Online Dutch lessons for children in The Gambia

Do you live with your family in The Gambia and would you like your child to learn Dutch or continue developing their Dutch?

At Dutch for Kids, we offer online Dutch lessons for children in The Gambia, right from the comfort of their own home.

And I have to say: I absolutely love it when a child from The Gambia logs into one of our lessons.

Over the years, I have taught several children living there. All with their own story, their own level of Dutch and their own reasons for wanting to keep learning the language.

And that is exactly what I love about it.

Because you don’t have to know yet where your child will live or study in the future.

Maybe it will be the Netherlands.

Maybe The Gambia.

Maybe the United States, the UK or somewhere completely different.

But by continuing to develop their Dutch now, you are keeping that option open for later.

Learning Dutch while growing up in The Gambia

One of my students lived in The Gambia with her family. Her mother was Dutch and her father was Gambian.

She grew up surrounded by different languages and cultures, but her mother felt it was important for her Dutch to remain strong too.

Not because they were already planning to move to the Netherlands.

Not because she necessarily needed to attend a Dutch school.

But simply because the Netherlands was also part of who she was.

And perhaps, one day, she might want to study there.

We had Dutch lessons together for a long time, and I loved getting little glimpses into her life in The Gambia through our lessons.

I still remember one lesson in particular. We were working on a topic about animals and animal care, and she prepared a whole project about an elephant sanctuary.

She had researched it, prepared everything beautifully and then told me all about it in Dutch: what happened there, how the animals were cared for and what she had learned.

Those are honestly some of my favourite lessons.

Because yes, we are working on vocabulary, sentence structure, speaking, reading and writing.

But at the same time, a child gets to talk about their own world.

Proud of their Dutch roots

I have been teaching another family living in The Gambia for several years now.

Their mother is Dutch, their father is American and the family lives in The Gambia because of their work.

And for them too, nobody knows exactly where the children will be living a few years from now.

Perhaps they will stay in The Gambia.

Perhaps the family will move to another country for work.

And perhaps, one day, the children themselves will decide to move to the Netherlands to study.

Their mother once said something that sums up beautifully why so many international families choose to continue Dutch lessons:

The children are enthusiastic about speaking Dutch and proud of their Dutch roots. So why wouldn’t we simply keep their Dutch going?

Exactly.

They don’t need to decide now where they want to live when they grow up.

By maintaining and developing their Dutch, we make sure they can make that choice for themselves later.

Your child doesn’t need to speak Dutch yet

This is something I think is really important for parents to know: your child absolutely does not need to have a certain level of Dutch before starting with Dutch for Kids.

We teach children who barely speak a word of Dutch yet.

We also teach children who understand and speak Dutch quite well but have never had formal Dutch reading, spelling or writing lessons.

And we have students who lived and attended school in the Netherlands for years before moving to The Gambia and simply want to stay at the same level as children their age in the Netherlands.

That is why we never automatically put a child into “Group 5” simply because that is where they would be based on their age.

We look at the child first.

• What can your child already do?
• How well do they understand and speak Dutch?
• Can they already read and write in Dutch?
• Have they had Dutch education before?
• And what would you ultimately like them to achieve?

From there, we decide together where the best place to start is.

From no Dutch at all to Dutch at school level

Does your child not speak Dutch yet?

Then we can start right at the beginning with Dutch as a second language (NT2). We focus a lot on vocabulary, understanding and speaking and gradually build up their Dutch from there.

Does your child already understand and speak Dutch, but has never learned to read and write in Dutch?

Then we look at the best place to start. Sometimes that might mean beginning with the foundations taught in Dutch Group 3 and working our way up from there.

Is your child a few years behind children of the same age in the Dutch school system?

That is absolutely fine too. We start at the level that suits them now and work step by step from there.

And has your child previously lived in the Netherlands, attended a Dutch school and is your family now moving to The Gambia?

Then we can continue from the Dutch level your child was working at before the move. This means they can keep developing their language, spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary and grammar and continue progressing alongside children of the same age in the Netherlands.

There isn’t one programme that every child has to fit into.

We find the programme that fits your child.

What do we do during our online Dutch lessons?

Our lessons are one-to-one, so your child has their own Dutch teacher and receives lessons at their own level.

Depending on their age and level, we can work on:

• speaking and listening;
• Dutch vocabulary;
• reading;
• reading comprehension;
• spelling;
• grammar;
• writing;
• verb spelling;
• presentations and speaking confidently;
• and Dutch at primary or secondary school level.

We love working with themes that suit both the child’s age and the world they live in.

So yes, a lesson might be about something happening in the Netherlands.

But it could just as easily be about something your child experienced that week in The Gambia.

That combination is what makes the lessons so much fun.

Online Dutch lessons from The Gambia

Because all our lessons are online, your child can simply join from home.

Every week, they log in at their regular lesson time and meet with their own Dutch teacher.

Our lessons are one-to-one, which means the teacher can focus entirely on your child. We can slow down and practise something again if it is difficult, or move ahead more quickly if something comes easily.

And because we teach children all over the world, we are very used to international families, different school systems, time zones and children growing up with several languages at the same time.

For us, that isn’t unusual.

It is actually exactly what Dutch for Kids is all about.

Keeping Dutch for the future

Perhaps you have absolutely no idea at the moment whether your family will ever move to the Netherlands.

And that is okay.

I actually think that can be one of the loveliest reasons to continue developing your child’s Dutch.

You don’t have to decide their future for them yet.

Maybe your daughter will want to study in Amsterdam one day.

Maybe your son will choose a university in the United States.

Maybe they will stay in Africa.

And maybe, ten years from now, an opportunity will come along that none of you can imagine today.

If their Dutch has remained strong in the meantime, at least they won’t have to let language determine that choice.

They can choose for themselves.

And along the way, they keep the language of their Dutch family, their Dutch roots and a little piece of who they are close to them.

For me, that might be the most beautiful part of all.

Online Dutch lessons in The Gambia with Dutch for Kids

Whether your child doesn’t speak Dutch yet, understands Dutch but rarely speaks it, is a few years behind the Dutch school system or is completely up to date with children their age in the Netherlands: your child is welcome exactly where they are right now.

First, we look at where your child is.

Then we look at where you would like them to go.

And from there, we get started together.

Not with a standard programme that happens to match their age, but with Dutch lessons that fit your child, your family and your plans for the future.

Meet Dutch for Kids for free

Do you live in The Gambia and would you like your child to learn Dutch or continue developing the Dutch they already speak?

You are very welcome to book a free introductory meeting with Dutch for Kids.

During the meeting, we would love to hear more about your family. Which languages does your child speak? Do they attend a local or international school? Have they had Dutch lessons before? And what would you like them to achieve?

After that, we can arrange a free trial lesson with a teacher who is a good match for your child.

That gives us the chance to see where your child can best begin.

Whether that means learning their very first Dutch words or working at the same Dutch level as children their age in the Netherlands.

Every child starts somewhere different. And that is absolutely fine.

Perhaps we will see your child in our online classroom soon, joining us all the way from The Gambia.