‘You don’t know what you don’t know’

With almost 60 language trainers, the Dutch section is the largest department at Regina Coeli. Babita Bissumbhar is one of the trainers who took South African Martin Jonker under her tutelage for a week in March to teach him the ‘nuances of Dutch’, as Martin himself describes it. He can understand Dutch effortlessly, but when speaking, he runs into grammar and vocabulary issues. ‘I didn’t expect there to be such a difference between Afrikaans and Dutch.’

‘We hebben het niet tien jaar geleden ineens bedacht’

Jarenlang was Lori Tierney hét gezicht van Regina Coeli. Terwijl ze aanvankelijk dacht dat ze maar tijdelijk Engels zou geven - want dichtbij huis en gemakkelijk met de kinderen - vond ze bij Regina Coeli haar thuis. Of zoals haar dochter zei bij haar afscheid in 2019: ‘Dit was Engeland voor mama.’ Ter gelegenheid van het jubileum van Regina Coeli gaan we met haar in gesprek over het vakgebied.

Six months ago, Martin and his family emigrated to the Netherlands from South Africa for his job at BMW Group Nederland in Breda. Martin explains that he works in ‘zachte waarden’. It takes a while to realise that Martin isn’t talking about soft values, but software, which is the word the Dutch use. This occasionally frustrates him. ‘Even when I say everything nicely in Dutch, I’m still not understood because the Dutch will use an English word!’ It’s not just grammar and vocabulary, but also anglicisation that makes Dutch a tricky language to learn.

Despite this additional challenge, Martin keeps working at it: ‘I’m not here to remain a foreigner and would like to be able to communicate with others. My employer has already sent a lot of people to Regina Coeli, and I’m very happy to have this opportunity to learn Dutch.’

Cultural differences

Babita started working at Regina Coeli in 2016, when she worked on a project for Syrian refugees while still living in Rotterdam. ‘In summers, I worked at Regina Coeli as a substitute teacher for trainers who had young children, and then I started coming here more and more often. After a few years of being self-employed during the COVID period, I returned to Regina Coeli last year. I teach Dutch, pay attention to cultural differences and in April, I’ll be at the Expat Fair. We’re increasingly focusing on intercultural cooperation—both in our section and institute-wide.’

Cricket

Trainers and students are paired on the basis of shared interests whenever possible, precisely also on account of cultural differences. The similarities ensure upbeat energy during conversations. Babita and Martin, for instance, both love cricket. The trainers prepare the lessons with great care. Babita: ‘We look at the intake, which contains the learning goals. It’s important that these goals focus on social skills. That course members can have a chat about the weekend, for example, but also that they can talk about work, especially when their employer foots the bill. We look at what’s realistic. With Martin, he understands everything, but the grammar and vocabulary of Afrikaans is quite different. That means we have to assess what we can do in a week and tailor it as much as possible.’

‘The fact that a student says they can speak Dutch more confidently is a huge compliment for a language trainer.’

Babita

Back to school

‘At the start, I always confirm the student’s learning objectives,’ Babita continues. ‘It’s not that as a trainer I decide everything. We collaborate. That’s also what I like about working with Martin: he indicates very well what he needs.’ Martin noticed that the start of the course was right in line with the expectations he had after his intake. ‘I noticed very quickly what I still needed to learn, which is nice.’ As the week progresses, Babita and Martin make adjustments where necessary, also in consultation with the entire teaching team. Pronunciation in particular requires some getting used to, so the lessons sometimes end with drills. ‘But it should also stay relaxed,’ Babita points out. ‘For many students, it’s back to school again, which can be quite intensive.’ Martin agrees: ‘You really learn, learn, learn the entire time. Fortunately, everyone’s really friendly.’ Babita: ‘Martin feels comfortable here. An important condition in the learning process: that you feel safe making mistakes.’ Humour and sharing laughs with each other also impact the creative learning process. For example, Martin talked about his twins having to empty the “water counter.” It took me a while to realise he was talking about the dishwasher.’

Good articulation

One thing Martin is surprised about and regularly encounters is the difference between the minimal pair ‘ek’ in Afrikaans and ‘ik’ in Dutch. They seem quite similar yet are so different in terms of intelligibility. ‘This is where the importance of good articulation comes in,’ Babita explains. ‘I arranged for Martin to get a special pronunciation lesson from my colleague Loes, one of our speech therapists.’

Language tables

Among other things, Martin notices that you come into a kind of flow when learning at Regina Coeli during breaks, when the what he calls ‘Dutch wannabes’ sit together. ‘Then we speak Dutch as much as possible. If someone switches to English or says something wrong, we don’t reprimand each other, but respond in Dutch. That way we speak Dutch about three-quarters of the time.’

Babita responds with surprise. ‘Without having any teacher training, you’re applying a technique called “recasting”. You don’t point out the mistake to someone but instead, use the word correctly in the response.’ By the way, not every student keeps speaking Dutch during breaks like Martin does. Some really feel the need to fall back on their own language and then switch back. Only during the lunchtime language tables, where a teacher is present, are you expected to speak in the language you’re learning.

‘You really learn, learn, learn the entire time. Fortunately, everyone’s really friendly.'

Martin

Self-confidence

For Martin, the week lays a good foundation. Despite the differences between Afrikaans and Dutch being greater than he expected, Martin sees his progress after three days at Regina Coeli, thanks in part to the patience of his trainers. ‘I now know what I don’t know and what I want to learn more about. I’ve started to look at the language differently. I think next week I’ll be speaking Dutch with my colleagues with greater confidence.’

Those last words are music to Babita’s ears. ‘That’s a huge compliment for a language trainer.’ She certainly recognises what Martin is saying. ‘Even Socrates once said something akin to: “The more I learn, the more I realise how much I don’t yet know.”’

Photography Agnes Keijzers & Bas Quaedvlieg