that you should not only know the content of #dutchgrammar-1 and #dutchgrammar-2 well. You should be able to apply this, when writing and when speaking.
• for level 5 – you need to have B1 level.
• for level 6 – you need to have B1 level and you need to have completed level 5.
• level R – you need to have level B1. This level is basically for ‘returning’ students, people who studied before the first levels and want to continue. But open to other people who have level B1. The best way to prepare for this level is doing #dutchgrammar-3 and reviewing #dutchgrammar-1 and 2. And for the rest, the preparation should be speaking as much Dutch in real life as possible, watch Dutch TV, listen to Dutch radio, read Dutch newspapers etc.

You came to the conclusion you applied for a level too high? Contact us as soon as possible via e-mail. As long as there are spots in the lower group, you can be rescheduled to the lower group!

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Contact us if you haven’t received any mails since you subscribed.

Please use study@bartdepau.com for all questions related to your course administration and a fast answer (and not bart@learndutch.org).